Heroes' welcome for Olympians

Updated 23.20 Tue Aug 26 2008

Keywords: olympics, dame, proud, mayor, eggington, mansfield, adlington, gb, sport, rebecca, uk, return, welcome

Britain's Olympic stars have been greeted by a series of homecoming celebrations across the country.

Team GB touched down in the UK to a heroes' welcome after securing Britain's best medal haul for more than a century.

The pool where Rebecca Adlington trained and a local pub will be renamed after her, and she was presented with a £460 pair of gold Jimmy Choo shoes

Thousands of people took to the streets of Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Adlington's home town of Mansfield as she enjoyed an open-top bus tour.

The 19-year-old won gold in the 400m and 800m freestyle events, turning her into Mansfield's greatest sporting success.

The pool where she trained and a local pub will be renamed after her and she was presented with a £460 pair of gold Jimmy Choo shoes by the town's mayor Tony Eggington.

Before boarding the bus she told a packed press conference: "I wasn't expecting this. To come back with two gold medals is just amazing."

Gold medal-winning cyclist Nicole Cooke and other Welsh members of Team GB also enjoyed an open-top bus ride through Cardiff.

Thousands of onlookers lined the streets of the Welsh capital to applaud the athletes who won Wales' first gold medals for 36 years.

Cooke was joined by fellow Olympic champions Geraint Thomas, Tom James and silver medallist swimmer David Davies.

A potential political battle was also ignited with the Tories proposing a shake-up in funding for potential Olympians.

Shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt outlined proposals that would see a ban on funds being used for health and education projects, which the party insists should be paid by the Treasury.

The Royal Mint entered into the Olympic spirit by launching a £2 coin marking the official handover of the Olympic Games from Beijing to London.

London Mayor Boris Johnson arrived back in the UK today bearing the Olympic flag.

He said: "It is fantastic to be able to bring this historic flag back to London after 60 years."