If you know anything about Olympic sports, or were alive in 2012, the names Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah and Bradley Wiggins will mean one thing to you: gold, gold and more gold. They truly are the stars of Team GB and the London 2012 Olympic Games, but this time around in Rio, will there be some new faces taking to the podium on behalf of Great Britain? Here are a few names to look out for, and a bit of background to prove why they deserve to win big at 2016’s Games:
Lizzie Armistead
Date of birth: 18/12/1988
Place of birth: West Yorkshire
Sport: Cycling
Background: Competing on both track and road, Lizzie took up cycling in 2004 and was part of British Cycling’s Olympic Podium Programme. She looks to better her silver medal win for road cycling at London’s 2012 Olympic Games, and the critics have every confidence that she will.
Records: Aside from the Olympic silver medal, Lizzie has spent the past few years winning title after title, and is now the reigning World, Commonwealth and National road race champion. Before specializing in road cycling, she also won medals on the track, including the UCI Track Cycling Championship two years running.
Follow Lizzie on Twitter here
Adam Gemili
Date of birth: 06/10/1993
Place of birth: London
Sport: Athletics
Background: If racing the Red Arrows isn’t proof enough that Adam Gemili should get gold, we don’t know what is. Adam was a promising footballer before his incredible speed on the pitch pushed him to switch to sprinting instead. He specializes in 100m and reached the semi-finals at London 2012.
Records: Adam holds the record for fastest time ever by a Briton for the 200m, which he achieved at the 2013 World Championships (19.98 seconds, in case you were wondering). He also achieved silver for 100m at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Follow Adam on Twitter here
James Guy
Date of birth: 26/11/1995
Place of birth: Bury
Sport: Swimming
Background: Also going by the name of “Jimmy”, this junior first started catching people’s attention representing England in the Commonwealth Games in 2014 at the age of just eighteen. He competes in both freestyle and medley swimming in 100m, 200m and 400m races.
Records: At that first Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Jimmy achieved gold in the 4x100m medley and bronze in the 400m freestyle. Since then he has represented Great Britain in European and World Championships, earning himself three gold, two silver and one bronze.
Follow James on Instagram here
Amber Hill
Date of birth: 21/08/1997
Place of birth: Windsor
Sport: Shooting
Background: Amber is the youngest member of GB’s shooting team, but don’t underestimate this 18 year old; as well as some pretty impressive records, she also won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2013. Look out for her in the women’s skeet at Rio.
Records: With three gold medals to her name already, Amber has triumphed at the ISSF World Cup in 2013 and 2015, and also at the European Games in 2015, held in Baku.
Follow Amber on Instagram here
Katarina Johnson-Thompson
Date of birth: 09/01/1993
Place of birth: Merseyside
Sport: Track and field
Background: Katarina specializes in the heptathlon, which includes 100m hurdles, high jump, shot-put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m. She started her career in 2009 with success at the Youth Championships in Athletics in Italy, but had to take most of the 2010 season off, suffering from patellar tendinopathy, or jumper’s knee. In 2012 she came back strong, breaking Jessica Ennis’ British junior record.
Records: In London 2012, she represented Britain in heptathlon and finished fifteenth, however she does have one silver and four gold medals to her name. Her personal best for heptathlon is 6,248 points.
Follow Katarina Johnson – Thompson on Twitter here
Chris Mears
Date of birth: 07/02/1993
Place of birth: Reading
Sport: Diving
Background: Move over Tom Daley, there’s a new diver in town. Diving from a young age, Chris also took a break in his early career due to injury. Coming back to the sport in 2010, he competes in 1m, 3m and 3m synchro. He competed both individually and with his partner Nicholas Robinson-Barker in the sychro events at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Aside from being a champion diver, Chris also DJs and is into music production.
Records: Chris has represented England in the Commonwealth Games where he won gold, and for Great Britain in the World Championships and European Championships, winning gold again this year there for his 3m springboard synchro.
Follow Chris on Twitter here
Giarnni Regini-Moran
Date of birth: 02/08/1998
Place of birth: Great Yarmouth
Sport: Artistic Gymnastics
Background: Turning 18 years old the week before Rio 2016, Giarnni has in fact been competing in gymnastics since he was six. This isn’t his only interest though, as he also names David Beckham as his all-time sporting hero.
Records: Giarnni has many titles to his name. In 2014 he won gold in the Youth Olympic Games for All-around, Floor and Vault, and Floor at the 2014 European Junior Championships, making him the current champion in all of these areas.
Follow Giarnni on Instagram here
Bianca Walkden
Date of birth: 29/09/1991
Place of birth: Liverpool
Sport: Taekwondo
Background: As her Twitter bio reads, “2x European Champion, World Champion, on the road fighting to become Olympic Champion!” Bianca’s pretty confident she’ll be on the podium at Rio, and with such a fantastic record, we can see why.
Records: At only twenty-four years old, Bianca has more than ten national titles to her name. She won gold at the 2014 and 2016 European championships, and gold in the heavyweight category at the 2015 World Championships as well.
Follow Bianca on Twitter here
