...AND KEEP YOUR EYE ON THESE MEDAL HOPES

GREG RUTHERFORD (ATHLETICS)

AGE: 29. PREVIOUS GOLDS: 1. RUTHERFORD’S wife and son will stay away from Rio because of the Zika virus. His problem might be with who does show up, including a strong American contingent led by Jeff Henderson. Rutherford, who is based in Phoenix, Arizona, is fighting fit after a knee injury.

VERDICT: If Rutherford produces his best and others do not, he’ll earn a medal and could repeat his 2012 gold.

JASON KENNY (TRACK CYCLING)

AGE: 28. PREVIOUS GOLDS: 3. THE other half of cycling’s golden couple with fiancée Laura Trott. Kenny seems to be timing his run to the Olympics perfectly, coming into blistering form at the recent World Championships with a sprint gold after his usual semi-hibernation period between Games.

VERDICT: Gold in the sprint. The keirin is more of a lottery, but a double is possible for the Bolton racer.

NICOLA ADAMS (BOXING)

AGE: 33. PREVIOUS GOLDS: 1. THE smiling flyweight — the first female Olympic boxing champion — had surgery on her shoulder in 2014, but returned to form to claim the European Games title last year, and sealed selection for the Rio team at European qualifying this month. She is trying to become the first British boxer since middleweight Harry Mallin in 1924 to win successive golds.

VERDICT: Nando’s, suppliers of her favourite food, should be on standby for a celebratory meal.

JADE JONES (TAEKWONDO)

AGE: 23. PREVIOUS GOLDS: 1. THE North Wales taekwondo starlet, who won gold in the 57kg category in London aged 19, has been missing with a knee injury but was back to winning form in the German Open last weekend. VERDICT: Absence was a precaution. Could match her 2012 triumph.

ALISTAIR BROWNLEE (TRIATHLON)

AGE: 28.

PREVIOUS GOLDS: 1. IT WILL be remarkable if he comes back from ankle surgery to retain his triathlon crown. He came 26th on his return in the World Triathlon Series this month. Brother Jonny was third before treatment for heat exhaustion.

VERDICT: Missed a lot of training, but competitor who cannot be ruled out.

ROWING FOUR

PREVIOUS GOLDS: 8. THIS boat has been the golden thread running through British rowing since Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent won in Sydney in 2000. This year’s line-up is extremely strong — Alex Gregory, gold medallist in 2012, returns, alongside Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and stroke Constantine Louloudis.

VERDICT: Another victory under the direction of Jurgen Grobler, a gold-medal winning coach at every Games since 1972.

JAMES GUY (SWIMMING)

AGE: 20. PREVIOUS GOLDS: 0. THE Bury-born swimmer is so in awe of his rivals that he has asked them for their autographs. Three of those heroes — China’s Sun Yang (back after a doping ban) and Americans Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte — are the most likely candidates to stop him. His 200metres gold last year, when he overtook Lochte and Yang in the final 50m, was GB’s first world freestyle title.

VERDICT: A reasonable chance in a tough field. Lochte is not the power he was.

LIZZIE ARMITSTEAD (ROAD CYCLING)

AGE: 27. PREVIOUS GOLDS: 0. NEXT stop, Otley, her home town, for the women’s Tour of Yorkshire as she looks to build on the form of her life. The reigning world champion, she has also won four one-day races this year, including the prestigious Tour of Flanders, fractionally ahead of Sweden’s Emma Johansson.

VERDICT: Silver on the Mall four years ago, but in even better form now ahead of the hilly Rio road race.

CHARLOTTE DUJARDIN (EQUESTRIANISM)

AGE: 30. PREVIOUS GOLDS: 2. DUJARDIN is battling fellow 2012 double-gold medallist Laura Trott to become Britain’s most successful female Olympian of all time. She will compete in the individual and team dressage, building on her reputation as GB’s best ever dressage rider.

VERDICT: At least one gold is highly likely, which would take her beyond cyclist Victoria Pendleton, who won two golds and one silver.

DAVID FLORENCE (CANOEING)

AGE: 33. PREVIOUS GOLDS: 0. AS A boy in Edinburgh, Florence lived on the same street as Chris Hoy. But he has never won an Olympic gold, with canoeing silvers in both Beijing and London. He is the current world champion and has two cracks at gold this time in the individual (C-1) and pairs (C-2) canoe slalom.

VERDICT: Having won three world titles, he can win gold and break his Olympic jinx.

CHRIS FROOME (ROAD CYCLING)

AGE: 30. PREVIOUS GOLDS: 0. THE double Tour de France winner and £4million-a-year Sky rider has set himself a treble for 2016: the Tour’s yellow jersey, plus Olympic road race and time-trial golds. ‘If there is a one-day course I could win, it would be like this,’ he said of the climber’s perfect course.

VERDICT: May miss the road race to give himself a greater chance in the time-trial four days later. He will start that as favourite.

AMBER HILL (SHOOTING)

AGE: 18. PREVIOUS GOLDS: 0. THE youngest member of the British shooting squad but already hugely decorated. The Windsor-born competitor took first prize at the World Cup in Mexico aged 15 to become the youngest ever skeet champion. She is in form, too, having won gold at the most recent showpiece events: the World Cup final and the maiden European Games.

VERDICT: Hill will have to make history to win gold — no British woman shooter has yet done so.