Brits punch above their weight

HEROIC Team GB athletes struck gold yesterday with two Olympic champions being crowned on Day Three at the Paris Olympics.

- Paul Jeeves

A thrilling display of competition also produced four further medals to take the team's total to 10 and rocket us to seventh in the table.

Golds went to eventing trio Laura Collett, Tom McEwen and Ros Canter as well as mountain biking hero Tom Pidcock.

Silvers were snapped up by canoeist Adam Burgess, swimmer Matt Richards plus diving wonders Tom Daley and Noah Williams while Collett snaffled a bronze in the individual eventing competition.

The surge sparked the Prince and Princess of Wales to post: "Congratulations to the equestrian eventing team and Tom Pidcock.

Here's to more success ahead." Tokyo 2020 champions Collett and McEwen were joined by world number one Canter to grab victory in the final showjumping stage at Chateau de Versailles.

It marked a particularly amazing success for Collett, 34, who had been left in a coma for a week after her horse fell on top of her in a cross-country event in 2013.

The rider from Cheltenham in Gloucester suffered a punctured lung, lacerated liver, a fractured shoulder and two broken ribs as well as losing the sight in one eye.

She was left fighting for life and unconscious yet she returned to compete.