China will send 431 athletes to the forthcoming Tokyo Olympic Games, including 24 Olympic champions, according to the Chinese delegation, which was announced in Beijing on Wednesday.

At the Games, which begin on July 23 in Tokyo, Japan, the delegation, which includes 298 female athletes and 133 male competitors, will compete in 225 events. According to Xinhua, 19 of the delegation's 24 Olympic champions won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, while 293 athletes will compete in their first Olympics.

"This is the largest ever Olympic delegation China has sent overseas," Gao Zhidan, deputy director of China's State General Administration of Sport, said, noting that the delegation has a total of 777 members, including 30 foreign coaches, and that nearly all of the delegation members have received COVID-19 vaccines.

Quan Hongchan, 14, the delegation's youngest member, will compete in the women's diving event, while Li Zhenqiang, 52, of the Chinese equestrian team, will be the oldest Chinese athlete to compete at the Games.

Women's shot throw world champion Gong Lijiao, two-time Olympic taekwondo gold medallist Wu Jingyu, men's shooting world champion Pang Wei, Olympic race walk champion Liu Hong, and Olympic trampoline silver medalist Dong Dong are among the delegation's most experienced athletes.

Table tennis, badminton, gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting, and diving are expected to bring home a slew of gold medals for China.