Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics 3–1 in the Women's Field hockey tournament to win the first medal of any colour by a British field hockey team at a Summer Olympics since 1992. The team won 65 medals in total; 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze. For each gold medallist, a post box was painted gold by Royal Mail in recognition of the achievement, usually in the competitor's home town. A first class stamp depicting each gold medal winning individual or team was also produced. The following British competitors won medals at the Games. In the 'by discipline' sections below, medallists' names are in bold.
Summer Olympic Games swimmer Mark Spitz, Lasse Virén (of Finland)'s back-to-back gold in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters (defeating American distance running great Steve Prefontaine in the former), and the winning of three gold medals by 16-year-old Soviet gymnastic sensation Olga Korbut - who thrilled the world with an historic backflip off the high bar. Korbut, however, failed to win the all-around, losing to her teammate Ludmilla Tourischeva. There was no such tragedy in Montreal in 1976, but bad planning and fraud led to the Games' cost far exceeding the budget. The Montreal Games were the most expensive in Olympic history, until