So how many medals will Team GB win at the Olympic Games in Rio? Only 45, say researchers

Team GB are likely to clock up 45 medals at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016, researchers have calculated.

Scientists made the prediction using a mathematical formula based on the average number of medals that Britain won before and during the home Games at London 2012.

The same formula three years ago predicted that Britain's medal haul at London 2012 would be 63.5 medals - just under the actual number of 65.

The formula, developed by researchers at the University of Wolverhampton, predicts that the host nation's odds of winning medals will more than double. So home advantage should bring in 2.05 medals for every single medal usually won, the model suggests.

The historical average of British medals is 31, and when multiplied by 2.05 the medal haul for 2012 was predicted as 63.5.

The authors, whose findings are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, predict that the odds of a nation winning more medals immediately after hosting the Olympic Games increase by a ratio of 1 to 1.46.

So if the average medal tally of 31 was increased by this ratio, Team GB should win 45 medals at Rio 2016.

They created the model using the medal tallies for all countries that have hosted the Games since the Second World War.

The approach, known as logistic regression, takes into account the number of medals achieved before, during and after hosting the Games.

The researchers also examined the home advantage effect of objectively and subjectively judged sports at London 2012.

They noted that Team GB made 13 medal gains in subjectively assessed sports such as boxing, equestrian and gymnastics in London 2012, compared with Beijing in 2008.

In sports that are objectively judged, such as athletics, swimming and weightlifting, they made just five medal gains.