Team GB heroes pledge to inspire a new generation after Rio 2016 gold rush

Team GB’s victorious athletes today vowed to inspire a new generation of heroes with their record-breaking Olympic performance — and win even more medals in London next summer.

Stars of Britain’s track team, gold-winning hockey squad, boxers and swimmers partied into the early hours after Rio’s closing ceremony as they prepared to return with the biggest medal haul for the nation in more than a century.

It emerged today that Theresa May is planning to host a big reception for the Olympic heroes — and wants as many as possible rewarded with knighthoods and other honours. No 10 sources said the Prime Minister wanted to host all the Rio team. Plans are also being worked up for a major event for crowds of Londoners to cheer the team, possibly including a second parade as well as one in Manchester.

Mrs May’s official spokeswoman said: “She is extremely proud of what we have achieved in Rio. I am sure she will be keen to see the success there recognised and rewarded.”

Team GB's medal winners 
Getty Images

Mo Farah, 33, who completed the “double double” of winning the 5,000m and 10,000m at successive Olympics, pledged to race again at the athletics World Championships in London next year.

He said: “In 2017 for sure you’ll see me on the track, I owe it for the people, the public. So many people have been behind me, so I’m going to line up, no matter what, half injured whatever, you will see me on that track. After that we will analyse it and see what my goal is.”

Dina Asher-Smith, 20, who won bronze in the women’s 4x100m relay, said: “I feel really proud to have been part of such a successful Team GB team. I think it really can be so good for the future going forward and we just hope it can inspire a whole new generation and it means the World Championships next year will also be really important and hopefully we can continue it there.”

Olympic legend Sally Gunnell today predicted Team GB will continue to triumph at next year’s World Championships.

Thank you and good night: Rio's closing ceremony 
Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters

The former 400m hurdler said the capital was “so lucky” to be holding the athletics event on the back of Team GB’s most successful games on foreign soil.

Gunnell, who won gold in the 1992 Barcelona Games, said the World Championships next August at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, will be a chance for the track and field’s younger talent to shine.

She said: “It will be great to see the likes of Mo Farah and hopefully Jess Ennis-Hill but there’s a really good bunch of youngsters coming through who will be exciting to watch. These youngsters are getting in the finals, next they will be winning medals. This is just the start of their journey.”

Mother-of-three Gunnell, 50, added that British athletes were also likely to achieve greater success in front of a home crowd — and urged Londoners to go along and support them.

She said: “The worlds in London will have that home effect. We will see more amazing results and perhaps some world records. You can’t beat live, you just can’t beat being in that stadium. I’ll be there every day and so will my boys.

Last night in Rio, Kate Richardson-Walsh, 36, captain of Team GB’s gold winning hockey squad, told the Standard: “We were aiming to beat Beijing’s total, the highest in an away games, and now we have absolutely smashed it, the sky’s the limit.”

Team GB at the closing ceremony 
David Ramos/Getty Images

Richardson-Walsh, the team’s flag bearer at the ceremony, added: “We hope to inspire boys, girls, all ages to go out and look at all the array of sports we won medals in, we are so good at so many different sports. Go out there and have a go at them — and please have a go at hockey.”

Her wife Helen, 34, a fellow hockey squad member, said: “You feel proud when you see the medals going up and up.”

Rio passed the Olympic baton to 2020 hosts Tokyo in a colourful closing spectacular which celebrated Brazil’s samba rhythms, colour, music, carnival, dancing and arts. Dozens of Team GB members partied with thousands of athletes from 207 competing nations in front of a less than capacity crowd in the famous Maracana stadium.

Rain and wind lashed performers and athletes but failed to dampen the enthusiasm and party atmosphere.

The British team’s extraordinary achievement saw it finish above mighty China in the medals table, second only to the United States. With London boxer Joe Joyce’s silver on the final day of the Games yesterday the medal total reached 67 with 27 golds.

The tally surpassed the haul of the home Games in London in 2012, the first time a nation has achieved such a feat in modern times.

Rio 2016 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony - In pictures

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Swimmer Adam Peaty, 21, who won Britain’s first gold with a world record breaking 100m breaststroke, broke off from celebrating and said: “We’re ahead of a country like China, who have 1.2 billion people to choose from, so coming from such a small country, it’s just amazing we can do this.

“Hopefully this can inspire a whole new generation, hopefully the gold medal I got will help a lot of kids, and hopefully let them believe and achieve.”

Joe Clarke, 23, who won gold in the men’s K1 canoe slalom, told the Standard: “It will make people want to get up there and be a part of it themselves.”

Boxer Nicola Adams, 33, the first Briton to retain an Olympic boxing crown since 1924, said: “I’d love to be able to see more girls coming into the sport and taking over and hopefully winning some more gold medals in the future.

Team GB’s chef de mission Mark England called the team’s success “quite simply one of the finest British sporting achievements to date”. “Our athletes have become role models for millions of young people back home and I’m sure have inspired the next generation of British Olympians.” The British team enjoyed its most successful Games in aquatics, gymnastics, taekwondo and triathlon while topping the medal table outright in cycling rowing, triathlon and sailing.

Mayor Sadiq Khan told the Standard: “I’m pleased that we’ll be having an event in London to celebrate the Olympics. These Olympians are inspiring the next generation.”

The world’s best athletes are coming back to London in 2017 to compete at the IAAF World Championships and World ParaAthletics Championships. The race is on for tickets! Get yours now: tickets.london2017athletics.com

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