Nicole Cooke: Got the gold rush underway

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Britain won an impressive 47 medals in Beijing, exceeding even the "stretch" target of UK Sport ahead of the Games. Fourth place in the medal table was also achieved four years early. Here we remember who won the medals and how they won them.

DAY TWO

Nicole Cooke, gold, cycling, women's road race

Cooke was one of the favourites for the road race and it was a real team performance from compatriots Emma Pooley and Sharon Laws which helped her home.

DAY THREE

Rebecca Adlington and Joanne Jackson, gold and bronze, swimming, women's 400metres freestyle

A dramatic final 50m of the 400m final saw Britain emerge as the big winners as Adlington and Jackson became the first women in 24 years to win swimming medals for Britain. Adlington powered down the final length to pip American Katie Hoff to gold, while Jackson was just behind to earn bronze.

DAY FOUR

David Florence, silver, canoeing, men's slalom

Florence, who had applied to become an astronaut before the Games, earned Britain's first slalom canoeing prize since 1992. He qualified for the final in fourth but produced a faultless final round to take second place.

Daisy Dick, William Fox-Pitt, Tina Cook, Sharon Hunt, Mary King, bronze, equestrian, team eventing

The British team were always in contention for medals in the team event of the equestrian in Hong Kong, making a solid start in the dressage before moving into third place after the cross country stage. And although they never challenged Germany and Australia for gold and silver, they performed well enough in the showjumping to secure a team bronze.

Tina Cook, bronze, equestrian, individual eventing

Cook's clear round in the final stage of the team event ensured she started the final round in joint sixth place. A second clear round on Miner's Frolic and errors from three of her rivals handed her bronze.

Emma Pooley, silver, cycling, women's time-trial

Pooley played her part in team-mate Nicole Cooke's win in the road race, but ensured she too got on the podium with a fine performance in the time trial.

DAY SEVEN

Jamie Staff, Jason Kenny, Chris Hoy, gold, track cycling, men's team sprint

Britain were the undoubted kings of the velodrome and they made a great start as the team sprint trio took the first gold medal. They set a world best time in qualifying and then eased into the final with another quick time, where they beat France.

DAY EIGHT

Rebecca Adlington, gold, swimming, women's 800m freestyle

Adlington added to her 400m medal by winning over the longer distance in a world record time of eight minutes, 14.01 seconds. It was a world record that had stood since 1989 and made the Mansfield 19-year-old the first British woman to win two golds in the pool.

Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington, bronze, rowing, women's double sculls

Britain's first rowing medal of the 2008 Games came as Laverick and Bebington only just missed out on a higher prize in a tight finish behind New Zealand and Germany.

Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham, bronze, rowing, men's double sculls

Less than 20 minutes later, Britain had its second medal in the rowing regatta, with Wells and Rowbotham producing another good performance.

Tom James, Steve Williams, Pete Reed and Andy Triggs Hodge, gold, rowing, men's four

Britain's flagship rowing team lived up to expectations by taking gold in the men's four for the third Olympics running. They did so in dramatic style, coming from almost almost a length back to pip Australia and claim first place.

Chris Newton, bronze, track cycling, men's points race

The points race presented 34-year-old Newton with the chance to win an individual medal, having been part of the team pursuit sides in both Sydney and Athens.

Steven Burke, bronze, track cycling, men's individual pursuit

DAY NINE

Alex Partridge, Tom Stallard, Tom Lucy, Richard Egington, Josh West, Alastair Heathcote, Matt Langridge, Colin Smith and cox Acer Nethercott, silver, rowing, men's eight

The men's eight earned a silver in a closely-fought race. They produced a storming second half of the race and almost hauled in the winning crew of Canada.

Louis Smith, bronze, gymnastics, pommel horse

Smith rounded off a brilliant middle weekend with a surprise medal in the gym. The 19-year-old from Cambridgeshire had qualified for the final in fifth place but produced a fine performance to become the first British man to win an individual gymnastics medal.

DAY TEN

Joe Glanfield & Nick Rogers, silver, sailing, men's 470

Rogers and Glanfield were fourth going into the medal race of their class and after reaching the turn in ninth they fought their way back to win a medal.

Paul Manning, Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, gold, track cycling, men's team pursuit

The British quartet smashed the world record when beating Denmark in the final, having breezed through the qualifying rounds in great style.

DAY ELEVEN

Paul Goodison, gold, sailing, Laser

Goodison only needed to finish ahead of Sweden's Rasmus Myrgren to guarantee gold so he intelligently covered his rival throughout and kept the pair right at the back of the field, but finishing ninth was good enough for victory.

