Rio 2016 medal table: How Team GB could finish second above China for the first time

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Britain's success has taken the experts by surprise.

Gracenote Sports, a company specialising in analysing sports data, predicted before Rio that China would win 71 medals and Britain 56.

Simon Gleave, the firm’s head of analysis, expects Team GB to easily surpass that but thinks China might snatch second place.

“Britain are going to get close to the 65 medals won at London, which considering it is not a home Games is quite incredible,” he told the BBC Radio 4. “Anything is possible but I would suggest the data at the moment says Britain would fall just short of China.”

Gracenote based its predictions on results at World Championships, World Cup and grand prix events since London 2012.

Britain have never finished above China in the medal table since the world’s most populous country made their Olympic debut 32 years ago.

However, with four days to go both have 19 golds. In the gallery above, Matt Majendie assesses how the teams will fare but the race is so tight the final positions could hinge on the number of silvers won.

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