Great Britain at the 2004 Summer Olympics
| Great Britain at the 2004 Summer Olympics |
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| IOC code | GBR | ||||||||
| NOC | British Olympic Association | ||||||||
| in Athens | |||||||||
| Competitors | 264 in 22 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer |
Kate Howey (opening) Kelly Holmes (closing) |
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Medals Ranked 10th |
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| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
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| 1906 Intercalated Games | |||||||||
Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. The British sent a wide-ranging delegation to the Games, continuing its ubiquitous presence in the Olympic games, the only country to have sent competitors to every summer and winter games since the birth of the modern Olympics in 1896. Great Britain's 264 athletes, 161 men and 103 women, competed in 22 disciplines throughout the two-week event. The team entered the opening ceremony behind the Union Flag carried by judoka Kate Howey. Double gold medal winner Kelly Holmes carried the flag at the closing ceremony.
The delegation started the Olympics slowly, the silver its divers won on 14 August being the first of only a few opening-week medals. Although a sprinkling of silver and bronze medals — including a pair in men's and women's k1 kayak slalom — enlivened the mid-week, Britain's first gold did not come until Friday the 20th (won by Chris Hoy in the 1 km track cycling time-trial).
Then, on 21 August ("Golden Saturday") Britain's contributions to the medal table became more significant. First Britain's traditional strength in rowing continued as the men's coxless four, stroked by Matthew Pinsent, narrowly won gold, a defining moment since this was Pinsent's fourth gold medal in as many games. Sailor Ben Ainslie wrapped up a successful few days of racing with a gold, as did the women's Yngling sailboats who were finally awarded the gold medal they had sewn up on Thursday. Bradley Wiggins continued Britain's cycling success, winning gold in the 4 km pursuit. Young swimmer David Davies, coming third in the men's 1500 m freestyle, set a European record in the process and won Britain's second swimming medal of the games — a notable improvement over the 2000 Sydney games from which the swimmers had returned empty-handed. Also on Saturday, it was announced that, after an appeal, Leslie Law would be promoted from silver to gold in the three-day equestrian eventing (and his team from bronze to silver). As the games' aquatic-dominated first week shifted into a second week focused more on track and field events, Kelly Sotherton came third in the heptathlon.
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