Has Britain finally become a nation of Winners?

After an unprecedented run of success from Andy Murray and friends, can we dare to dream of a new era of sustained British sporting success?

Many may expect it to be a fleeting phenomenon, much like this scorching heat wave, but there has never been a better time to be a British sports fan. Whisper it, but we may soon be able to define a British sports person, not by their personalities or plucky courage (sorry Eddie the Eagle!), but by their actual achievements and winning results.

Biennial footballing failure, Ashes losses and Wimbledon semi final exits are all cliches of the British sporting summer and the last two years has provided the perfect tonic to a sustained history as sporting nearly men.

Fans have been privileged to witness some of the most iconic moments in British sporting history. It all started with the overachievement of the London 2012 Olympics, followed by back to back Tour De France victories from Bradley Wiggins and Chriss Froome, Justin Rose became the first English golfer since 1970 to win the US Open, a legendary British Lions rugby team won their tour of Australia and as I write the England cricket team seem nailed on for 2013 Ashes victory (we can even afford to be confident these days!). Not forgetting what some would argue is the most impressive of them all, Andy Murray winning the Wimbledon Men’s Singles trophy on Centre Court, after 70 years without a British male winner!

Looking at the nature of these victories, even they defy the stereotype of past British sporting successes, these weren’t narrow victories snatched from the jaws of defeat. Instead we saw controlled, tactical and devastating performances - whilst sometimes nerve wracking, they looked likely throughout.

A variety of factors have contributed to British successes, firstly moves to professionalism in sports such as Rugby, Athletics after the aberration of the 1996 olympics and cycling which now has a team the envy of the world. Immigration has also played its part, a broadening of the talent pool allowed for example Somalian born Mo Farah to sweep to glory representing the country which he moved to at the age of 8 and South African born cricketers have also proved integral to British cricketing successes. Britain has long been a nation of immigrants stretching back to the Roman Empire, much like America the UK has embraced these newcomers.

Of course, this is not to say Britain is now set for a glorious run of sporting success for years to come. Margins of victory still depend on individual performances, inspired tactical decisions, hard training and this can all still turn on one bad decision. However, maybe the Olympic legacy is in fact a turning point in British sporting achievement, a collective realisation that we could be a nation of winners and the last two years have provided plenty of evidence for optimism for continued future success.

Even if these feats are never repeated and Britain’s return to their status as plucky underdogs, their are plenty of memories that will last a lifetime for sports fan’s and we have documented these iconic moments firsthand over at http://www.sportphotogallery.com/