From rugby to fencing – the Olympic sports in Paris that Team GB won’t be in

Team GB are eyeing a record medal haul at the Paris Olympics but they will have to do it without competing in a number of events.

Team GB have claimed a historic haul of up to 70 podiums are possible this summer to challenge France, China, and the USA in the medal table.

To do so will require near perfection from the events our stars are competing in, with plenty of venues not set to host the Union flag.

Two of those include the Champ-de Mars-Arena and the Grand Palais, with Britain moving past some of the most historic of Olympic sports.

Football

It might be the most popular sport in Britain, but neither the men nor the women will be fielding a team at the Paris tournaments.

British teams featured in the Olympic football events until the 1970s but an ongoing dispute ended their involvement in recent times.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland feared losing their independence in FIFA/UEFA competitions should they continue to compete alongside England as a single entity at the Games.

A brief exception for London 2012 was made with the Olympics on UK soil following assurances from FIFA and strained negotiations.

Eventually, a squad that contained 13 English and 5 Welsh players but no Scottish or Northern Irish representatives were formed but lost in the quarter-finals and haven’t been reformed since.

Team GB’s reason for no women’s team is much more straightforward – the Lionesses’ runner-up spot in their Nations League group meant they missed out on qualification.

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Rugby Sevens (Men)

Team GB are in Pool B for the women’s tournament, with fixtures against Ireland and Australia.

However, the men’s rugby sevens team failed to qualify after losing 14-5 to South Africa in the repechage final in Monaco last month.

Team GB had won silver at Rio 2016 and lost the bronze medal match to Argentina in Tokyo before a horror qualifying campaign for Paris.

Britain finished ninth during the World Rugby Sevens Series in 2022-23 to miss out on the top four automatic qualifying spots.

They then lost to Ireland in the 2023 European Games final to miss out on the regional qualifying place.

Their final opportunity to return to the Olympic stage name in June, but South Africa, bronze medallists in Brazil, emerged as victors.

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Wrestling

Professional wrestling in the UK is flourishing, with WWE holding premium live events in Wales, England, and Scotland from 2022-24.

The sports entertainment company has a broadcast deal with TNT Sports, with rivals AEW returning to Wembley Stadium in August.

However, its success hasn’t translated to amateur wrestling, which is among the oldest of all Olympic sports.

Team GB has a proud heritage across both freestyle and Greco-Roman events, winning ten medals at London’s first Games in 1908.

The scarce pool of talent in the past 40 years has meant that Noel Loban’s bronze in 1984 was the last medalist in wrestling for Team GB.

Their last competitor was Ukraine-born Olga Butkevych, who was only granted a UK passport on appeal ten weeks before London 2012, and lost in the first round after just six minutes.

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Fencing

Team GB have won nine fencing medals in its Olympic history, but only one was gold – Gillian Sheen’s heroics at Melbourne in 1956.

But following a poor showing in Rio eight years ago, Fencing became one of five sports to lose all UK Sport funding for the Tokyo Games – having received £3.1 million for Brazil.

That meant Team GB had just one fencer at the last Olympics, with Marcus Mepstead losing 15-13 against Egypt’s Mohamed Hamza in the opening round of the Men’s individual foil.

And that has been reduced to zero this time around after Carolina Stutchbury, Britain’s top female foilist and reigning Junior European Champion, suffered heartbreak in the final ‘Zonal’ qualifying tournament in Luxembourg in April.

The teenager was five points ahead of top seed Malina Calugareanu in the final before the Romanian rallied to win 10-9 and take the Olympic place.

Georgina Usher, CEO of BF, said: “Whilst overall we are disappointed that our athletes did not secure a qualification slot, we recognise the commitment and hard work put in by all the athletes and their coaches to get them to this point.

“For Carolina, the youngest member of the squad at eighteen, to finish such a close second at this tournament against a highly experienced opponent, is a mark of her incredible performance trajectory. We have no doubt we will see her competing in LA in 2028.”

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Pistol shooting

Considering the increased firearms regulations in the UK, perhaps this one isn’t a total shock.

The National Shooting Centre at Bisley is the only venue that allows athletes who use .22 calibre pistols to train so the odds were thin.

Olympic shooting is split into three categories – shotgun, pistol and rifle – with Great Britain boasting 47 medals, including 13 golds.

However, 1912 was the last time one of those was won with a pistol.

Georgina Geikie was Team GB’s only representative this century but she finished 37th and 47th in her two events at London 2012.

Six shooters will represent the home nations in Paris but again rifles and shotguns are preferred over pistols.

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And the rest

Rhythmic gymnastics

• Introduced in 1984 – Zero Team GB medals
• Only seven representatives (None since 2012)
• Zero top-20 finishes at the Olympics

Volleyball

• Great Britain have never won an Olympic volleyball medal
• Only appearance in the sport came at London 2012
• The women’s squad finished ninth and the men 11th

Handball

• No medals and only appearance came at London 2012 as hosts
• Men and women’s team both came bottom of Group A
• Women’s team failed to qualify from tournament in April

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