Britain basks in golden medal glory

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain basked in the glow of its haul of gold medals at the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday with commentators hailing its "glorious" sporting heroes and declaring Team GB as the one with the Midas touch.

"Team GB go gold, gold, gold," sang the front page of the Guardian newspaper, while the Telegraph said Britain had conquered a "golden milestone" with its tally of Olympic gold medals reaching its highest for a century.

Many newspapers described Tuesday as a "golden day" for Britain, with gold medals in cycling, sailing and on the athletics track boosting what the Times described as the "ever-bulging Olympic Games swag bag".

"Team GB's excellence has left the rest of the world shaking their heads," the Times said, adding that even the Australians -- who mock Britons for being successful only at the "sitting-down sports" of sailing, rowing and cycling -- were now impressed.

For a nation that sometimes seems secretly to enjoy the label of "not so great Britain", the excitement of a rare greater-than-expected performance quickly spilled over into fresh ambitions for this Games, and the Olympics in London in 2012.

"These Olympics have offered more than mere diversion from a dismal summer of grey skies and economic gloom," said the Independent in its editorial column.

"They have stirred in British breasts a pride and confidence which can be transformative."

The Sun tabloid -- the biggest selling daily newspaper -- said the "great haul of China" of 16 golds so far for Team GB had prompted Olympic team managers to set their sights on a total of 20 gold medals from the Beijing Games.