Victoria Pendleton, gold, track cycling, women's individual sprint

Pendleton laid down a marker throughout the competition with a series of impressive times - including some quicker than the a handful of competitors in the men's sprint, and eventually prevailed by beating Anna Meares of Australia 2-0 in the best of three final.

Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, gold and silver, track cycling, men's individual sprint

Hoy and Kenny set up an all-British final, and it was Hoy who came up trumps for his third gold medal of the Games, making him the second Brit ever to achieve a hat-trick in one Games, matching the achievement of swimmer Henry Taylor from 1908.

Germaine Mason, silver, athletics, high jump

Mason won Britain's first track and field medal of the Games when he equalled his personal best of 2.34m to take silver.

Christine Ohuruogu, gold, athletics, women's 400m

Ohuruogu ran a perfectly paced race to clinch the first gold for Britain in the event. Ohuruogu was out of the medals coming into the home straight but powered through the field to win ahead of Shericka Williams and Sanya Richards in a time of 49.62 seconds.

DAY TWELVE

Keri-Anne Payne and Cassie Patten, silver and bronze, swimming, women's open water

The debut of open water swimming in the Olympics brought a fine pair of British performances. Payne and Patten - who train together in Stockport - led right from the start until being overhauled by Larisa Ilchenko in the final 750m of the 10,000m race.

Bryony Shaw, bronze, sailing, women's RS:X windsurfing

Shaw started the day in third place in the standings, and despite moving into the gold medal position briefly during the race, her second place finish in the final medal race was eventually only good enough for the bronze medal.

Natasha Danvers, bronze, athletics, women's 400m hurdles

Danvers was always in medal contention after a superb run and held off a late surge from Anastasiya Rabchenyuk of Ukraine to seal bronze in a new personal best time.

DAY THIRTEEN

David Davies, silver, swimming, men's open water

Davies became the only British man to win a medal in swimming in Beijing. Like Payne and Patten the previous day, he led from the outset but was pegged back by Holland's Maarten van der Weijden in the home straight.

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, gold, sailing, Star

Percy and Simpson made it four golds and six medals overall in Qingdao. They finished fifth in their medal race in the Star class, but the Swedish boat trailed in behind them to secure gold for Britain.

Phillips Idowu, silver, athletics, triple jump

Idowu had to settle for silver despite an impressive 17.62m - his best jump of the season - losing out by five centimetres to Nelson Evora of Portugal.

DAY FOURTEEN

Tim Brabants, gold, canoeing, men's K1 1,000m

The 31-year-old doctor from Walton-on-Thames led throughout the race at the Shunyi Rowing Park and held off defending champion Eirik Larsen to take the gold.

Heather Fell, silver, modern pentathlon

Fell ensured that Britain maintained its record of winning at least one medal in every modern pentathlon at the Olympics. After a promising start in the pistol shooting and fencing, a season's best 200m swim put Fell in second, a place she maintained after the equestrian and she ran well to hold on to the silver medal place.

Tony Jeffries, bronze, boxing, light-heavyweight

Jeffries earned a bronze medal in the light-heavyweight division after a 10-2 win over Hungary's Imre Szello secured his medal. He was well beaten by Kenny Egan in the semi-final.

David Price, bronze, boxing, super heavyweight

Price's Lithuanian opponent Jaroslav Jaksto was forced to pull out at the end of the first round of the quarter-final bout with a leg injury. Price was stopped himself after being outclassed by Roberto Cammarelle of Italy, but a bronze was a pleasing outcome for the Liverpool boxer.

DAY FIFTEEN

Tim Brabants, bronze, canoeing, men's K1 500m

Brabants became Britain's sixth multiple medallist in Beijing with a bronze in his weaker 500m event, almost snatching silver in a thrilling finish to the race.

Sarah Stevenson, bronze, taekwondo, women's +67kg

Stevenson was trailing 1-0 to China's Zhong Chen in her quarter-final bout when she caught her rival with a head kick, worth two points, in the dying seconds, only for it to not be given by the judges. An appeal followed and the result was sensationally overturned, putting Stevenson into the semi-final. Stevenson did lose the semi-final to Mexico's Maria Espinoza, but then saw off Egyptian Nowa Abd Rabo to secure Britain's first ever taekwondo medal.

James Degale, gold, boxing, middleweight

Degale produced the best performance of his career to beat Cuba's Emilio Correa 16-14 in an enthralling contest. Degale raced into a 6-1 lead in the first round - in which he claimed he had been bitten by his opponent - and then led 9-4 at the halfway point. The Cuban cut into his lead in the third but Degale fought sensibly to cling on to gold.