Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics the nation's first gold medal in his sport for 12 years. By winning two gold medals in London, track cyclist Chris Hoy emerged as Great Britain's most successful athlete in Olympic history with a total of seven medals, including six golds which surpassed the five golds won by former rower Steve Redgrave. Hoy also tied for the most total Olympic medals for a Briton with road cyclist Bradley Wiggins, who won the gold in men's time trial. Ben Ainslie became the most successful sailor in Olympic history, after winning his fourth gold medal in the Finn class. With three medals
Great Britain at the 2000 Summer Olympics widespread expectations of the team were low. The Sydney Games was at the time the best performance by Great Britain in the Summer Olympic Games since 1920, with British competitors winning a total of 28 medals, 11 of which were gold. This represented a vast improvement in performance over the previous Summer Olympics in 1996, in which Great Britain won only one gold medal and 15 in total, and was the first of five consecutive Summer Olympics in which Great Britain would not only dramatically increase its overall performance and expectations but also see them dramatically increase its overall Summer