With today marking 100 days until the 2016 Olympic Games Loughborough College athletes continue to be confirmed for Team GB.
The race is now on to secure places for the squad before the flame is lit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 August.
London 2012 saw 35 Loughborough College students and alumni compete in the Olympics and Paralympics with five medal winners amongst them – and the list of names from the College who will be in the squad this time around has continued to grow.
Qualifying deadlines for most sports are reached over the coming weeks but of those athletes confirmed so far, amongst the swimming squad are Loughborough College student and 2014 Commonwealth Games medallist Molly Renshaw and alumni Siobhan-Marie O’Connor - another Glasgow Games medallist - and Fran Halsall, who has won medals in World and European competition as well as the Commonwealth Games. Loughborough College Sport student Ross Wilson has meanwhile been selected for the 12-strong table tennis team for the Paralympics alongside alumnus Aaron McKibbin – both won team bronze at the London Games four years ago.
Great Britain won 29 golds and 65 medals in all at London 2012 and UK Sport has predicted Britain could win as many as 79 medals in Rio. Performance analysts Gracenote have predicted both Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill will win medals again in Rio – following Farah’s Olympic 10,000m and 5,000m gold in and Ennis-Hill’s Heptathlon gold in London. They believe Team GB will win 49 medals in Rio – significantly short of the UK Sport prediction but which would nevertheless be their best haul when not acting as hosts.
Great Britain also marked 100 days to Rio by revealing their team’s new red, white and blue kit, again designed by Stella McCartney in collaboration with Adidas, as in 2012.
The design features a new British coat of arms created to act as a unifying symbol across the two teams and sports.
The kit will be 10% lighter than four years ago and is made from a breathable synthetic fabric in order to help athletes go further and faster.