Team GB has arrived in Tokyo with its largest ever squad for an overseas Olympic Games - and 14 of them have links to the North East.
A 376-strong squad has been selected for the delayed Games with more women than men for the first time in the team's history.
An opening ceremony like no other will get the Games under way at the Olympic Stadium on Friday (July 23).
Competitors born or to have studied in the region are hoping to bring home medals in events such as football, rowing, archery and boxing.
READ MORE:Former Team GB triathlete star Vanessa Raw backing British stars for Tokyo glory
Team GB will target more than 50 medals amid unprecedented circumstances with rising Covid-19 infection rates leading to a new state of emergency in Tokyo and a ban on fans attending the Olympic Games.
UK Sport chief executive Sally Munday said: "Tokyo will be an extraordinary Games, and for us measuring success has evolved since Rio.
"Medals, of course, are a big part of that. But if we are to deliver on our new mission to create the greatest decade of extraordinary sporting moments… we know we’ve got to broaden our horizons.
"And that’s why we are so excited not just about the medal potential of the team, but also the opportunity presented by the Games to showcase once again why Olympic and Paralympic sport means so much to the British public."
Here are the athletes with connections to North East who will represent Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics.
Steph Houghton - Football - Durham
The 33-year-old came through the ranks at Sunderland and now plays for Manchester City where she has enjoyed huge success.
The England captain has appeared at two World Cups and two European Championships - leading the Lionesses to third at the 2015 World Cup.
The centre-half was deployed at left-back in 2012 and scored three goals, one in each group game against New Zealand, Cameroon and in front of 70,000 at Wembley against Brazil.
Hope Powell's side then fell flat and were beaten 2-0 by Canada in the quarter-final, but Houghton was still named in the team of the tournament for her impressive displays.
Houghton, who is the Team GB co-captain, believes Hege Riise's outfit, featuring 15 English, two Scottish and one Welsh player, are better equipped for a long run in Japan.
Richard Kilty - 4x100m relay - Stockton
The Stockton lad will be hoping to get his hands on a medal this time around after finishing 5th in the 4x100m relay in Rio in 2016.
The 31-year-old was voted by his fellow athletes to captain the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team for the IAAF World Championships Doha 2019.
Kilty won the world indoor 60m title and European indoor gold medals in 2015 and 2017.
The sprinter, nicknamed the 'Teesside Tornado', has recently won a gold medal in the 4x100m relay while representing England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Carly Telford - Football - Jesmond
The Jesmond-born stopper began her career with Sunderland before moving on to Leeds United and then Chelsea.
The 34-year-old has been to three World Cups with England and was part of the squad to win the SheBelieves Cup in the United States in 2019.
Telford was a surprise late call-up for Team GB this summer following an injury to Karen Bardsley despite not being on the standby list.
She only made three league starts for Chelsea last season but her experience could be vital in Japan.
Demi Stokes - Football - South Shields
The Manchester City defender was born in the Midlands but moved to South Shields when she was three.
Stokes played for Sunderland 24/7 - an all-girls side in an all boys league - before joining Sunderland’s academy, then their women’s team in her mid-teens.
A banner year for the left-back in 2009 saw Stokes play in the FA Cup final with Sunderland and hoist the U19 Euros trophy with England alongside fellow City star and Team GB teammate Lucy Bronze.
She went on to play 13 times for the Vancouver Whitecaps before joining City in 2015.
The 29-year-old former Gateshead College pupil has 56 England caps, scoring one goal.
Jill Scott - Football - Sunderland
Having featured as part of Hope Powell’s London 2012 squad in Team GB’s only other Olympic football appearance, Manchester City midfielder Jill Scott is one of five players set for their second Games outing this summer.
Sunderland-born Scott picked up her 150th England cap in a friendly victory over Northern Ireland in February 2021.
She has since competed at four World Cups and three European Championships, alongside her Olympic exploits.
Her domestic career began with Sunderland after she chose to pursue football over long-distance running, before a move to Everton in 2006 led to Women’s FA Cup success four years later.
Scott switched allegiance to Manchester City in 2013 with whom she has lifted the Women’s FA Cup a further three times, the Women’s League Cup three times, and the WSL trophy in 2016.
She spent the second half of the 2020/21 season on loan back at Everton, where a string of strong performances earned her selection for Tokyo 2020.
Pat McCormack - Welterweight boxer - Washington
Birtley bruiser Pat McCormack is gunning for gold in his second stab at the Olympic Games with twin brother Luke on hand for support.
The Washington lads are products of Birtley Amateur Boxing Club and have both qualified to be part of the Team GB boxing contingent in Tokyo.
Pat lost out in the round of 16 in the light welterweight category in Rio but now, as the world No.1 welterweight, is confident he can bag a prized gold medal.
