Ignore the glorified village fete of 1908. This was the most successful campaign in British Olympic history.
The team's Beijing adventure ended with Dan Robinson staggering home in brutal heat to finish 24th in the men's marathon, but by then the 2012 hosts had rattled up 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze medals for a grand total of 47, which left them fourth in the table, behind the Olympic superpowers China, USA and Russia.
To beat Germany and Australia into fifth and sixth was the ultimate British fantasy.
Only 12 years ago in Atlanta, Britain finished 19th in the medals table and limped home with a single gold. In response, John Major's government unleashed a tsunami of lottery funding and sports such as cycling, rowing, sailing and swimming transformed themselves into elite fighting units to assuage the fear that London 2012 would be remembered as another infrastructure debacle.
