Sky Sports - Summer Olympics - Beijing 2008 - Sponsored by Puma

Over the weekend the 'Great' was really put back into Great Britain's Olympic team as they plundered the medals in Beijing in the greatest two days in Games' history for the country.

A tally of eight golds, four silvers and five bronzes, in five different sports, was a magnificent return and even though some scheduling might have helped make it a truly golden weekend, by anyone's standards it was a fantastic weekend for Team GB.

Taking out the nine golds won in Athens and 11 in a bumper year in Sydney, in just two days the GB team in Beijing scooped more gold medals than the entire Games of every year since 1924.

Britain's cycling and sailing teams delivered, but Rebecca Adlington surprised many with her dominance in her events, and world record, while the rowers also stuck their collective oars in with a few medals.

Here we run through GB's golden moments from the weekend.

Swimming - One gold

19-year-old Rebecca Adlington did have the credentials heading to Beijing to have an impact in the Water Cube, but due to Britain's previous struggles in the pool not too much was expected of the girl from Mansfield.

However, Adlington took the pool by storm, not only winning two golds but smashing world records and re-writing the history books - all in her first Olympics.

Adlington became the first British female swimmer to win a gold for 48 years, and the first double gold medallist in the pool for a century.

The 400m freestyle gold was claimed by a finger tip, but Adlington dominated the 800m to win by six seconds and break a 19-year-old world record - the oldest by some distance in swimming.

All in all Adlington is fully deserving of the Jimmy Choos she has been promised bythe mayor of Mansfield - after she kicked off the weekend for Britain in super style.

Cycling - Three gold, two silver, two bronze

Team GB's cyclists made few friends arriving in Beijing after a dominant World Championships with promises of golds galore and an air of the utmost confidence, bordering on the downright cocky, but even after the first day in the velodrome it was proved fully justified.

Bradley Wiggins summed up Britain's confidence, with the reigning 4km individual pursuit champion expecting nothing less than another gold - three in fact is his target in Beijing.

Wiggins even managed to ride within himself in the final to still win by nearly three seconds, and in the same event Steven Burke took a surprise bronze.

The giant Chris Hoy was also a red-hot favourite for the keirin, and again he delivered, adding a third Olympic gold to his cv to make him the most successful Scottish Olympian of all time.

Hoy's sheer power is frightening and he displayed oodles of it as he pedalled away to a commanding gold - and again there was some added gloss on the performance as Ross Edgar came with a flying late run to bag silver and make it a British one-two.

Speaking of a British one-two, there was another already guaranteed in the women's pursuit as Rebecca Romero took on surprise package Wendy Houvenaghel in the final.

Romero won through in the end to make more history as she added a cycling gold to the rowing silver she won in Athens, and for Houvenaghel a silver was a great bonus.

Reliable but not a headline-grabber is Chris Newton- and he took a solid bronze after a great display in the difficult points race.

Rowing - Two gold, two silver, two bronze

Men's double scullers Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter became Britain's first lightweight champions as they confirmed their position as the world's best in the event.

The men's fours of Tom James, Steve Williams, Peter Reed and Andy Hodge were also big favourites for their event, but they did not look like getting gold after a poor start.

However, a thrilling finish saw the Brits come through, satisfyingly overhauling a big lead for the Australians to hit the line in front.

There was a pair of bronze medals for the men's and women's double sculls, with Steve Rowbotham and Matthew Wells never in gold contention but just missing out on silver.

Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington earlier won the first rowing medal for GB as they took bronze in another tight finish that could have seen them with a better colour medal.

The women's quad sculls scooped the most disappointing silver so far, with Katherine Grainger, Annie Vernon, Debbie Flood and Frances Houghton desperate to win a first women's rowing gold.

Grainger had to settle for a third successive Olympic silver, as China surged through with a late rally to nick the gold from GB's grasp.

The men's eight also earned had to settle for a silver medal and threatened to reel in the leading Canadians with their final push, but they just ran out of water at the line.

Sailing - Two golds

The only thing stopping Ben Ainslie from making it three-in-a-row was the weather, but eventually he got going and duly delivered a third gold.

Although US rival Zach Railey had a slim chance of winning, Ainslie put him in his place by winning the medal race to confirm gold and his place as Britain's most successful sailor.

Britain's Yngling crew of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson held just a one-point lead from the Dutch but in heavy conditions they stayed ahead of their rivals to bag another gold.

Gymnastics - One bronze

Gymnastics is one Great Britain's weaker events and is somewhere they will be looking to improve for 2012 - and Louis Smith could be a great prospect for London in four years' time.

The 19-year-old showed glimpses of brilliance on the pommel horse to secure a surprise bronze and a fine finish to Britain's golden weekend.