With 100 days until the delayed Tokyo Olympics, Team GB look set to make history before they have even set foot on Japanese soil. There will be no international spectators and no family members travelling to support our athletes, but for the very first time Team GB’s team will be made up of more women than men.
With more females set to qualify in various events, Team GB's chef de mission Mark England told Sky Sports: "We know we are on the cusp of making history in that way.
"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."
The reason this hasn’t been possible in the previous 28 editions of the summer Olympics is that it took until 2012, for women to have competed in every Olympic sport. That was a big stride towards equality and at the London Olympics women made up 48 per cent of Team GB, with stars like Jessica Ennis-Hill, Laura Kenny and Victoria Pendleton all winning gold.
In Rio 2016, that figure had fallen to 44 per cent but now, with Great Britain and Northern Ireland sending a women’s football team, a hockey team and a women’s rugby 7s team the balance has tipped in favour of the females for the very first time.
We will also get to see five new sports at the Olympics for the very first time, as surfing, skateboarding, sports climbing, karate and baseball join the party, and with IOC president Thomas Bach convinced the Games will go ahead, who are the British females to look out for this summer?
Dina Asher-Smith is arguably the biggest name in the British team and will be going for gold in both the 100m and 200m. Her battle with Jamaican duo Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and current Olympic 100m champion Elaine Thompson should provide fireworks.
From one of Team GB’s biggest names to the youngest and Sky Brown will be targeting a medal in the new sport of skateboarding. She will also, despite the twelve month delay, become Britain’s youngest ever Olympian when the Games open at just 13 years and ten days old. Certainly one to watch.
Another new sport, another woman attempting to make it on the world stage is two-time bouldering World Cup winner and double world bronze medallist Shauna Coxsey. She is Britain’s most successful climber but can she transfer that onto the world stage?
27-year-old Mancunian Georgia Taylor-Brown is the current triathlon world champion having previously won two bronzes at that competition. She stepped up in the shortened series last year and now will be looking to top the podium once more on her Olympic debut.
In one of the finest sports to watch, Mallory Franklin will compete in the women’s canoe single class of the canoe slalom. This discipline is again making its debut and Franklin is a serious contender having won World Cup gold in 2019.
Taekwondo superstar Jade Jones is back for more and having captured the nation’s hearts as she won gold at London 2012, she then repeated the feat four year later in Rio. It will be a remarkable success if she were to make it three from three.
Talking of those hoping to get their hands on those Olympic medals, this year all medals made of recycled materials and electrical waste such as mobile phones and cameras. The most sustainable medals ever will still be as priceless as ever to the world class women striving for success in Japan. Team GB has never been so inclusive, and that in itself, has already made these Games a success.
