Pretty posh and from the shires, Britain's 2008 Beijing Olympic heroes

It has been Britain's best Olympics for 100 years; with a thrilling haul of 18 gold medals hoisting Team GB to a historic third in the overall standings with two days of the games to go.

Those who expected Britain to again be left behind traditional sporting powerhouses such as Australia and Russia have been left to wonder where Britain's fresh wave of Olympians has come from.

Some critics, such as Tessa Sanderson, who won gold in the javelin at 1984 Los Angeles games, have voiced concerns that Britain's haul of 67 medals, as handed out per athlete, is predominantly a victory for rich kids.

She said this week: "At present over 50 per cent of the British Olympic team is from higher social groups and 70 per cent from independent schools. We want this to change."

But is Sanderson correct in saying British Olympic success is the domain of the privileged few? Channel 4 News online surveyed where each of Britain's medallists went to secondary school, to separate the concerns and facts.

Of the total 67 medals handed out to Brits so far, 23 went to athletes educated at independent schools - more than 34 per cent, a third of medals picked up by the UK.

The high percentage contrasts steeply with the estimated seven per cent of pupils in the UK who go to public schools; meaning such schools are significantly out-performing their state school counterparts.

Overall 38 medals went to comprehensive school students, 23 to independent schools, two to grammar schools, two are unspecified and one athlete left school at 16.

The high percentage of ex-public school pupils may not come as a surprise - given Britain's success in sports which are traditionally seen as upper-class such as rowing and sailing - but the geographical spread of winners is interesting too.

It seems the shires and provincial towns have beaten their metropolitan counterparts.

While counties such as Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire and Cheshire can each boast three medals each, some of Britain's biggest cities, including Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester appear to have been left empty-handed.

Greater London - with its population of 8 million - won just four medals, leaving the capital a long way to go if it wants to herald some home-grown winners in 2012.

Our research was drawn from a mixture of newspaper cuttings, athlete biographies and the athletes themselves. The medals data was correct up to Noon on 22 August 2008.

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