For the men, reigning British world champion Alistair Brownlee (pictured above, left) and brother Jonathan (pictured above, right) are wearing numbers 30 and 31 respectively.

Double world champion Javier Gomez, the biggest threat to the Brownlee brothers' hopes of home success, will wear number 51 for Spain.

The reigning champion, Jan Frodeno (pictured below, right) of Germany, will be sporting number 46, while Bevan Docherty, a double Olympic medallist for New Zealand, will don number 54.

Sven Riederer of Switzerland, another triathlon Olympic medallist, has been assigned number 21.

Russia's Alexander Bryukhankov could be one to keep an eye on in number 25, as will the 2000 champion, Canada's Simon Whitfield, wearing five.


Whitfield, along with American Hunter Kemper in number 43, will be the only athletes on the men's side to have competed in every Olympic triathlon to date.

Number one will be worn by Costa's Rica's Leonardo Chacon.

Reigning ITU sprint world champion Barbara Riveros Diaz of Chile has been allocated number one for the women's race.

She stands a chance of success this summer, but will be up against the likes of home favourite and reigning ITU world champion Helen Jenkins, wearing 10.

Australia's talented trio of Erin Densham, Emma Jackson and Beijing 2008 bronze medallist Emma Moffatt will wear 25, 26 and 27 respectively.

Anja Dittmer of Germany, the only woman to have competed in every Olympic Games that triathlon has been on the programme, will wear the number 22.

Other women to look out for are France's Jessica Harrison (pictured below) in number 12, New Zealand's Andrea Hewitt in number 32, Spain's Ainhoa Murua in 45 and Nicola Spirig wearing 43 for Switzerland, who has enjoyed a superb year to date.


Start numbers mainly indicate transition position between each leg of the triathlon, but the superstitious look for number omens from previous races.

For example, Nicky Samuels of New Zealand may hope that the number 34 allotted to her is as lucky as it has been for others; at each of the three Olympic triathlons to date the woman wearing that number has won a medal. 

The number 13, believed to be unlucky by many, is not included in the list, making the final start number 56.

Ecuador, Mauritius, Monaco, South Korea and Slovenia will be taking part in the Olympic triathlon for the first time in Games' history.

A record 39 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are taking part in this summer's triathlon.

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