by Our Sports Desk

WOMEN athletes could be key to Great Britain reaching their 2008 medal tally of 47 next year in Rio, according to British Olympic Association (BOA) chief executive Mark England.

A key post-London legacy push to involve more women in sport paid off handsomely with Sport England figures suggesting around half a million more girls were participating within a year of the 2012 closing ceremony.

And the first fruits of that achievement are likely to be reaped in Rio where a new generation of female talent — some directly inspired by the achievements of pioneers such as Nicola Adams and Jade Jones in London — are ready to come through at the top level.

For Adams, Jones and Jessica Ennis-Hill read Sandy Ryan, Charlie Maddock and Katarina Johnson-Thompson — fast-rising stars who all cite the respective successes of their illustrious team-mates for helping raise their own levels of expectation.

And 17-year-old shooting star Amber Hill presents a more palpable measure of success as it was her own experience of watching the sport in London — she got a ticket from a friend after missing out in the ballot — which inspired her to set her goals towards a world-class level.

For England, the surge in female sporting contenders looking towards Rio is one of the most satisfying aspects of the often difficult push on from the high of a home games.

England said: “We have been blessed with some very, very talented women athletes for many Olympiads and this really came to fruition in London where we had a fantastic return in terms of medals and performances.

“We have a number of talented young athletes who are now stamping their authority and establishing themselves on the world of sport at Olympic and world level, and as that goes on the legacy will only continue.”

The often maligned inaugural European Games in Baku in July underlined the emergence of fine young British female talent with gold medals for the likes of Hill — who beat a former world champion in an epic 60-shot shoot-off — and Maddock, who just two years previously had been picked out of GB Taekwondo’s successful Fighting Chance programme.

Maddock is well placed to follow British taekwondo trailblazer Sarah Stevenson, a 2008 bronze medallist and two-time Olympic champion who — now retired — will fulfil a role as one of the BOA’s athlete mentors for the build-up to the Rio Games.

“It’s so important for young girls in particular to have that support and inspiration and I wish I had had that sort of opportunity to learn from others when I went to my first Olympic Games at the age of 17,” said Stevenson.