Team GB rugby sevens ready to try for podium

Not only is this the first time rugby sevens has been an Olympic event - but as always in team events, there were questions around how a Team GB would qualify.

After all, the home nations compete separately the rest of the time.

This particularly thorny issue is what's stopped British football teams competing - London 2012 was a one-off, and since then, the governing bodies refuse to get it together and make an agreement that would allow a representative squad to represent Team GB.

Thankfully, the rugby authorities have more sense. They agreed that whichever home nation achieved the benchmark for qualification first, in the 2014-15 World Series, would take on the mantle of heading up Team GB - and they'd also have their pick of the players from across the British Isles.

England's women managed that, and in October 2015 two players from Wales and two from Scotland joined the 19 English players in Guildford to train four days a week in preparation for tournaments around the world to give them match practice at elite level.

After the conclusion of this year's World Series, that squad was narrowed down to the 12 who would make it to Rio.

Some were already familiar names to those who followed England's World Cup win in the XVs format of the game over the summer of 2014, like Katy Mclean and Emily Scarratt.

When she was named as the Olympic squad captain, Scarratt said: "To wear the GB shirt and compete in the Olympics is a childhood dream that we are now, as a team, turning into reality.

"As a squad, we are looking forward to being among the first athletes to play rugby sevens on the world’s biggest sporting stage. I am immensely proud to be representing Great Britain and introducing women’s rugby to new audiences."

This evening they'll be looking to grab a medal - and go down in Olympic history.