PM hails British Olympians

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The Prime Minister has praised the British Olympic team for its “incredibly impressive achievement” at the Beijing Games that closed on Sunday.

Speaking to the BBC in China, Mr Brown said that team GB’s medal haul was “remarkable” and that the country was now looking forward to hosting the games in 2012.

The PM later attended the closing ceremony where he saw London Mayor Boris Johnson receive the Olympic flag from his Beijing counterpart. The UK will use the Olympics to show the world that it is “totally focused on inspiring people through sports”, he added.

The PM said:

“I think [Beijing] is the best organised Olympics, everybody says so, but as the focus moves today to 2012 then people will look at London, look at Britian afresh and they’ll see that we’re a tremendously diverse country, they’ll see that we’re totally focused on inspiring people through sports.”

On his penultimate day in China, the Prime Minister also revealed that he had spoken with Fifa President Sepp Blatter about the possibility of fielding a GB football team in 2012, saying it was the “right thing to do to have a successful Olympics”.

Great Britain’s success in Beijing led to a fourth-place finish, ahead of sporting rivals Germany and Australia, with a total of 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze medals.