(BEIJING, August 12) -- Ok folks, the medal count is heating up as day four sees 19 medals at stake in 10 different sports and plenty more action as new sports join the fray.
Let's start, where else, at the Water Cube where, once again, the most medals in a single sport, Swimming, will be contested.
Michael Phelps of the United States will chase his third gold of the Games in the Men's 200m Freestyle. However the world record holder will face close competition from his compatriot Peter Vanderkaay and Park Tae-hwan of the Republic of Korea, the gold medalist in Sunday's Men's 400m Freestyle.
The Women's 100m Backstroke final could be fought out between Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe and Natalie Coughlin of the United States, while world record holder Leisel Jones is fancied for Women's 100m Breaststroke.
Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia, Hayden Stoeckel of Australia and Matt Grevers of the United States lead the medal favorites in the Men's 100m Backstroke final tomorrow morning.
In the diving competition, the question is less about whether China can bag another medal – the team's third of Beijing 2008 – rather, who is likely to stop them collecting all eight gold on offer?
Young duo Chen Ruolin, aged 15, and Wang Xin, 16 yesterday (August 11), compete in the Women's 10m Synchronized Platform final and are ranked No. 1 and 2 in the world.
The Australian pair Melissa Wu and Briony Cole won silver in front of their home crowd at the 2007 World Championships and could go close.
Also on water, but outdoors, the first Canoe/Kayak Slalom medals will be contested in the Men's C1 Canoe Single and K1 Kayak Single finals.
Tony Estanguet of France will be out to win the C1 title for the third consecutive time, but Robin Bell of Australia, the World No 1, and Michal Martikan of Slovakia, winner in Atlanta in 1996 and silver medalist in Sydney and Athens, could also feature.
In K1, Fabien Lefèvre of France, bronze medal winner in Athens, finished the heats with a second place finish at 168.06 seconds behind 2008 Tacen World Cup winner Peter Kauzer of Slovenia. Athens silver medalist Campbell Walsh of Great Britain came up with a ninth place in the heats, good enough to propel him to the semifinals. The reigning European champion will be a strong contender for gold.
There are two more shooting finals: the Men's 50m Pistol and Men's Double Trap.
Athens 2004 gold medalist Mikhail Nestruev of Russia will be looking for another gold medal in the 50m Pistol but will confront Athens 2004 silver and bronze medalists Jin Jong-oh of the Republic of Korea and Kim Jong-su of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Former Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medalist Tanyu Kiriakov of Bulgaria and Barcelona 1992 winner Kanstantsin Lukashyk of Belarus could also make the final.
The United Arab Emirates' Ahmed Al Maktoum will look to defend the gold medal he won in the Men's Double Trap at Athens 2004. Al Maktoum's main competition will surely come from Sydney 2000 gold medalist Richard Faulds of Great Britain.
From guns to horses -- a tight finish is expected in the battle for the Equestrian Eventing Team medals. Germany takes a slender lead into the final day -- less than one Jumping fault ahead of Australia. Great Britain, in third, looks good, as Italy looks to far back to contest the medals.
Germans Hinrich Romeike and Ingrid Klimke lead the Individual ranking event ahead of Megan Jones and Clayton Fredericks of Australia. All four riders are separated by less than one knock-down in Jumping.
Back indoors, the Beijing 2008 Men's Individual Sabre competition will see Russian fencing star Stanislav Pozdniakov in action. The Atlanta 1996 gold medalist has won a total of 17 World Championships, the latest in 2007. Challengers to watch are World No. 1 Nicolas Limbach from Germany and World No. 2 Luigi Tarantino from Italy.
The first Artistic Gymnastics gold medal of the Games, the Men's Team, is likely to be fought out between China, which has dominated the qualification stage, and defending champion Japan.
There are two more finals at stake in Judo: the Women's -63kg and Men's -81kg classes.
Lucie Decosse of France will be the favorite for the Women's -63kg title, in which reigning Olympic gold medalist Tanimoto Ayumi of Japan is also a contender. In the Men's -81kg,
2007 world champion Tiago Camilo of Brazil is a silver medalist from Sydney 2000. Kim Jae-bum of the Republic of Korea makes his Olympic debut but has beaten most of the leading contenders in the field.
The Beijing 2008 Weightlifting competition continues with medals to be decided in the
Women's 63kg and Men's 69kg categories, in which 2007 World Championship silver medalist Svetlana Tsarukaeva of Russia, and Irina Nekrassova and Maya Maneza of Kazakhstan will be among the favorites. China has the best chance of collecting another medal in the Men's 69kg with two contenders: 62kg Athens Olympic gold medalist Shi Zhiyong and young talent Liao Hui.
Wrestling enters Beijing 2008 with finals in the Men's 60kg and 55kg classes. Iran's Hamid Soryan Reihanpour has been the most dominant wrestler at 60kg, having won the last three World Championships, while Azerbaijan's 21-year-old Hercules Rovshan Bayramov is a potential winner of the 55kg class.
Park Sung-hyun of the Republic of Korea will be the archer to beat in the Women's Individual event. Her greatest threat looks to come from the No. 2 seed Yun Ok-hee, a fellow member from the all conquering Republic of Korea team which has won six Olympic Team events on the trot.
Several team sports continue, including Basketball, Hockey, Beach Volleyball, Women's Football, Volleyball, while there are further preliminary rounds in Boxing and Badminton.
The final Olympic Softball also starts -- the sport has been withdrawn from the Olympic roster after Beijing so is being contested for the final time.
Plenty of action then during day four of the world's greatest sporting show on Earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment