Great Britain have secured second place in the Olympic medal table at the Rio Games after it was confirmed that China could no longer win enough gold medals to overtake them, with Team GB already surpassing their record haul at any Games after surging past the 65 medal count achieved at London 2012.

It means that Britain have become the first ever nation to better their medal haul at an Games that immediately follows a home Olympics, and matters could still get even better on the final day of competition with boxer Joe Joyce in the men’s super heavyweight boxing final.

Throughout the 15-day Olympic Games, Britain has only failed to win medals on two of them, with days one and 12 passing without success. After seeing a number of medal hopefuls miss out early on, there were fears that the Olympics could fall short of expectations, but they have dramatically exceeded them.

Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals Show all 26 1 /26 Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals adam-peaty.jpg Swimming, men's 100m breaststroke Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals joe-clarke-rio-olympics.jpg Canoeing, slalom K1 Jamie Squire/Getty Images Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals diving-laugher-mears.jpg Diving, men's synchronised three-metre springboard Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals cycling-team-sprinters.jpg Cycling, men's team sprint AFP Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals stanning-glover.jpg Rowing, women's pair Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals rowing-rio.jpg Rowing, men's coxless fours Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals team-pursuit.jpg Cycling, men's team pursuit Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals olympic-mens-rowing-eight1.jpg Rowing, men's eight Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals trott-gold-rex.jpg Cycling, women's team pursuit Rex Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals mo-farah-13-8-2016.jpg Athletics, men's 10,000m PA Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals max-whitlock.jpg Gymnastics, men's floor and men's pommel horse Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals justin-rose.jpg Golf, men's individual Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals jason-kenny-3.jpg Cycling, men's individual pursuit and men's keirin Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals andy-murray.jpg Tennis, men's singles Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals Dujardin.jpg Equestrian, individual dressage Arnd Bronkhorst/FEI Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals giles-scott.jpg Sailing, men's finn Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals laura-trott.jpg Cycling, women's omnium Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals jason-kenny-2.jpg Cycling, men's keirin Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals alistair-brownlee.jpg Men's triathlon Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals mills-clark.jpg Sailing, women's 470 Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals jade-jones-2.jpg Taekwondo, women's 57kg Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals nick-skelton.jpg Equestrian, individual jumping Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals hockey-gb.jpg Field hockey Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals liam-heath1.jpg Men's K1 canoe sprint final Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals nicola-adams4.jpg Boxing, women's flyweight Getty Team GB's Rio 2016 gold medals mo-farah3.jpg Athletics, men's 5,000m Getty

The British Olympic Association initially set Team GB the target of winning 48 medals in Rio, one more than they achieved at the 2008 Beijing Games, in the hope of setting a new record for an overseas Olympics. Given the home support and preparation that went into the 2012 London Olympics, the existing best of 65 medals appeared to be a stretch too far, but the BOA could not have been more wrong.

Britain surged past their target of 48 medals with five days left of the Games, and the women’s 4x400m relay bronze on Saturday night saw Team GB claim their 66th medal to beat the London record and confirm that Rio was indeed Great Britain’s most successful ever Olympic Games.

With Joyce guaranteed a medal in the men’s super heavyweight final, Britain will leave Rio with 67 medals, and will feature in the top two most successful nations for the first time in more than 100 years.

“We’re making sporting history - 67 medals, nearly 130 medallists, across 19 sports,” said Liz Nichol, Uk Sport chief executive. “Even the sporting superpowers haven’t done that in the past, but we are one of those now.”

BOA chairman Bill Sweeney put the success down to “20 years of investment” to culminate in “this outstanding performance” in Brazil, adding: “Since National Lottery funding started in 1997, we have had five consecutive [summer] Olympic Games of medal growth - no other country has come close to that.”

Full Olympic medal table:

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