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
Winter Olympic Games than 2.5 million people Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games. Over 2,500 athletes from 82 countries participated in 86 events. The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training run on the day of the opening ceremonies resulted in the Whistler Sliding Centre changing the track layout on safety grounds. Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen won five medals in the six cross-country events on the women's programme. She finished the Olympics with three golds, a silver and a bronze. For the first time, Canada won a gold medal at an Olympic Games