UK Sport has congratulated all the Home Nations on their fantastic performances at the Commonwealth Games in Australia after they collectively won 229 medals at Gold Coast 2018, 65 of which were gold.
Team England finished 2nd on the medal table with 136 medals, Team Wales finished 7th with 36 medals, Team Scotland were 8th with 44 medals, Team Northern Ireland were 20th with 12 medals and the Isle of Man were 34th with one medal.
The results in Australia show the monumental impact that National Lottery funding has had on the high performance system in the UK.
Gold Coast 2018 has been praised by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) as a huge success with a positive and friendly atmosphere proving one of the main aspects of the event.
UK Sport CEO Liz Nicholl said: “All of our Home Nations should feel justifiably proud of their success at these Games.
“Congratulations to all those whose have worked with real dedication behind the scenes and to the experienced athletes and emerging talent, their coaches and technical staff for producing so many inspirational medal winning moments.
“The performances from the Home Nations are a real testament to the impact of National Lottery funding at UK and home nation level and the strength of our performance system.
“We saw clearly in Australia that the “Friendly Games” is an event that promotes opportunity, community and equality across the Commonwealth.
“Huge credit must go to the Gold Coast 2018 Organising Committee and all of our Australian friends for hosting a spectacular Games and to the Commonwealth Games Federation for overseeing the amazing competition.
“The event has been a great platform for up and coming Home Nation Podium Potential athletes to experience a multi-sport arena for the first time and for our more established names to produce great performances that have inspired the nation back at home.”
The next Commonwealth Games in 2022 will see Birmingham host the event as it returns to the UK for the third time in 20 years following successful editions of the competition at Manchester in 2002 and Glasgow in 2014.
UK Sport provided technical expertise and support in helping Birmingham win the bid to secure the Commonwealth Games, which are set to be the biggest major multi-sport event in the UK since London 2012 and Glasgow 2014.
Birmingham 2022 is now part of UK Sport’s ambitious plans to maintain the country’s position as a world-leading host of major sporting events into the 2020s.
As the government’s specialist major events agency, UK Sport will invest almost £30m over eight years (2017-2025) to bring some of the world’s top sporting events to towns and cities across the country.
Events already secured in addition to Birmingham 2022 include the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup, 2018 Boccia World Championships, 2019 Netball World Cup and 2019 World Road Cycling Championships.
Projections of staged, secured and target events from UK Sport’s 2017-2025 hosting programme include 7.2m spectators and an anticipated economic impact of over £440m.