Magic Monday: how the papers celebrated Team GB’s Olympic glory

This morning’s giddy UK front pages are devoted to Team GB’s Olympic glory on Monday, after its athletes won gold medals for swimming, diving and mountain biking – and a flashy pair of silver medals, too, for triathlon and taekwondo.

The Guardian’s splash is focused on diver Tom Daley, pictured with teary eyes above his face mask. Daley won gold with his diving partner Matty Lee 13 years after his first Games, and had supporters reaching for towels to dry their eyes after he said: “I feel incredibly proud to say that I am a gay man and also an Olympic champion. When I was younger I didn’t think I’d ever achieve anything because of who I was. To be an Olympic champion now just shows that you can achieve anything.”

Guardian Sport’s front page headline is “Three glorious golds in Tokyo for Team GB”.

The Daily Express calls the champions “Golden Wonders” on its front page, and has a jubilant sports front page, with the headline “Big in Japan” and a photograph of swimmer Adam Peaty, who was the first member of Team GB on Monday to win big, also becoming the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title, after retaining his 100m breaststroke title. Peaty said he hopes the wins will “lift the nation out of Covid gloom”, the Express reports.

The Times has a calmer front page with “Gold rush on magic Monday for Team GB” and a picture of Daley and Lee showing off their medals. The story calls the win “unexpected – and hugely satisfying”.

The Independent is also slightly more subdued, with pictures of each of the gold medal winners under the headline “The golden boys”. Its sport front page it calls Adam Peaty and his victory “unstoppable, inevitable”.

The Daily Telegraph is emblazoned in ecstatic photos of the champions with the headline “Magic Monday: Three golds for Team GB (and one agonising near miss) as Tom Daley finally tastes Olympic glory”.

The FT features an elegant vertical shot of Daley and Lee in action – suspended in the air with their legs up and toes pointed, under the headline “Diving for gold”.

The i’s headline is “Magic Monday” over a photo of the gold winners. “‘Baby of Beijing finally comes of age in Tokyo”, it writes of Daley.

The Daily Mirror’s splash is “Pool’s Gold”.

Metro has the image of Daley in his mask, too, under the glittering headline “Golden Bawls”.