KEY POINTS:
Which competitors in which sports will provide the most exciting encounters? The Herald looks through the list and comes up with the thrillers:
DAYRON ROBLES (CUBA)
110m HURDLES
This was supposed to be the event in which defending Olympic champion Liu Xiang gained Chinese sporting immortality, a
la Cathy Freeman in Sydney eight years ago. However bespectacled Cuban Robles is set to poop in the Bird's Nest on August 21. The 21-year-old Robles lowered Liu's world record to 12.87s in Ostrava in June and last year won the world final with a meet record 12.92s. Liu has the hopes of 1.3 billion riding on his shoulders. No pressure, then.
CAROLINA KLUFT (SWEDEN)
LONG JUMP
The blonde Swede won the Olympic heptathlon gold in Athens, was unbeaten for six years, but has decided to chuck in the mixed discipline event for the long jump and triple jump in Beijing. Hugely popular, the 25-year-old has always advocated a sport for fun philosophy - she takes a small stuffed toy Eeyore on her travels to remind her sport should not be a serious business. Her best long jump this year is 6.87m, in Istanbul in June. She has her work cut out - the year's best of 7.04m are by Russian Lyudmila Kolchanova and Portugal's Naide Gomes - but you'd be foolish to rule the gifted 1.78m Kluft out. These are likely to be her last Olympics. Enjoy her while we can.
YELENA ISINBAYEVA (RUSSIA)
POLE VAULT
Does for women's pole vault what compatriot Sergei Bubka did for the men's equivalent. The lean, long-limbed 26-year-old is defending the title she won with a then-world record 4.91m. That mark's long gone, Isinbayeva having lifted it to 5.03m at the Golden Gala meet in Rome, then again on July 30 to 5.04m at the Monaco Grand Prix. She's won the last four world finals, the last three world indoor titles and has stacked up over 20 world records, clipping it by a centimetre a time, therefore boosting her bank balance along the way. Among the nearest things to a dead-set certain gold.
MICHAEL PHELPS (UNITED STATES)
SWIMMING
He's chasing eight golds in the pool to eclipse Mark Spitz's seven set in Munich 36 years ago. The 23-year-old from Baltimore is after golds in the 100 and 200m butterfly, 200 and 400m individual medleys, 200m freestyle and three relays. It is a huge call, given that he'll be in the pool each day, but this is a man who won seven world titles in Melbourne last year, including five world records. If Phelps has won seven, the finale comes in the final event of the meet, the 4x100m medley on August 17. And if he's on target, talk about the perfect way to finish at the Water Cube.
KENENISA BEKELE (ETHIOPIA)
10,000M
The world record holder at both 5000m (12min 37.35s) and 10,000m (26:17.53), Bekele has won the last three world 10,000m titles. At 26, the farmer's son should be in his prime. At Athens he won the longer distance but was bumped into second in the 5000m a couple of days later by Moroccan Hisham el Guerrouj. A class act on the track, Bekele possesses a fierce turn of speed. Expect the field to be seeing his heels well before the finish line in Beijing. He'd fancied attempting a double in Beijing, but the schedule is too tight, which is fans' misfortune.
JAVIER GOMEZ (SPAIN)
TRIATHLON
New Zealand hopes rest primarily with Bevan Docherty going one better than Athens, but he's got to beat the near-unbeatable Spaniard. He won the world series in the last two years and leads this year's circuit, including winning the world title. In 2000, Gomez was diagnosed with an abnormal heart valve and had his international licence withdrawn. He got it back in time to win the world under 23 title in New Zealand, but missed the Spanish Olympic team. He is a driven man, ambitious to prove those who doubted his abilities wrong.
SHAWN JOHNSON (UNITED STATES)
ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS
Step forward the young face of middle America. The 16-year-old from Des Moines, Iowa, won three gold medals at last year's world championships in Stuttgart, including the all-round individual title. China fancy their chances in Beijing, as you would expect. Johnson is no shrinking violet: "I don't think anybody is going to beat us," she has confidently predicted. The gymnastics is always among the most popular events on the Olympic programme. Watch for Johnson as she attempts a Yurchenko manoeuvre - okay, to the uninitiated it's a 2-1/2 twist dismount from the vault. Not many athletes have mastered that.
USAIN BOLT/ASAFA POWELL/TYSON GAY
MEN'S 100M FINAL
You want drama, you want prancing showponies, you want real, blistering speed? Then make sure you're parked in front of the box at 2.30am on Sunday, August 17. Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell and American Tyson Gay will, barring massive upset or injury, square off to be the fastest man alive. Right now 'The Lightning Bolt' holds the world record, a sizzling 9.72 seconds set in the New York grand prix last month . Powell had held it for almost three years at 9.74s. They're the only two men ever to run under 9.80s, Powell five times, Bolt twice. Gay won the 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m relay gold at last year's world champs in Osaka. Gay turns 26 tomorrow , Powell is 25 and Bolt is 22 on August 21. It won't take long, but it will be fun.
