Almost every sport qualifies for a home nation place at the Games (barring one or two such as basketball that are at the discretion of the international federation), allowing British representatives to take part in many sports for which they would not normally qualify.
Then there is Keri-Anne Payne, who became the first British athlete in any sport to qualify for the 2012 Olympics when she won the world 10km open swimming at the World Aquatic Championships, having battled past jellyfish, sharks and animal corpses along the way.
All three teams on the podium become the first nations, in any sport, to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Or if you were forward-looking enough to have bought cross-country skis in March (I think off-season sales of sports equipment qualify as a significant part of modern American culture) and to have waited patiently through a long summer only to wait even more patiently through a ridiculously warm autumn, then snow is an ever-receding object of desire.
There will be 253 medal events - and there will also be opportunities in 12 sports to qualify for next year's Olympics in Rio.
A certified birth certificate is usually required when you obtain a passport, enter school, obtain licenses, enter a sports league, qualify for a pension and Social Security, claim life insurance, settle an estate, obtain a work permit, or enter military service.
Now the Welsh team takes its place in Euro 2016, the first time "the perennial nearly-men of British sport" have qualified for a major tournament in 58 years.
Although Christie has competed at the top-end of her sport since qualifying for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, where she placed 11th in the 500m event, her progress over the last 12 months has been astounding.
The Azerbaijan Games will allow 11 sports qualifying opportunities for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
The base cutoff is if a sport does not qualify for an Olympics, that is very important," clarified Robertson.
