Twenty one athletes from Loughborough College delivered an inspirational performance and won four medals, including gold, at a record-breaking Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Nicola White helped secure gold for Team GB women’s hockey, in the pool Siobhan-Marie O’Connor won silver and Dan Goodfellow bronze and Sophie Hitchon scooped bronze in the hammer – which would have ensured a top 50 place in the medals table for Loughborough College, if it was a country.
The medal haul from the current and former students would have seen the College ‘nation’ rank 48th ahead of India, population 1.25 billion, Nigeria and Mexico.
By finishing second on the medal table with 27 gold, 23 silver and 17 bronze, Team GB has recorded its best finish in 108 years after topping the list at London 1908.
On day three in Brazil Loughborough College student Dan Goodfellow and his diving partner Tom Daley scooped synchronised 10m platform bronze to win Team GB’s first diving medal of the Games.
Daley and 19 year old Goodfellow, who have only been training together for ten months, left it until their last dive to secure their spot on the podium, ultimately scoring 444.45 to finish six points clear of fourth-placed Germany.
The women’s rugby sevens squad, which included former Loughborough College student Claire Allan and current student Megan Jones as travelling reserve, went into their bronze medal match against Canada as favourites.
But after beating Canada 22-0 in their final group game, Team GB missed out on the chance to claim the first ever Olympic medal in rugby sevens after a 33-10 defeat.
On day four Siobhan-Marie O’Connor claimed silver to become the first British woman to win an Olympic 200m individual medley medal – and the former Loughborough College student smashed the British record, coming in at 2:06.88.
After she missed out on progressing to the semi finals by six tenths of a second in the 100m breaststroke earlier in the week, day five saw a record-breaking finish for Loughborough College swimmer Molly Renshaw in the 200m breaststroke semi final.
The 20 year old clocked a British record of 2:22.33 seconds to qualify for the final – and the chance of a medal. But competing in the first final of her Olympic debut the following day, Renshaw missed her personal best by half a second in the 200m breaststroke and came in sixth on 2:22.72
Also on day six a goal from former Loughborough College student Nicola White helped take Team GB’s women’s hockey team through to the Olympic quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Japan.
Loughborough College student Lianna Swan competed in the women’s 50m freestyle heats, for Pakistan, on day seven but her 29.02 was not enough to take her through to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile it was great news for former Loughborough College student Sophie Hitchon in the women’s hammer as she qualified to the final in 6th with a throw of 70.37m.
Elsewhere, on the track, former Loughborough College student Matthew Hudson-Smith qualified for the men’s 400m semi-finals.
But there was disappointment for three-time Olympian and fellow former Loughborough College student Martyn Rooney who came in fifth in heat 2 and failed to qualify.
Great Britain’s men’s hockey team, featuring former Loughborough College student Henry Weir, saw their Olympic campaign come to an end with a 1-1 draw against Spain - which was not enough to secure qualification out of pool A.
Day eight saw former Loughborough College student Matthew Hudson-Smith reach the 400m final and fellow former student James Dasaolu line up alongside Usain Bolt and qualify for the 100m semi-finals.
Elsewhere Fran Halsall finished fourth in the women’s 50m freestyle final – just two hundredths of a second away from an Olympic medal but later returned to the pool with Siobhan-Marie O’Connor to help Team GB to a new British record in the women’s 4x100m medley relay final, finishing seventh.
Former Loughborough College student Robbie Grabarz qualified for the men’s high jump final on day nine while fellow former student Chris Baker missed out after narrowly failing to clear the height.
On the same day, despite his strong semi-final performance, James Dasaolu missed out on the 100m final, finshing sixth in 10.16 seconds. Elsewhere Matt Hudson-Smith finished 44.61 eighth in the 400m final.
Day ten saw outstanding performances from Loughborough College athletes with Sophie Hitchon smashing a new personal best to claim bronze in the hammer throw – the first British athlete to win an Olympic hammer throw medal.
Former Loughborough College student Angela Hannah progressed to the K2 500m final on the water, Nicola White made it six games for six with Team GB hockey for a place in the semi final and it was a strong show for current Loughborough College student Katie Clark with her partner Oliva Federici – although they missed out on qualification to the next stage in synchronized swimming.
In the Men’s Final on day eleven Robbie Grabarz jumped a season’s best 2.33m in the final but finished fourth on countback after a miss at 2.25m. Angela Hannah and Lani Belcher were seventh in the canoe sprint final and Burnell was cruelly denied a medal on his Olympic debut after being disqualified from the men’s 10km marathon swim at Fort Copacabana.
The former Loughborough College student was in the leading pack sprinting for home before he was held back by Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli. While the Brit kicked out of Mellouli’s grip and recovered to touch in a photo finish for third, he was later disqualified for his role in the incident.
Team GB’s women’s hockey team, featuring Nicola White, reached their first Olympic final with a 3-0 defeat of New Zealand on day 12 of the Olympic Games in Rio.
Former Loughborough College students Richard Kilty and Harry Aikines-Aryeety joined James Ellington and Chijindu Ujah to qualify for the 4 x 100m relay final on day 13 of the Rio Olympic Games. On day 14 Kilty, Aikines-Aryeetey, and teammates James Ellington and Adam Gemili finished fifth in the final a time of 37.98.
In the men’s 4x400m relay, the quartet of Nigel Levine, Delano Williams and former Loughborough College students Matt Hudson-Smith and Martyn Rooney were initially declared winners of their heat but the team were disqualified minutes later.
Loughborough College finished the Olympic Games on a high as Team GB’s women’s hockey claimed a maiden Olympic title and their first gold in the sport since 1988 - with a goal from Nicola White helping the squad to its historic victory.
A nerve-wracking shootout was required, but Team GB’s women’s hockey squad won their first ever Olympic gold medal, beating reigning champions the Netherlands after a dramatic final.
Regular time finished 3-3, with Team GB fighting back from a goal down twice on the night, as Lily Owsley, Crista Cullen and Nicola White found the net to force the dramatic shootout.
Hollie Webb and Helen Richardson-Walsh both found the net in the shootout in Deodoro as goalkeeper Maddie Hinch kept the Dutch at bay on four occasions.
The side went unbeaten throughout the tournament in Rio, winning all eight of the matches they played.
In winning 67 medals, Team GB has won more podium places than ever before at a Games on foreign soil and becomes the first nation to win more medals in the Games immediately after hosting, with 65 won four years ago at London 2012.
Former Loughborough College student Nicola White and Great Britain celebrate beating Netherlands to win Gold in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Women's Hockey Final (Alex Whitehead/SWpix)