Great Britain

Athletes from the United Kingdom, all but three of its Overseas Territories, and the three Crown Dependencies, can compete in the Olympic Games as part of Team GB. Athletes from Northern Ireland (part of the UK) can elect to represent either the UK (in Team GB) or 'Team Ireland'. It has sent athletes to every Summer and Winter Games, since the start of the Olympics' modern era in 1896, including the 1980 Summer Olympics, which were boycotted by a number of other Western nations. From 1896 to 2020 inclusive, Great Britain & Northern Ireland has won 918 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, and another 32 at the Winter Olympic Games. It is the only national team to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Games, lying third globally in the winning of total medals, surpassed only by the United States and the former Soviet Union. Team GB is organised by the British Olympic Association (BOA) as the National Olympic Committee for the UK. While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and BOA both refer to the team as 'Great Britain' and the team uses the brand name Team GB, the BOA explains that it is 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. In 1908, the country finished in the Olympic table in first place for the first and only time in its history; its most successful performance both post-War and away from a home Games was in 2016, finishing second. The most successful British Olympian by gold medals won is Sir Jason Kenny, who has won seven gold medals in track cycling. He is followed by Sir Chris Hoy who won six. Kenny also has the most total medals with 9, followed by fellow cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins who has eight. Dame Laura Kenny, with five gold medals, has the most golds of any British female athlete and became the first British woman to win gold at three consecutive Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020. She shares the designation of most total medals by a British female competitor with horse-rider Charlotte Dujardin.