Lord Coe hails Team GB

11:30pm Monday 25th August 2008

Lord Sebastian Coe paid tribute to the British team and the boost their performance had given to the next Olympics in London following their return from Beijing.

Lord Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Games, told BBC1: "Team GB have just provided us with the most extraordinary platform.

"Those guys just performed way beyond what I think any of us were expecting."

Rower Steve Williams, who won a gold medal as part of the men's four, was elated at the reception given to the British team when their plane landed at Heathrow.

"We were looking out of the windows and everyone at Heathrow was waving flags," he said.

Teenage diver Tom Daley revealed he planned to return to training after some time off to rest after the Olympics.

"It's just been great, it really has," he said. "I think I'm going to have a few days off. Then I will be back to hard training."