Tokyo Olympics: Team GB claim six medals on day four following historic swimming and gymnastics success

Team GB added six medals to their Olympic tally on day four of the Tokyo Games, after historic success in the pool and the gymnasium.

It is enjoying its best start to an Olympic Games in modern history, securing 13 medals on a Tuesday full of notable achievements.

Britain added to Monday’s gold rush, kicked off by Adam Peaty, when a fourth gold medal went to 21-year-old swimmer Tom Dean in the men’s 200m freestyle.

He won alongside fellow Briton Duncan Scott, who secured silver, making it the first one-two for Britain in an Olympic swimming final since 1908.

“I knew it was going to be a dogfight, I didn’t know how people were going to swim it, just race the race and that’s how it is,” Dean said.

It comes after Dean caught COVID twice in the run-up to the Games, meaning he couldn’t train for weeks.

Meanwhile, Britain won a bronze medal in the women’s team gymnastics for the first time since 1928.

It came amid a dramatic competition which saw the Russian Olympic Committee take gold over the United States after Simon Biles pulled out due to a “medical issue”.

Shortly after, Charlotte Dujardin, Carl Hester and Charlotte Fry took bronze in the dressage team final.

Dujardin has now won five Olympic medals putting her on par with rower Catherine Grainger for the most medals won by a British female athlete.

Elsewhere, team GB’s Bianca Walkden battled back from a disappointing semi-final loss to win bronze in the over-67kg taekwondo category at the Olympics.

The 29-year-old from Liverpool secured the second Olympic bronze of her career with the win over Polish opponent Aleksandra Kowalczuk.

Georgia Taylor-Brown won silver for Team GB in the women’s triathlon early on Tuesday, despite a flat tyre during the cycling section.

Taylor-Brown, who may have challenged for gold but for the puncture, secured silver behind Bermuda’s Flora Duffy who took gold to become Bermuda’s first-ever Olympic champion.

The 27-year-old told Sky News: “As a kid I always wanted one of these medals. I just wanted to be an Olympian.

“But then you think ‘that’s a dream I had as a 10-year-old. I’m 27, is it ever going to become a reality?’ And yeah this morning it did.”

There was heartbreak for Britain’s Kimberley Woods in the women’s kayak single event.

She made it to the final after qualifying second in her heat but didn’t manage to win a medal after making an error early on in one of her runs.

Elsewhere, there was an upset in the tennis.

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Japan’s Naomi Osaka – also one of the stars of the Games – was beaten by Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4 in the third round.

Osaka, who lit the Olympic cauldron in Friday’s opening ceremony, had won her opening two matches in straight sets.

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