Britain names athletics squad for Rio Olympics

Britain has announced a 80-strong athletics squad that will compete at next month's Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Olympic champions Jess Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford will seek to retain their Olympic crowns in Brazil, reports Xinhua.

London 2012 medallists Christine Ohuruogu, who also won Olympic gold at Beijing 2008, and Robbie Grabarz also return and will again compete in the 400m and high jump respectively while Jo Pavey is set to compete in her fifth Olympic Games in the 10,000m. The list was announced on Wednesday.

British athletes have enjoyed a successful 12 months in the build-up to Rio 2016 with the team winning seven medals at the 2015 Beijing world championships. Ennis-Hill, Farah and Rutherford all claimed golds while Shara Proctor took the long jump silver and there were bronze medals for the men's and women's 4x400m relay teams.

And just last week, the team took away 16 medals from the European Championships after winning five gold, three silver and eight bronze medals in Amsterdam.

--IANS

ajb/bg