Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012 as the host nation and the team of selected athletes was officially known as Team GB. British athletes have competed at every Summer Olympic Games in the modern era, alongside Australia, France and Greece, though Great Britain is the only one to have won at least one gold medal at all of them. London was the first city to host the Summer Olympics on three different occasions, having previously done so in 1908 and 1948. It was joined by Paris in 2024 and will be joined by Los Angeles in 2028 in hosting the Olympic Games for a third time. Team GB, organised by BOA, sent a total of 541 athletes, 279 men and 262 women, to the Games, and won automatic qualification places in all 26 sports.
The government agency UK Sport targeted a total of 48 to 70 medals, with a commitment of at least a minimum amount, one more than the team won at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and a fourth-place finish in the medal table. On 7 August 2012, Great Britain had reached its 48-medal target, and surpassed the 19 gold-medal tally from Beijing the previous Summer Olympics, making it the most successful Olympics since 1908.
Great Britain finished the Summer Olympic Games with a total of 65 medals (29 gold, 17 silver, and 19 bronze; after medal reallocation in men's high jump: 29 gold, 18 silver, and 18 bronze), coming third in the medal table rankings, and fourth in the total number of medal rankings. At least one medal was awarded to Team GB in seventeen sports, eleven of them containing at least one gold. British athletes dominated the medal standings in cycling, wherein they won a total of 12 Olympic medals, including 8 golds, 7 from the 10 track cycling events alone, and in equestrianism, wherein they won 5 medals including 3 golds from 6 events. Great Britain also topped the medal table in triathlon, boxing and rowing. Twelve British athletes won more than a single Olympic medal in London.
Among the nation's medalists were taekwondo jin Jade Jones, triathlete Alistair Brownlee, and slalom canoers Etienne Stott and Tim Baillie, who won Great Britain's first Olympic gold medals in their respective disciplines. Nicola Adams became the first female champion in Olympic boxing history as her sport made its debut at the Games.
Having never won a medal in dressage in Olympic history, British riders dominated the event in 2012, winning 2 golds (both team and individual) and a bronze, Charlotte Dujardin becoming one of five British double gold medal winners. Great Britain was the first nation other than Germany to win the team event since 1980. Andy Murray became the first British tennis player to claim an Olympic title since the sport was reintroduced as a full-medal discipline in 1988; he was also the only British athlete to win two medals in a single day. Double trap shooter Peter Wilson won the nation's first gold medal in his sport for 12 years.
By winning two gold medals in London, track cyclist Chris Hoy emerged as Great Britain's most successful athlete in Olympic history with a total of seven medals, including six golds which surpassed the five golds won by former rower Steve Redgrave. Hoy also tied for the most total Olympic medals for a Briton with road cyclist Bradley Wiggins, who won the gold in the men's time trial. Ben Ainslie became the most successful sailor in Olympic history, after winning his fourth gold medal in the Finn class. With three medals (two golds and one silver) in total, Victoria Pendleton became Great Britain's most successful female Olympic athlete, surpassing the record of two golds and one bronze medal, previously held by Kelly Holmes, and briefly shared with Rebecca Adlington.
For the first time in Olympic history, Great Britain had won a women's rowing gold; in the event, Great Britain secured three of the six gold medals in women's rowing. Heather Stanning and Helen Glover took the first Great Britain gold of the games in the women's pair, and the nation's first ever in women's rowing. Katherine Grainger, winning her first gold medal with Anna Watkins in the women's double sculls, became the first Great Britain female athlete to win four Olympic medals, and at four successive games (having previously won three silver medals). Swimmer Rebecca Adlington equalled the feat of four Olympic medals later on the same day. Sophie Hosking and Katherine Copeland, in the women's lightweight double sculls, completed the hat-trick as part of Super Saturday.
Despite the unprecedented success, Great Britain performed much more poorly in the team sports, winning just a single medal when Great Britain captained by Kate Richardson-Walsh won the bronze medal match against New Zealand 3–1 in the women's field hockey tournament to win the first medal of any colour by a British field hockey team at a Summer Olympics since 1992.
Medallists
The team won 65 medals in total: 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze; after medal reallocation in men's high jump: 29 gold, 18 silver, and 18 bronze. For each gold medallist, a post box was painted gold by Royal Mail in recognition of the achievement, usually in the competitor's home town. A first class stamp depicting each gold medal-winning individual or team was also produced.
