Team GB EYOF Review: Britain’s Got Olympic Talent!
25 Jul 2009
The 2009 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) drew to a close in Tampere, Finland last night as wet weather conditions failed to dampen the spirits of Team GB’s athletes who enjoyed the Closing Ceremony at the Tampere Ratina Stadium.
The final medal table sees Team GB finish in an impressive third position with a tremendous haul of twenty five medals, including ten gold, six silver and nine bronze. Only Russia, and by the smallest of margins, Germany, finished ahead of Team GB.
| Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
| Russia |
18 |
10 |
8 |
36 |
| Germany |
10 |
8 |
7 |
25 |
| Great Britain |
10 |
6 |
9 |
25 |
Reviewing the performance of Team GB, Chef de Mission Mark England said:
“Team GB has every reason to feel proud of their exceptional achievements at the European Youth Olympic Festival this week. Our athletes have thrived under the pressure of competing against the best young athletes from 49 European nations.”
It is particularly pleasing to see the spread of medals won across different sports. Five of the six disciplines in which we were represented have contributed at least two medals, and the only exception, tennis, came within a whisker of a medal on an unfavourable clay court surface.”
There have been some notable individual accomplishments, not least from gymnast Sam Oldham and sprinter Jennifer Batten who both won double gold medals.”
This is the third EYOF in a row that Team GB has claimed third spot in the medal table and that represents consistent success at the very highest level. When you look at these performances, the future of Team GB is bright.”
Some of these athletes will make the transition to senior level in their sport relatively quickly. For others the journey will be more measured, but when you look at the opportunities ahead for these young athletes, with the inaugural Youth Olympic Games set to take place in Singapore next summer, London 2012 now only three years away, followed by the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, there has never been a more exciting time for British Olympic sport.”
It has been a fantastic week, both on and off the playing field, and all credit to the team managers, coaches and support staff who have worked extremely hard to allow the athletes to perform to the best of their abilities. I 'm very proud of the entire team.”
The EYOF baton has now been passed to Trabzon in Turkey where the next edition will take place in 2011, by which time Olympic fever should be nearing boiling point in the UK ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Notes to editors:
The British Olympic Association’s mission in participating in Youth Olympic Festivals is a key component within our strategy to discover future Olympic Champions, provide them with experience of a multi-sport environment reminiscent of an Olympic Games and promote the Olympic ideals of fair play, honesty, and pride in representing and competing for Team GB.
For further information including athlete interview requests and athlete images please contact Team GB Media Officer Philip Wilkinson on: +44 7525 951067 / Philip.wilkinson@boa.org.uk – Follow Team GB news on Twitter - http://twitter.com/Team_GB
For more news and features on the European Olympic Youth Festival visit http://www.morethanthegames.co.uk/rising-stars
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