China will be sending a delegation of 416 athletes to the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympic Games in the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in August.

According to Xinhua, the Chinese contingent was unveiled at a ceremony on Monday in Beijing. A team of 256 female and 160 male athletes will be representing the country in 210 fixtures over 26 different sports at the prestigious quadrennial international sporting event.

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"This is the largest ever Olympic delegation China has sent overseas," the deputy director of the State General Administration of Sport, Cai Zhenhua, said. The 54-year-old sports executive added that the country's delegation has a total of 711 members including 29 foreign coaches from different countries.

In the 2012 Summer Olympic Games that was held in London, United Kingdom, a contingent of 396 Chinese athletes competed and ended up in second place behind the United States on the medals table. China took home a total of 88 medals 38 gold, 28 silver and 22 bronze.

China expects to scrape up most of its golds from six sports event where the country usually dominates - gymnastics, badminton, shooting, table tennis, diving, and weightlifting.

Fourteen-year-old swimmer Ai Yanhan, the youngest member of the Chinese contingent, will compete in the women's 200m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay, while the 39-year-old Chen Ying, who was the shooting champion in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will be China's oldest athlete in the delegation. The female Chinese sports shooter is on her fourth Olympic trip.

According to RTE, well-known swimmer Ning Zetao also made it to the final cut. The Chinese swimmer was the first Asian to claim the 100-meter freestyle at the world championships.

TagsChinese olympic team, Rio Olympics 2016, 2012 london olympics, 2008 beijing olympics, Ai Yanhan, Ning Zetao