Summer Olympic Games Jacques Rogge described the Games as "Happy and Glorious". The host nation won 29 gold medals, the best haul for Great Britain since the 1908 Games in London. The United States returned to the top of the medal table after China dominated in 2008. The IOC had removed baseball and softball from the 2012 program. On a commercial level the Games were successful as they were the first in history to completely sell out every ticket, with as many as 1 million applications for 40,000 tickets for both the Opening Ceremony and the 100m Men's Sprint Final. Such was the
Great Britain at the 2015 European Games the Games, and by extension the first ever European Games medal and gold medal ever won by Great Britain was achieved by Gordon Benson in men's triathlon; in doing so, he guaranteed a place in the men's triathlon for Great Britain, though not necessarily for himself, at the 2016 Summer Olympics. His win also continued Great Britain's dominance of the event, holding titles at European, European Games, Commonwealth Games, Youth Olympic and Olympic Games levels. In the fencing hall, Richard Kruse, Marcus Mepstead, Ben Peggs and won the gold in team foil, defeating Olympic champions Italy, and winning Great Britain's