Tokyo 2020 - Team GB ‘on the cusp of making history’ with number of female Olympians selected
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Updated 14/04/2021 at 12:02 GMT
Mark England, effectively the team manager for Great Britain at the Games in Tokyo, says it is a “fantastic story” that over half of the squad which will travel to Japan will be female, outnumbering male athletes for the first time. With 100 days to go, the Chef de Mission says preparations are in good shape.
Chef de Mission Mark England is optimistic Team GB can make history at Tokyo with the number of female Olympians selected
Image credit: Getty Images
Chef de Mission Mark England says Team GB is on the “cusp of history” by selecting more female athletes than male for the Olympics in Tokyo.
It is likely that over half of the squad which will travel to Japan will be women for the first time. 44% were female at Rio 2016 and 48% at London 2012.
With 100 days to go until the Games, many sports are yet to announce who has been selected, but England - who is effectively the overall team manager for Tokyo - says they are close to doing something very significant.
"We know we are on the cusp of making history in that way,” England told .
"We know we have qualified a women's hockey team, we know we have qualified a women's football team, a women's rugby 7s team and so we think it will settle with more women than men in the team.
"It is a fantastic story and is testament to the great work governing bodies are doing at the moment."
We are in really good shape and we are going to take a very strong team. We have got some fantastic opportunities to make history.
Team GB won 67 medals in total at Rio, the country’s best ever haul, which eclipsed the previous mark of 65 at the home Games in London four years previously.
A study by statisticians Gracenote claims the number of medals which will be won in Tokyo will dramatically reduce to 36 - just over half of the amount claimed in Brazil - but England is confident Britain will be successful.
"It's a very high-quality team as you would expect from five years of planning,” he said.
We had a lot of medallists retire after Rio and maybe for some sports, last year would have been a step too far to replicate that.
"But the extra year, for example with our rowing team, they have had an extra 12 months on the water to train.
"They've been buoyed by the return of Helen Glover, it is fantastic to have her back in the seat of the boat and we will see whether she gets selected, and if she is, it will be great to have that calibre of athlete back in the team."
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