Latest in long line of white rose heroes on podium

White rose athletes have been hailed as “brilliant” after proud Yorkshire folk pointed out that their performances meant the county would rank ahead of countries including Japan and Australia in the medal table.

Yesterday Alistair Brownlee’s spectacular gold medal-winning performance in the triathlon, combined with his younger brother Jonny’s bronze in the same race, helped take the UK’s largest county to tenth in the medal rankings.

Competitors from the county have now won five golds, two silvers and three bronzes. They represent almost 25 per cent of Team GB’s total gold haul.

As countries on the medal table are ranked first by golds won, an independent Yorkshire yesterday afternoon stood ahead of the Netherlands and narrowly behind Germany.

There were jubilant scenes in the brothers’ home city of Leeds yesterday as spectators gathered to watch the triathletes dominate the field.

And on Saturday there were similar scenes in Sheffield as local hero and Team GB poster girl Jessica Ennis won gold in the heptathlon.

Earlier this week former cricket umpire Dickie Bird said the realisation that his beloved Yorkshire would be beating entire nations was “absolutely brilliant”.

The Brownlees and Ennis are joined by cyclist Ed Clancy, who was born in Barnsley and brought up in Huddersfield, rowers Andrew Triggs-Hodge, from Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales, and Kat Copeland, who comes from Ingleby Barwick, near Middlesbrough.

Other Yorkshire medallists are Lizzie Armitstead, from Otley, who won Team GB’s first medal, a silver in the women’s cycling road race; Nicola Wilson, from Northallerton, who won silver in the team eventing competition; and rower Tom Ransley, who lives in York and rows for York City Rowing Club, who was part of the British men’s eight crew which won bronze.

Meanwhile Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland worked out that were his constituency an independent nation it would be currently sitting 32nd in the medal table.

Mr Mulholland, who is the constituency MP for both Brownlee brothers and who competed in this year’s London Marathon, said he was the proudest MP in the country.

The Liberal Democrat posted on Twitter “My constituency of LeedsNW is 32nd in the London2012 Medals Table ahead of Spain, Switzerland, Mexico and Belgium.”