Great Britain at the 2015 European Games
Great Britain participated at the 2015 European Games, in Baku, Azerbaijan from 12 to 28 June 2015. As this was the inaugural Games, this was Great Britain's first appearance.
Before the Games
On 17 October 2014, the British Olympic Association announced that 14 sports and 20 disciplines were seeking qualification for the games.On 23 April 2015, the British Olympic Association announced the selection of a team of 153 athletes to compete at the Games with a further 10 male boxers to be chosen shortly. Although Great Britain had won several quota places in both badminton and cycling they have chosen not to participate in these sports in Baku. On 6 May 2015, the British Olympic Association named an additional ten athletes – 9 boxing, 1 shooting – to complete the British team to compete in Baku.
On 2 June 2015, it was announced that five athletes had withdrawn from the British team: Lisa Whiteside, Tyesha Mattis and Rebecca Tunney, and Helen Jenkins and Jess Learmonth. Mattis and Tunney were replaced by Charlie Fellows and Georgina Hockenhull.
Games Summary
Great Britain left the inaugural Games with a total of 47 medals, finishing third in the medal table rankings, and fourth in the total number of medal rankings. At least one medal was awarded to Team GB in nine sports, seven of them contained at least one gold. Great Britain topped the medal table in triathlon, and diving, although the most successful sport for Great Britain was swimming, with 23 medals, seven gold.Seventeen British athletes won more than a single European Games medal in Baku, with the most successful being swimmers Duncan Scott, with three golds and three silvers, both the most successful and most decorated athlete and Luke Greenback with two golds and two silvers, as well as a world junior record in 200 metres backstroke, the only other multiple gold medalist. Abbie Wood, with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals was the most successful female competitor for Great Britain, and one of three athletes, with diver James Heatly and fellow swimmer Martyn Walton, to win at least one medal of every colour. Georgia Coates, with five medals, was the most decorated female competitor for Great Britain at the Games.
The first medal, and gold medal, won at the Games, and by extension the first ever European Games medal and gold medal ever won by Great Britain was achieved by Gordon Benson in men's triathlon; in doing so, he guaranteed a place in the men's triathlon for Great Britain, though not necessarily for himself, at the 2016 Summer Olympics. His win also continued Great Britain's dominance of the event, holding titles at European, European Games, Commonwealth Games, Youth Olympic and Olympic Games levels.
In the fencing hall, Richard Kruse, Marcus Mepstead, and Ben Peggs won the gold in team foil, defeating Olympic champions Italy, and winning Great Britain's first team fencing medal at European or Global level in fifty years, and the first gold ever at that level.
Seventeen-year-old Amber Hill overcame a marathon shoot off in the final to claim Britain's only shooting Gold in women's skeet, while the pool proved a happy hunting ground, with eleven golds across swimming and diving.
In the boxing hall, Nicola Adams continued her domination of her weight category, to add European Games gold to her Commonwealth and Olympic Games titles. Joe Joyce maintained Great Britain's grip on the super-heavyweight division, taking gold to echo the achievements of Anthony Joshua in the 2012 Summer Olympics. On the taekwondo mat, Jade Jones added the European Games gold to her Olympic title, only months after a controversial loss at the World Championships. Newcomer, and converted kickboxer Charlie Maddock also won gold, but Bianca Walkden was unable to repeat her World title success. Meanwhile, the publicised rivalry between former Great Britain athlete Aaron Cook, now fighting for Moldova, and Olympic bronze medalist Lutalo Mohommad failed to materialise as both lost early in their competition. However, as in 2012, Mohommad recovered to take bronze through the repechage.
After the Games
At the closing ceremony, the flag of Great Britain was brought by Joe Joyce. Although the Games received limited coverage in Great Britain, shown domestically only on BT Sport, a subscription channel, the success of the team, particularly of Olympic champions Adams and Jones helped drive interest. By the conclusion of the Games it was reported that Manchester was considering bidding for the 2023 edition of the Games; following the award of the 2018 European Championships to Glasgow, Scotland and the 2022 Commonwealth Games to Birmingham, England, no further interest in hosting the Games was registered.Medal summary
The following British competitors won medals at the Games.| Medal | Name | Sport | Event | Date | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Triathlon | Men's triathlon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taekwondo | Women's −49kg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taekwondo | Women's −57kg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diving | Women's platform | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amber Hill | Shooting | Women's skeet | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diving | Men's 3m springboard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Matty Lee | Diving | Men's 10m platform | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diving | Women's 3m springboard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Swimming | Women's 400m ind. medley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Swimming | Women's 800m freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Great Britaindts|23 Junegold medalsortname|Luke|Greenbank|Luke Greenbankdts|24 Junegold medalsortname|Nicola|Adams|Nicola Adamsdts|25 Junegold medaldts|25 Junegold medalsortname|Luke|Greenbank|Luke Greenbankdts|26 Junegold medaldts|26 Junegold medalMultiple medalistsThe following Team GB competitors won multiple medals at the 2015 European Games.
ArcheryGreat Britain qualified for three quota places in the women's archery events at the Games, and as a result also qualified for the women's team event. Great Britain qualified for one quota place in the men's event, and as a result also qualified Great Britain for the mixed gender team event.Great Britain endured mixed fortunes at the archery field, failing to qualify from the ranking round for the mixed pairs events, and failing to reach the quarter-finals in any of the disciplines; Kieran Slater's run to the last sixteen in the men's individual, where he lost narrowly to the French archer Plihon, was the strongest British performance.
BoxingGreat Britain qualified four quota places in the women's boxing events, and ten in the men's events, at the Games. The female members of the British boxing squad were confirmed on 23 April 2015. On 6 May 2015, the names of nine boxers were added to the British squad.Great Britain had a relatively successful Games in the boxing ring, with four medals from 14 classes, highlighted by the victories of Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion, and Great Britain flagbearer, Nicola Adams, and Commonwealth Games super-heavyweight champion Joe Joyce, and a first senior medal for Sandy Ryan. Top seed Anthony Fowler lost in his first round bout, as did former world champion and Olympian Savannah Marshall. Great Britain finished fourth in the boxing medal table, narrowly behind Ireland, but well behind superpowers Russia and hosts Azerbaijan. ;Men ;Women Canoe SprintGreat Britain secured places in the following events based on performances at the 2014 Canoe Sprint European Championships.At the canoeing lake, Great Britain were competitive, reaching a number of finals. Their only medal in an Olympic event, however, came from London 2012 champion Ed McKeever, winning silver in his men's K-1 200 metre event. Lani Belcher won Great Britain's other canoeing medal, a silver in the non-Olympic women's canoe marathon event. ;Men ;Women DivingFollowing the European Junior Diving Championships held in July 2014, LEN informed British Swimming that they would receive a full quota of places at the Games. The diving events were all junior events for boys under 18 and girls under 16, and doubled as the European Junior Diving Championships for 2015Great Britain enjoyed huge success in the diving pool, topping the medal table with four golds, a silver and a bronze. James Heatly, having won bronze in the men's 1 metre springboard event, became Great Britain's first multiple medalist in the European Games when he took his second medal, a silver, in the men's synchronized springboard beside Ross Haslam, and went on to complete the set with victory in the men's 3 metre springboard event. Matty Lee and Lois Toulson both took gold in the high platform events, Toulson arguably with the dive of the Games. Katherine Torrance matched Heatly with victory in the women's 3 metre springboard. ;Men ;Women Fencing;Team Events
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