Trampoline star Kat Driscoll will be cheered on from her home club in Gillingham as well as from the stands as she heads to Rio to resolve some unfinished business.

TV screens at Jumpers Rebound Centre will be tuned into her competition next Friday which starts at 6pm UK time.

The Rio Games begin today (Friday) with the opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium where Kat will join fellow Kent sports people and the whole Team GB before the serious action starts tomorrow.

Her parents, Mike and Pam Driscoll, are flying out to Rio on Tuesday to watch both the ladies’ and men’s trampolining events.

Mike, who works at the centre in Mill Road, said: “We’re a bit nervous but not in the same way we were last time. Once you’ve been through that experience you get ready for things to happen.”

Rio is the second Olympics for the 30-year-old, from Walderslade, who started trampolining at the age of seven at Lordswood Leisure Centre before moving on to Jumpers.

At London 2012, the former Rochester Grammar School for Girls pupil suffered a heartbreaking exit in the preliminaries, missing out on the final by just one place.

Mike added that his daughter had “some unfinished business” after the disappointment of four years ago.

“But I think she’s finding it a bit easier, having been through this before, she almost knows what to expect. There’s a couple of other people going out there so she’s not going to be on her own this time,” he said.

She is joined by Bryony Page, 25, from Sheffield, and 23-year-old Nathan Bailey, from Bournemouth. Kat now trains in Washington, just outside Newcastle, and her club held a send-off party for her at the weekend with a cake baked by former trampolinist Jaime Halsey, who competed in the 2000 Olympics.

The final of the women’s trampoline competition will be at 7.45pm on Friday with the men’s competition on Saturday.

Also in Rio hoping for an Olympic medal is Chatham-born hockey player, Ashley Jackson.

The 28-year-old, who is competing in his third Olympics, is aiming to improve on the team’s fourth-place finish at London 2012. Both the men’s and women’s hockey teams include a large number of players from Rochester-based side Holcombe where Ashley plays.

Cheering them both on will be Chatham MP Tracey Crouch who is in Brazil in her capacity as sports minister.

Miss Crouch has been tweeting from British House, the UK's official residence at Rio, as she mingled with a host of sporting stars including Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, who will be carrying the GB flag in tonight's opening ceremony.

Before flying out to Brazil, Miss Crouch spoke to KMTV about how both Kent and Medway continue to benefit from the games.

• For more on Medway’s Olympic hopefuls, see today's Medway Messenger.