Gold Rush: Our Race to Olympic Glory

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How Britain turned its sporting reputation around to triumph at the London 2012 Olympics.

How Britain turned its sporting reputation around over 16 years to triumph at the London 2012 Olympics. Told by our greatest athletes, national leaders and sports strategists.

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Ivanno Jeremiah

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Gold Rush: Our Race to Olympic Glory: Series 1: Episode 1

Episode 1

BBC One - Gold Rush: Our Race to Olympic Glory, Series 1, Episode 1

How Britain's Olympic dreams were rebuilt through a lottery-funded sporting revolution.

The story of how, after a disappointing Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, Britain's Olympic dreams were rebuilt through a lottery-funded sporting revolution.

At the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, Britain finished at an all-time low of 36th in the medal table. After this disappointment, a renaissance began with the aim of rebuilding the nation’s sporting prowess. Kickstarted by Conservative prime minister John Major, the project flushed Britain’s sporting system with millions of pounds from the new National Lottery. Athletes would give up their day jobs and be paid to become full-time sportsmen and women, the world's best coaches would be hired and state-of-the-art scientific techniques employed, all in the hope that Team GB would start winning medals at the Sydney games in 2000. With the world-beating American, Russian, German and Chinese teams in their sights, it was a tough task. 

Told through the eyes of national heroes including Dame Kelly Holmes, Linford Christie, Darren Campbell, Jonathan Edwards and Sir Chris Hoy, the story of the Sydney games revolves around an incredible haul of gold, silver and bronze medals, with Britain climbing to 10th in the medal table.

In the middle of it all was the man who once managed Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards and who now had an audacious dream of Britain rising to the honoured position of one day hosting the games.

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