The following British competitors won medals at the Games. In the 'by discipline' sections below, medallists' names are in bold.
| style="text-align:left; width:78%; vertical-align:top;"| Medal Name Sport Event Date Rowing Women's coxless pair Cycling Men's time trial Canoeing Men's slalom C-2 Shooting Men's double trap Cycling Men's team sprint Rowing Women's double sculls Cycling Men's team pursuit Cycling Women's keirin Rowing Men's coxless four Rowing Women's lightweight double sculls Cycling Women's team pursuit Athletics Women's heptathlon Athletics Men's long jump Athletics Men's 10,000 m Sailing Finn class Tennis Men's singles Scott BrashPeter CharlesBen MaherNick Skelton Equestrian Team jumping Cycling Men's sprint Triathlon Men's triathlon Equestrian Team dressage Cycling Women's omnium Cycling Men's keirin Equestrian Individual dressage Boxing Women's flyweight Taekwondo Women's 57 kg Canoeing Men's K-1 200 m Athletics Men's 5,000 m Luke Campbell Boxing Men's bantamweight Anthony Joshua Boxing Men's super heavyweight Cycling Women's road race Equestrian Team eventing Swimming Men's 200 m breaststroke Rowing Men's lightweight coxless four Canoeing Men's slalom C-2 Judo Women's 78 kg Rowing Men's lightweight double sculls Sailing Star class Gymnastics Men's pommel horse Tennis Mixed doubles Athletics Women's 400 m Athletics Men's high jump Sailing Men's RS:X Cycling Women's sprint Sailing Men's 470 class Sailing Women's 470 class Fred Evans Boxing Men's welterweight Samantha Murray Modernpentathlon Women's modern pentathlon Swimming Women's 400 m freestyle Gymnastics Men's artistic team all-around Rowing Men's eight Cycling Men's time trial George Nash Rowing Men's coxless pair Rowing Men's single sculls Judo Women's +78 kg Swimming Women's 800 m freestyle Gymnastics Men's pommel horse Cycling Men's omnium Gymnastics Women's uneven bars Triathlon Men's triathlon Equestrian Individual dressage Boxing Men's middleweight Great Britain women's national field hockey team Field hockeyWomen's tournament Taekwondo Men's 80 kg Canoeing Men's K-2 200 m Tom Daley Diving Men's 10 m platform | style="text-align:left; width:22%; vertical-align:top;" | Medals by sportSport TotalCycling82212Rowing4239Athletics4206Boxing3115Equestrian3115Canoeing2114Sailing1405Tennis1102Taekwondo1012Triathlon1012Shooting1001Gymnastics0134Swimming0123Judo0112Modern pentathlon0101Diving0011Field hockey0011Total29181865 Medals by dateDayDate Total128 July0000229 July0112330 July0011431 July010151 Aug212562 Aug330673 Aug304784 Aug610795 Aug2428106 Aug2013117 Aug4318128 Aug0000139 Aug30141410 Aug02351511 Aug30251612 Aug1203Total29181865
Multiple medallists
The following Team GB competitors won several medals at the 2012 Olympic Games. Name Medal Sport Event Cycling Men's team sprint Men's keirin Cycling Women's team pursuit Women's omnium Cycling Men's team sprint Men's sprint Equestrian Team dressage Individual dressage Athletics Men's 10,000 m Men's 5,000 m Tennis Men's singles Mixed doubles Cycling Women's keirin Women's sprint Cycling Men's team pursuit Men's omnium Equestrian Team dressage Individual dressage Gymnastics Men's pommel horse Men's team all-around Gymnastics Men's pommel horse Men's team all-around Swimming Women's 400 m freestyle Women's 800 m freestyle
"Super Saturday" Day 8 (4 August) of the Games, which had been billed in the build up to the Games in the host country as "Super Saturday" due to the expected programme creating numerous strong medal possibilities for the hosts, saw Great Britain record their most successful day at the Olympics since the 1908 games. The day saw the team win 6 gold medals, starting in the rowing for Alex Gregory, Tom James, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge in the men's coxless four and Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hosking in the women's lightweight double sculls, followed in the cycling by Dani King, Joanna Rowsell Shand and Laura Trott in the women's team pursuit. This was followed by three athletics gold medals in the space of 46 minutes, with Jessica Ennis winning gold in the women's heptathlon, Greg Rutherford in the men's long jump and Mo Farah in the men's 10,000 metres. Completing the medal total on the day in the rowing was a silver for Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase in the men's lightweight double sculls. Lord Coe, organiser of London 2012, described the unfolding of the day's events as "a narrative of infectious success" and the greatest day of sport he had ever witnessed.
Medal and performance targets
With Team GB attempting to build on their previous successes in Beijing four years earlier, expectations prior to the London Olympics were very high with the additional advantage of competing with home support. UK Sport, the body responsible for distributing £300 million in Olympic and Paralympic sports, revealed on 4 July 2012 a target of finishing in the top four of the medal table and winning at least 48 medals across at least 12 sports based on an aggregate medal range of 40–70. although a specific number of gold medals was not targeted.
Team GB was also highly rated by other expert and professional sport bodies prior to the Olympics. This included a team of experts invited by BBC Radio 5 live, which implied an estimated total of 95 medals: 27 gold, 25 silver and 43 bronze. Sports statistics provider Infostrada projected 57 medals, 16 of them gold. Sheffield Hallam University 56 medals, 27 of them gold; whilst Luciana Barra a former Italian Olympic Committee member, estimated 59 medals, 16 of them gold.
UK Sport set targets for medals and positions for each individual Olympic sports except Football. These are listed in the table below, along with the actual Team GB performance.
The only sport which Team GB failed to meet its medal target was in Swimming.