MEET Dorset’s Rio medal hopefuls.

The Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games will start early tomorrow morning with a spectacular opening ceremony at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. It will be broadcast live around the world and will be shown on TV at 12am.

The Olympics will take place until Sunday August 21. Then the Paralympics will start on September 7 and run until September 18.

Today we meet Dorset’s athlete’s competing for medals in Rio.

Willian Fox-Pitt, 47 from Sturminster Newton will be competing in the team three-day Olympic equestrian event. This comprises dressage, show jumping and cross-country.

Dorchester’s Aaron Cook, 25, will be representing his adopted country of Moldova in the -80kg class in the Olympic Taekwondo.

Paralympic athlete Paul Blake, 26, from Dorchester will be competing in the T36 400m and 800m events, while Holly Neill, 27, from Chantmarle in north Dorset, will be competing in the F41 discus.

The majority of Dorset’s medal hopes however lie in the sailing events, with Team GB based at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. The Olympic and Paralympic team train from the venue and many have adopted the area as their home both before and after the London 2012 Games.

Olympic and Paralympic sailors living and training in Weymouth and Portland and representing Team GB are: Alain Sign, 31, in the 49er class, Alison Young, 29, living on Portland, competing in the Laser Radial, Ben Saxton, 31, now living in Weymouth, Narca 17 class, Women’s RS:X windsurfer Bryony Shaw, 33, from Weymouth, Charlotte Dobson, 30, living in Weymouth, competing in the 49erFX, Dylan Fletcher, 28, living in Weymouth, in the 49er class, Chris Grube, 32, 470 Men, Giles Scott, 29, from Portland, competing in the Finn class, Hannah Mills, 28, now living on Portland and compeating in the 470 Women with team mate Saskia Clark, 37, now living in Weymouth. Also representing team GB are: Luke Patience, 29, living on Portland and competing in the 470 Men, Men’s RS:X windsurfer Nick Dempsey, 35, who lives in Weymouth, Nick Thompson, 30, Laser, Nicola Groves, 27, competing in Narca 17, and Sophie Ainsworth, 27, competing in the 49erFX.

In the Paralympic classes, 2.4mR sailor Helena Lucas, 41, lives in Weymouth. The Sonar Team, Hannah Stodel, 30, Stephen Thomas, 39, and John Robertson, 44, all live on Portland, the Skud team Niki Birrell, 29, and Alexandra Rickham, 31, also train on the Isle.

The team say they are ready to take on Rio.

Bryony Shaw, said: “I feel like Rio is my time to shine. I feel like I’m ready that that’s a good place to be.”

She added: “A gold medal at the end would be something I’d cherish for the rest of my life and be extremely proud of.”

Nick Dempsey said it would be ‘amazing’ to end his windsurfing career with a gold medal win. He said: “It’s a lot of work, 20 years of work’s a lot. It would be amazing to win a gold medal, just get it, put it away, forget about it and move on, that’s what I’d like to do, it would be pretty good. I don’t need it. I want it, but I don’t need it.”

CONTACT ME:

t: 01305 830981

e: catherine.bolado@dorsetecho.co.uk

twitter: @DorsetEchoCB