Published August 3, 2021, 8:53 AM
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EJ Obiena shoots for Olympic glory against familiar opponents on Tuesday when he guns for nothing but the gold medal in the men’s pole vault at the Olympic Track Stadium in Tokyo.
A podium victory for Obiena would make him only the third Filipino athlete to win a medal in the sport after Simeon Toribio (men’s high jump) and Miguel White (men’s 400-meter hurdles) won bronzes in the 1932 Los Angeles and 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Obiena, ranked No. 6 in the world, cleared 5.75 meters in Saturday’s qualifications to book one of the 14 spots in the final, joining a tough field composed of athletes he has already competed against more than once.
Team GB 2021: Who are the British athletes to watch at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games? telegraph.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from telegraph.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Who are Team GB s athletes to watch
Team GB is represented by its largest ever delegation for an Olympic Games on foreign soil, with 376 athletes and a further 22 reserve athletes competing across 26 sports at the Tokyo 2020 Games. It is second only to the 541 athletes selected for the London Olympics in 2012.
For the first time in its 125-year history, Team GB has also taken more women than men to a summer Olympic Games.
Of the 376 athletes selected, Team GB took 201 female (53.5%) and 175 male athletes (46.5%) to Tokyo thanks to impressive qualification performances from British female athletes across sports and an increased number of female events at the Games.