Who could be Team GB’s next Olympic heroes? Infographic: Who could be the next Olympic heroes for Team GB?

next Olympic heroes?

Who could be

Team GB’s

We’ve identified 10 British athletes who have yet to shine at a Summer Olympics but could return from Tokyo with some medals.

Great Britain has won more medals in Athletics than in any other sport at the Summer Olympic games: 205 of their 844 to date.

Dina Asher-Smith

Athletics

100 metres & 200 metres

Birthplace

London

Main achievements

2019 World Athletics Championships 200 metres

2018 European Athletics Championships 100 metres 200 metres

Asher-Smith finished third in the voting for BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2019 after setting a new British record for the 200 metres at the World Athletics Championships and becoming the first British woman to win a global sprint title.

24.3%

Age at start of Olympics

25 (born 4 December 1995)

Age at start of Olympics

Heptathlon

28 (born 9 January 1993)

Main achievements

2019 World Athletics Championships Heptathlon

2018 Commonwealth Games Heptathlon

Birthplace

Liverpool

Katarina Johnson-Thompson

This will be Johnson-Thompson’s third Summer Olympics after first competing in the Heptathlon as a teenager at London 2012, finishing a respectable 14th. A 6th-placed finish at Rio four years later, followed by gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2019 World Athletics Championships, have fuelled optimism that she can finally reach the podium in Tokyo.

2018 World Indoor Championships Pentathlon

Age at start of Olympics

4 x 100 metres relay & 100 meters & 200 metres

27 (born 6 October 1993)

Main achievements

2018 European Athletics Championships 4 x 100 metres relay

2017 World Athletics Championships 4 x 100 metres relay

2014 European Athletics Championships 200 metres

Birthplace

London

Adam Gemili

Gemili narrowly missed out on a medal in the 200 metres at Rio 2016, finishing in fourth place by only three thousandths of a second. He has since shone as part of a relay team that has claimed both world and European golds and is also one of Team GB’s nominees for the 100 and 200 metres in Tokyo.

Despite shooting not being widely popular in the country, Great Britain ranks sixth in the all-time medals table and secured a gold medal in 2012.

Shooting

Age at start of Olympics

50 metres rifles 3 positions

25 (born 15 March 1996)

Main achievements

2019 ISSF World Cup 50 metres rifle 3 positions

2018 ISSF World Shooting Championships 50 metres rifle prone

Birthplace

Edinburgh

Seonaid McIntosh

McIntosh is already Britain’s most successful female rifle shooter of all-time after her dominant performance at the 2019 ISSF World Cup. The tournament saw her claim two historic firsts for a British woman in the sport: both a gold medal and reaching the top of the ISSF World Rankings.

Team GB has won at least one gold medal for rowing in every Summer Olympics since 1984, making it one of the nation’s most reliable sources of world champions

Rowing

Men’s coxless four

Main achievements

2019 European Rowing Championships Coxless four

2019 World Rowing Championships Coxless four

Matthew Rossiter, Oliver Cook, Rory Gibbs & Sholto Carnegie

The men’s coxless four team enjoyed a successful 2019 which saw them win the gold medal in the European Championships in June. The same crew then followed up this success with bronze at the World Championships in August.

Age at start of Olympics

Eventing

35 (born 16 January 1986)

Main achievements

2017 European Eventing Championships Team Eventing

2019 World Equestrian Games Individual Eventing Team Eventing

Birthplace

Hallington, Lincolnshire

Ros Canter

Riding Allstar B, Canter has won three gold medals since 2017. That year’s European Eventing Championships saw her triumph as part of Great Britain’s team of four: a feat which was repeated at the following year’s World Eventing Championships. The latter tournament also saw her claim the individual prize to become 2018 world champion.

With three gold medals at London 2012 and two more in Rio 2016, Team GB has established itself as one of the leading nations in equestrian events.

Equestrian

Only four nations have won more swimming medals than Great Britain at the Summer Olympics, with two of the last three games yielding six.

Swimming

Age at start of Olympics

200 metre backstroke & 4 x 100 metre medley relay

23 (born 17 September 1997)

Main achievements

2019 World Aquatics Championships 4 x 100 metre medley 200 metre backstroke

Birthplace

Crewe, Cheshire

Luke Greenbank

2019 was a huge year for backstroke specialist Greenbank, who reached the podium in both individual and team events at the World Aquatics Championships in South Korea. Another bronze medal followed at the European Short Course Championships in which he set a new British record.

Age at start of Olympics

100 metre freestyle & 4 x 100 metre medley relay

20 (born 4 March 2001)

Main achievements

2018 European Aquatics Championships 200 metre freestyle 100 metre mixed medley

Birthplace

Birkenhead, Merseyside

Freya Anderson

Anderson believes that the Olympics being pushed back to 2021 works in her favour by giving her more time to prepare. Since breaking into the British senior team in 2018, she has won four gold medals across team and individual events.

Boxing has been another reliable source of British medals in recent years, with 11 - including five golds - from the last three Summer Olympics.

Boxing

Age at start of Olympics

Featherweight

25 (born 31 May 1996)

Main achievements

2018 Commonwealth Games Bantamweight

2017 European Amateur Boxing Championships Bantamweight

2019 World Boxing Championships Featherweight

Birthplace

Liverpool

Peter McGrail

A European Champion in 2017, McGrail followed up on his bantamweight success with another gold medal at the Commonwealth Games a year later. In 2019 only a split decision prevented him from reaching the featherweight final of the World Boxing Championships, instead securing his second successive bronze.

One of the newest sports to be introduced at the Summer Olympics, skateboarding is one of four disciplines which will be contested for the first time in Tokyo.

Skateboarding

Age at start of Olympics

Park skateboarding

12 (born 12 July 2008)

Main achievements

2019 World Skateboarding Championship Park skateboarding

Birthplace

Miyazaki, Japan

Sky Brown

Despite the Games’ postponement, Brown should still become the youngest British Olympian ever. If the Women’s Park Skateboarding event goes ahead as scheduled she will be 20 days younger than Margery Hinton was when she competed in the 200 metre breaststroke at the 1928 Olympics.