The United States will win 99 medals followed by China's 90 at the Rio Olympics, academics predicted on Tuesday.

Academic sports forecasters at the University of Liverpool hope their Rio 2016 top ten medals table will replicate their successful predictions in 2008 success. They failed to produce accurate predictions in 2012 even though the Games was held in London.

Professor David Forrest and Dr Juan De Dios Tena, from the university's Management School, worked alongside Professor Ian McHale from the University of Salford, to reveal their predicted team by team medal table for Rio 2016, based on statistical modelling.

The team forecasts that the United States will top the list on 99 medals, closely followed by China on 90 medals, with Great Britain trailing the two sporting giants in third, with a creditable 51 medals.

The rest of the top ten sees Germany take sixth on 36 medals, followed by Japan on 31 medals, France on 30 medals and Italy on 26 medals. The Netherlands and Spain are predicted to finish joint tenth, with 20 medals each.