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BOA chief: 'Small handful of Team GB athletes not vaccinated'

The British Olympic Association has unveiled a 376-strong squad for Tokyo 2020.

Great Britain's biggest travelling Olympic team will include a number of unvaccinated athletes when they fly out to complete preparations for the Tokyo Olympics later this month.

The British Olympic Association has unveiled a 376-strong squad for the Games, the largest for a Games outside of Britain and the first for a summer Games in which women outnumber men.

Despite rising infection rates which have led to the imposition of a new state of emergency in Tokyo and a ban on fans at the Games, approximately 10 members of the team will not have been vaccinated.

BOA chief executive Andy Anson confirmed the number and explained: "Some of those are for reasons that it was not physically possible, and some have elected not to have the vaccine.

"That is their decision and it's never been mandatory from the IOC or from (organising committee) TOCOG.

"We urged people to get vaccinated and the sports also helped to push but there will be a small handful of athletes who won't be going in vaccinated."

Soccer – 2018 World Cup Host City Announement – QE2 Conference Centre
BOA chief executive Andy Anson says around 10 GB athletes will not be vaccinated (Anthony Devlin/PA)

Unvaccinated athletes run the risk of extended quarantine requirements should they test positive or be deemed a close contact of a positive case while in Tokyo, as well as potentially harsher restrictions upon their return to the UK.

UK Sport chief executive Sally Munday said the funding body was taking a more "holistic" approach to traditional medal targets, setting a broad range of between 45 and 70 for the Tokyo Games, partly due to the lack of available data from a locked-down sporting calendar.

The range suggests Britain will be expected to push or exceed the 51 medals won by British athletes in Beijing in 2008, while offering an ambitious chance of matching the 67 attained in Rio in 2016.

International Women�s Day
Christine Ohuruogu was among 51 British medallists in Beijing (Gareth Copley/PA)

Munday said: "Tokyo will be an extraordinary Games, and for us measuring success has evolved since Rio.

"Medals, of course, are a big part of that. But if we are to deliver on our new mission to create the greatest decade of extraordinary sporting moments... we know we've got to broaden our horizons.

"And that's why we are so excited not just about the medal potential of the team, but also the opportunity presented by the Games to showcase once again why Olympic and Paralympic sport means so much to the British public."

Tokyo Olympics 2020 – Kitting Out – Birmingham NEC
Shauna Coxsey will become Team GB's first Olympian in sport climbing (Martin Rickett/PA)

With local quarantine rules tightening as the first members of Team GB begin to arrive in the Japanese capital, Anson offered his sympathies to local fans who had hoped to watch the action, but rejected some suggestions that the Games should be scrapped due to the rising numbers of coronavirus cases in Tokyo.

Anson said: "We have a lot of sadness for the Japanese people. It is a massive thing, as we know from 2012, to host an Olympic Games. We offer our sympathies for that decision being taken now – it has been tough few months all round.

"The things we care the most about is that these athletes who trained so hard get their chance to compete at the very pinnacle of their sport, and that is why this is important.

Sky Brown File Photo
Sky Brown will become Britain's youngest summer Olympian (Peter Byrne/PA)

"People are gearing up for the best possible level of competition in a few weeks' time. That is why it is exciting and that's why it should go ahead. To pull that away now would be outrageous, given the amount of hard work and effort that has gone in."

The team contains 122 returning Olympians and 51 medallists, with 254 debutants joining the party. Skateboarder Sky Brown, who will be 13 next month, will become Britain's youngest summer Olympian.

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Olympic medal table header
CountryGold medalSilver MedalBronze MedalT
United StatesUnited States13141037
ChinaChina136928
JapanJapan134522
Olympics flagOlympic Athletes from Russia810725
AustraliaAustralia821020
Great BritainGreat Britain57618
Today's Olympic highlights header

Thursday's key events


ROWING
· Comeback queen and super-mum Helen Glover goes for her third Olympic gold alongside Polly Swann in the women's pair final (1.30am)
· There is also a medal on offer for GB pair Emily Craig and Imogen Grant in the lightweight women's double scull final (2.10am)

SWIMMING
· As second-fastest qualifier for the final, Team GB's James Wilby is among the medal contenders in the men's 200m breaststroke (2.44am)
· Alys Thomas takes part in the women's 200m butterfly final, although he faces a difficult task to challenge for the medals (3.28am)
· Caeleb Dressel of the USA has been touted by some as the successor to Michael Phelps, and he has the chance to notch up a fourth Olympic gold in the men's 100m freestyle final (3.37am)

RUGBY SEVENS
· After Team GB's men narrowly missed out on a medal, the women get their campaign underway against the Russian Olympic Committee (3am) and New Zealand (10.30am)

HOCKEY
· It is a Great Britain vs. Netherlands double-header, with the men up first in Pool B (4.15am)
· Most eyes will be on the women's showdown between the two nations, though, as Netherlands - the world's best team - look to gain revenge on GB for defeat in the 2016 Olympic final (11am)

CANOE SLALOM
· Mallory Franklin takes part in the women's canoe semi-final, and will hope to do enough to qualify for the final later in the day (6am-8.45am)

ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS
· With Simone Biles now out of the women's all-around final, the competition has been blown wide open. Team GB twins Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova are among those taking part (11.50am-2.05pm)

> Today's schedule in full
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