History

  • Sunday August 24

    0030 Athletics - Men's marathon
    0630 Boxing - Six finals
    0730 Basketball - Men's final
    1330 Closing ceremony
    All times BST
Medals Table
G S B Tot
1 CHN 51 21 28 100
2 USA 36 38 36 110
3 RUS 23 21 28 72
4 GBR 19 13 15 47
5 GER 16 10 15 41
6 AUS 14 15 17 46
Olympic History

History Timeline

It all started in Athens in 1896...

Team GB

Competitor List

Take a look at the British athletes heading for Beijing

1980 - Moscow

  • Coe: won gold and silver

    Coe: won gold and silver

Another boycott, led by the USA against the invasion of Afghanistan, reduced the number of participating nations to 80.

US President Jimmy Carter threatened to revoke the passport of any American athlete who tried to travel to the USSR, although other governments - including Britain and Australia - supported the boycott but allowed athletes to decide for themselves.

In a dramatic confrontation between British runners Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe in the 800m and 1,500m, the former claimed gold and bronze respectively while the latter won silver and gold.

Daley Thompson won his first decathlon gold medal while Scottish sprinter Alan Wells raced to gold in the 100m and Duncan Goodhew claimed gold in the 100m breaststroke.

Aleksandr Dityatin earned medals in every men's gymnastics event to become the only athlete ever to win eight medals in one Olympics.

Gerd Wessig became the first male high jumper to break the world record at the Olympics while swimmer Vladimir Salnikov broke the 15-minute barrier for the 1,500m.

British gold medals: 5

More History Stories

Around the site today

Shanaze Reade: Chance of multiple gold medals

12 stars for 2012

We look at a dozen young athletes who could trigger a fresh gold rush in London in four years' time.

Egan: light-heavyweight silver

Day 16 - As It Happened

Irish boxer Kenny Egan took silver on the final day of action in Beijing.

Early stages of the marathon.

2008 Olympics - Day 16

Pictures from the final day of the Beijing Olympics including an appearance from David Beckham.

  • Mobile Services

    Get news and premiership goals on your mobile or your handheld device or mobile phone

  • RSS Feeds

    Feeds offer an easy way to keep up with Olympics throughout the day

  • Newsletter

    Have the top news and columnists delivered to your inbox every morning