Team GB’s Rio Olympics squad: stats, stories and a happy birthday

The Rio Olympics is an epic feat of organisation, man-power and more matching kit and merchandise than you can shake a stick at. Here are some stats from the British camp — AKA Team GB — ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic opening ceremony tonight.

• A whopping 366 British athletes have been selected to travel to Brazil in South America – 164 of those are women and 202 men.

• While the number is far lower than the 542 who competed at London 2012, it is the biggest away squad since the Barcelona Games in 1992.
• The Team GB squad comprises the highest number of female athletes ever to go to a Games from Great Britain. Of the team riders, five are female: Charlotte Dujardin and Fiona Bigwood in dressage and Kitty King, Gemma Tattersall and Pippa Funnell in eventing. Both Lara Griffith (dressage) and Jessica Mendoza (showjumping) are reserves.
• Team GB has representatives in 23 out of the 28 Olympic sports. We have no participants in football (neither in the men’s nor the women’s tournaments), beach volleyball, handball, water polo or wrestling.
• Of this year’s Rio athletes, 151 of them competed in London 2012. Sixty-five of them won medals four years ago.

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• Of the athletes being sent, 303 are participating in an away Olympics for the first time.
• Nick Skelton is the most experienced athlete on the Team GB squad. He will be riding at his seventh Games.
• Artistic gymnast Amy Tinkler is the youngest Team GB athlete. She is just 16.
• John Whitaker is the oldest athlete in Team GB. He turns 61 today. Happy birthday John!

H&H will be following all the action with their three journalists on the ground in Brazil, plus an expansive support team back home, so stick with Horseandhound.co.uk so you don’t miss a moment.

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