Pat won gold on the Gold Coast in the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and scooped another top prize in the European Olympic Boxing Qualifiers in June.
The European champion won a sensational welterweight gold with victory over Russia's Andrey Zamkovoy.
Luke McCormack - Lightweight boxer -Washington
Most athletes will have to do without family in Tokyo, but not boxer Luke McCormack whose twin brother Pat is in the very same Olympic team.
Luke secured his place in Japan with a split-decision win over strong Turkish challenger Tugrulhan Erdemir in June to become one of 11 Team GB boxers to book a spot on the plane.
The 2017 European silver medallist took bronze at the Boxing Road to Tokyo European Olympic qualifying event in Paris in June.
And the 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist will be hoping to find his way once again onto the podium in Tokyo.
Lucy Bronze - Football - Berwick-Upon-Tweed
From the isolated island of Lindisfarne to the best women’s player on the planet, Lucy Bronze’s rise has been as unlikely as it has been meteoric.
The granddaughter of the caretaker of Lindisfarne castle, she grew up in the North East, going to school in Alnwick.
The 29-year-old started here career at Sunderland before moving to Everton. She earned her first England cap while playing for Liverpool.
The full-back has gone on to establish herself as one of the best players in the game, starring in the 2015 World Cup and winning three Champions League titles with Olympique Lyonnais.
Now back in England with Manchester City, she was the first Englishwoman to be named UEFA Women's Player of the Year in 2019, and the following year she was crowned the Best FIFA Women's Player.
Jack Waller - Hockey - Durham University
Wimbledon defender Jack Waller will add steel to the British side in Tokyo. One of the many exciting young players around, Jack has adapted superbly to the international scene and immediately became a regular in both the England and GB senior teams.
A versatile player capable of playing in defence or midfield, he is also a highly intelligent reader of the game and a natural leader too.
Alongside representing his country, Jack lists winning the 2018 BUCS Championship with Durham University as one of his proudest hockey achievements.
Angus Groom - Rowing - Durham University
Groom has a Masters in Stem Cells and Regeneration from Bristol University and finished fifth in the quad in Rio before going on to have hip surgery.
But after making a full and comprehensive recovery, Groom has been selected in the same boat for the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo, alongside Harry Leask, Thomas Barras and Jack Beaumont.
An accomplished sportsman, the Scot shone at Durham University where he studied Natural Sciences at Hatfield College and rowed from 2010 to 2013.
In his final year he was bestowed the honour of being named Durham’s Sportsman of the Year after winning all three BUCS sculling events and went on to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Groom’s breakthrough season came in 2015 before he made his Olympic bow a year later.
Thomas Ford - Rowing - Newcastle University
Thomas Ford was first selected for the GB Rowing Team at Under-23 level in 2013.
After graduating from Newcastle University in 2016, he joined Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames to train full time.
He's since won a bronze in the coxless four at the 2018 World Championship in Plovdiv and a bronze in the eight at the 2019 World Championships in Ottensheim.
He also won silver at the European Championships in Glasgow in 2018 in the coxless four and at the 2019 European Championships in the eight.
The 28-year-old has been training full time with the GB rowing squad since 2017 and was part of the men's eight at the first World Cup in Belgrade.
Emily Ford - Rowing - Newcastle University
Younger sister of fellow Team GB member Thomas, Ford made her GB Rowing Team senior squad debut in 2018, having competed at junior and Under-23 level.
She was the women’s captain of Newcastle University Boat Club in 2015 and has made her mark on the international stage already.
Also a member of the Leander Club, she won bronze and silver at the World Under-23 Championships in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
She competed in two World Cup events in 2018 and another two in 2019. She was also part of the women's four at the 2019 European Championships.
James Rudkin - Rowing - Newcastle University
James Rudkin will attempt to write some history of his own after being selected in Team GB’s rowing squad for this summer’s Olympics Games in Tokyo.
The former history and politics student at Newcastle University was first selected for his country in 2010 when he was the spare for a GB v France match, and he’s never looked back.
He’s gone on to pick up bronze at the 2018 and 2019 World Championships and silver at the 2019 European Championships in the men's eight.
Rowing is something of a family affair for Rudkin whose father enjoyed a successful rowing career himself.
Bryony Pitman - Archery - Northumbria University
Bryony Pitman followed in the footsteps of her father in taking up archery and has impressed ever since she was a junior winning World Field Championship gold back in 2012.
Two years later she appeared at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, and after having to settle for a reserve spot in Rio, she will now make her senior Olympic bow in Tokyo.
A bronze medallist as part of the team recurve at the 2019 World Championships in the Netherlands, Pitman also won gold at the European Games in Minsk.
She has juggled her archery career with her education, studying history at Northumbria University, while she also featured on the first episode of BT Sport show It's A Numbers Game.