Tokyo Olympics: Great Britain enjoy best-ever start to an Olympic games as they claim six more medals on day four of Tokyo 2020

Swimmer Tom Dean claimed Great Britain’s fourth gold in Japan while Leeds-based Georgia Taylor-Brown took silver in the women’s triathlon, swimmer Duncan Scott won silver and Bianca Walkden earned bronze in the women’s +67kg taekwondo.

British history was made in the women’s team gymnastics as a largely-inexperienced quartet rose to the occasion to win bronze and GB’s first medal in the event for 93 years.

The final medal of the day came when Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin, Carl Hester and Charlotte Fry scored 7,723.0 in the team dressage to claim bronze.

At the close of action on day four, Great Britain sat fifth in the medal table with four golds and 13 medals - five silver and four bronze - in total.

Taylor-Brown claimed the first British medal of day four as she fought back from a puncture on the last lap of the bike leg in the women’s triathlon.

“I did have a panic. I decided not to stop and change my wheel and just see what happens now,” she reflected.

“I went really hard for the first lap of the run. I suffered after that but it paid off. I was biding my time. I didn’t want to push it too soon because I was really suffering but I really wanted to move up and get the silver medal.”

Bermuda’s Flora Duffy won the event and made history as her country became the least populous nation ever to win an Olympic gold.

Taylor-Brown, who was almost ruled out of the games by a leg injury, did not feel the puncture affected the outcome, adding: “I didn’t have the speed that Flora had today, no way. I’m more than happy with silver.”

Dean’s gold came in the 200m freestyle as he edged out compatriot Duncan Scott by 0.04 seconds in a sensational race in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

His victory was all the more remarkable considering he had tested positive for Covid-19 at the start of the year - the second time he had contracted the virus.

He finished with a British record time of one minute and 44.22 seconds to beat Scott, who had reached the freestyle final as the fastest qualifier.

The one-two on the podium broke records as it was the first time since the 1908 London Olympics that two British male swimmers shared a podium while Dean is the first British man for 113 years to claim gold in an individual freestyle event.

“I had six or seven weeks out during an Olympic year which is essentially unheard of,” reflected Dean after claiming gold.

“Two or three months out from our Olympic trials, I’m stuck inside, unable to even exercise inside my own flat. It was tough to wrap my head around that.

“When I was sitting in my flat in isolation, Olympic gold seemed like a million miles off. But here we are. This is the single greatest achievement in my life. It’s a dream come true to wear Olympic gold around my neck.”

Silver medalist Scott added: “I’m buzzing for Deano, he’s had a really strange 18 months with Covid twice and a monster PB at trials but to see him move it on again and win gold is phenomenal.

“Our best possible outcome is one-two and we delivered on that, and I got a PB in the final as well so I’m really happy, can’t complain at all.”

In taekwondo, Walkden shook off the disappointment of losing her semi-final to defeat Poland’s Aleksandra Kowalczuk in the bronze medal bout. She lost to South Korea’s Lee Da-bin in an agonising 25-24 defeat after being made the favourite to win gold.

She is now a two-time Olympic medalist, however, after claiming bronze at Rio 2016.

In gymnastics, USA superstar Simone Biles was forced to pull out of the final as the United States finished in the silver medal positions. The Russian Olympic Committee team won gold while GB’s bronze medal completed the podium.

It was GB’s third-placed finish that stole the show as Alice Kinsella, Amelie Morgan and 16-year-old twins Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova snatched bronze in the final stages of the event.

A 14.033 from Morgan in their final floor display saw them leapfrog Japan and Italy into the medal positions.

The final medal of the day came in the dressage and it rounded off a wonderful day for Britain. Dujardin equalled the most number of Olympic medals won by a British woman while

Yorkshire-born Fry made her games debut while all three team horses had never previously competed at an Olympics.

Elsewhere, Team GB’s men’s rugby sevens set up a semi-final against New Zealand as they came from 21-0 down to beat USA 26-21 in a dramatic quarter-final.

Caroline Weir’s late equaliser saw Great Britain go through as winners of Group E in the women’s football following a 1-1 draw with Canada.