Great Britain at the Olympics a contraction of the full title, the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team. Great Britain was one of 14 teams to compete in the first Games, the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, and is one of only three nations (France and Switzerland being the others) to have competed at every Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The most successful British Olympians by gold medals won are Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, who have won six gold (and one silver) medals each in track cycling; two British Olympians come next with five gold medals – fellow cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins,
Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics to China. |align=left|John Cavanagh |align=left|Pippa Britton On 10 July 2012 the British Paralympic Association named a 49-member squad to compete for Great Britain in athletics, although Andy Kaar was later forced to withdraw due to injury. Included in the squad were David Weir, who won Britain's only athletics gold medals at the 2008 Summer Paralympics and Tracey Hinton, who competed at her sixth Paralympics. Nine British boccia players were selected to compete in London, five of whom made their Paralympic debuts. In the individual events, David Smith won silver in the BC1 event after losing to Pattaya Tadtong of Thailand