King hails competitors as Paris Olympics come to an end

The King has sent a message to mark the end of the Paris Olympics, congratulating competitors and describing them as “an inspiration”.

The statement from Charles was released ahead of the closing ceremony in the Stade de France which is set to begin at 9pm (8pm BST).

The King’s message reads: “My wife joins me in sending our warmest congratulations to the competitors and their support teams from Team GB and across the whole Commonwealth, for their many outstanding successes at the Olympic Games in Paris.

“Your achievements, across so many disciplines, were forged from that invaluable combination of raw talent, true grit and hard toil over many years, burnished these past weeks by sportsmanship and team spirit in the finest tradition of the Games.

“To those who missed out on the greatest prizes, you have most certainly not fallen short in the pride that you, too, have generated for your nations.

“As we thank France for hosting such a wonderful tournament and look to the Paralympics ahead, I can only say that you have all been an inspiration.”

But Team GB won eight fewer gold medals than in Tokyo three years ago and were 13 down on the 27 collected at Rio 2016.

A final return of 14 gold, 22 silver and 29 bronze saw Britain slip to seventh spot in the medal table – its lowest place since finishing 10th at Athens 2004 – and third-best European nation behind hosts France and the Netherlands.

Traditional Olympic sports such as athletics, cycling and swimming returned medals, while rowing banished its Tokyo nightmare to win three golds in a strong regatta.

But newer sports such as skateboarding, taekwondo and trampolining also had success, while Team GB won its first-ever medals in sport climbing.

Team GB have already made a start to planning for the Los Angeles 2028 Games by securing Stanford University as its exclusive preparation camp.