The British public has been urged to get behind the nation's athletes, as they look to kick-start their medal rush in Paris this weekend.
The 33rd Summer Olympiad officially gets under way in the French capital on Friday evening, when an ambitious opening ceremony will take place in front of more than 300,000 spectators along the banks of the Seine.
UK Sport have set a target of between 50 and 70 medals, alongside a top-five finish in the medal table, as Team GB look to continue a remarkable run of success across the past two decades.
Three years ago, at Tokyo's delayed Games, Team GB defied expectations of a downturn by claiming 64 medals in all, just one shy of their London 2012 tally and three behind the record overseas haul of Rio 2016.
Chef de mission Mark England told Standard Sport: "We just can't wait for the Games to start now, and for the whole nation to get behind these brilliant athletes in Team GB.
"Whatever we do, I can guarantee you we're going out there to win as many medals as we can."
The Union flags will be carried at tonight's ceremony by rower Helen Glover, who won gold in London and Rio, and diver Tom Daley, who is competing at his fifth Games.
Daley said on Thursday: "I remember walking out in 2008 in the opening ceremony behind Mark Foster, who was our flagbearer then, and to think now, flash forward five Olympics, and to be named flagbearer. It was a huge honour and, of course, the only answer was 'yes'."
Daley initially retired after winning 10m synchro gold in Tokyo, only to return to the pool last year, driven by the chance to compete at the Olympics in front of his children after the last Games took place behind closed doors during the pandemic. The 27-year-old's success alongside Matty Lee was all that denied China a clean sweep of diving gold medals in Japan, and he is ready to serve it up to the sport's powerhouse once again.
"On paper, you would probably consider them to win every single event, but it's the Olympic Games, and I know that every single one of the Chinese divers knows that it's their competition to lose, which brings a lot of pressure, a lot of expectation," Daley said.
"It's always going to be tough, but diving is such an on-the-day sport, and in the synchro events, they are straight finals, so it comes down to six dives. Who can do the best six dives within 45 minutes? We'll find out."
British fans must wait until Monday morning to see Daley and new partner Noah Williams go for gold, but there is hope that the medal charge may begin as early as tomorrow afternoon, when cyclists Josh Tarling and Anna Henderson take compete in the men's and women's time-trials.
Tarling, who only turned 20 in February, goes in as the European champion, but faces competition from more established names like Italy's Filippo Ganna and Remco Evenepoel, of Belgium, though the latter admitted yesterday that he is concerned about fatigue after finishing third in the Tour de France last weekend.
"The goal is to win it," Tarling said. "The time-trial is determined on how hard you go, so as long as you get everything out, then I know that's what I've got, but I'd like to win it.
"Ganna and Remco and Wout [van Aert] have all done much more impressive stuff than I have. Remco was flying in the Tour, Ganna won the time-trial in the Giro d'Italia, Wout's coming back [from injury], but he's still Wout, so my name flies under the radar quite nicely."
Team GB's involvement officially began yesterday, when 16-year-old archer Megan Havers became the first athlete to start her campaign.
"My English GCSE was harder than that," she joked. "I came onto this field today and I didn't feel the nerves. I can officially say that I'm an Olympian now, which is really cool to say. I have got a lot more Olympics in me, I hope."
