Day 11 Preview: China gymnasts and GB cyclists go for gold

  2008-08-19 02:09:00 GMT    2008-08-19 10:09:00 (Beijing Time)    BOCOG

Day 11 Preview: China gymnasts and GB cyclists go for gold

US athlete Sanya Richards

Day 11 Preview: China gymnasts and GB cyclists go for gold

GB team cyclists

  (BEIJING, August 20) -- Some twenty medals are at stake in 10 separate sports as Beijing 2008 rounds the final bend in preparation for a sprint finish down the home straight.

  Indeed, precisely the sort of thing competitors in the Men's 1500m -- one of five Athletics finals being staged on August 19 -- will have in mind at the National Stadium.

  In the absence of 2007 world champion Bernard Lagat of the United States who was surprisingly eliminated in the semifinals, Kenya has two of the three fancied winners of Athletics' Blue Riband event -- fastest qualifier Asbel Kipruto Kipropand and former world junior champion Augustine Kiprono Choge, although 2005 world champion Rashid Ramza of Bahrain is another likely contender.

  Sanya Richards of the United States will aim to capture her first individual gold medal, in the Women's 400m final. The Jamaica-born runner holds 4 x 400m Relay gold medals from Athens 2004 and the 2003 and 2007 World Championships. Reigning world champion Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain could also win a medal.

  Another US sprinter, Lolo Jones, recorded the fastest time in the world this year and set a new personal best of 12.43 in the semifinals of the Women's 100m Hurdles. It could be another one, two, three to follow the US Men's 400m Hurdlers yesterday (August 18), with Damu Cherry and Dawn Harper the next fastest to progress to the final.

  Lithuania's Virgilius Alekna goes in search of his third Men's Discus Throw Olympic gold medal, and another returning champion, Athens 2004 Men's High Jump gold medalist Stefan Holm of Sweden, will hope to make it back-to-back success.

  Elsewhere the Men's 200m semifinals see Usain Bolt of Jamaica continue his quest for double sprint gold. His main threats are US trio Walter Dix, Shawn Crawford and Wallace Spearmon, although Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe was the fastest qualifier.

  Reigning world and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner switched off in the final stages of his first-round heats of the Men's 400m, so Christopher Brown of the Bahamas was the fastest qualifier. It is also in round two of the Men's 110m Hurdles in which world record holder Dayron Robles if Cuba is now the favorite after China's Liu Xiang pulled out.

  There are also the round one heats of the Women's 1500m, which will feature reigning world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain; the Women's 200m, rounds one and two, in which reigning Olympic champion Veronica Campbell Brown of Jamaica and world title holder Allyson Felix (USA) go head-to-head; and the Women's 5000m round one, where Olympic champion Meseret Defar of Ethiopia and world record holder Tirunesh Dibaba are favorites.

  It is also the qualifying rounds of the Women's Javelin Throw and Women's Long Jump.

  The final day of the Track Cycling competition at the Laoshan Velodrome could be the best yet for Great Britain, which has dominated the past four days. Team GB have already secured five gold medals but will fancy their chances in each of the last day's three finals. Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish start as favorites for the Men's Madison, with Wiggins looking for his third medal of the Games which, if he achieves it, will also give him his sixth Olympic gold �C the joint most for any cycling competitor.

  Chris Hoy is also looking for his third gold of Beijing 2008 in the Men's Sprint. Hoy will square off against Mickael Bourgain, who hopes to be France's first gold medalist in the event since Daniel Morelon won back-to-back medals in 1968 and 1972. Jason Kenny of Great Britain and Maximilian Levy of Germany will contest the other semifinal race.

  In the Women's Sprint four-time world champion Victoria Pendleton, again of Great Britain, is the favorite. Willy Kanis of the Netherlands will race against Pendleton. Kanis, a two-time BMX world champion, has enjoyed recent Sprint success with World Cup wins in Sydney and Copenhagen, where she beat Pendleton in the final. Anna Meares of Australia will battle Guo Shuang of China in the other semifinal.

  British hopes will be high at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, too, with medal races in the Laser (Men's One Person Dinghy) and Laser Radial (Women's One Person Dinghy), with Paul Goodison in a commanding position to claim Great Britain's third gold medal at the Sailing regatta. He takes an 18-point lead into the double-points race Laser (Men's One Person Dinghy)

  Goodison finished first, fourth and sixth in Monday's races to lead Rasmus Myrgren from Sweden by 18 points.

  World No.1 Anna Tunnicliffe from the United States is in the box seat going into the double-points medal race of the Laser Radial (Women's One Person Dinghy) on Tuesday, with a seven-point advantage over her nearest rival Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania.

  Tom Ashley of New Zealand, one of the pre-Games favorites, is leading the charge for gold with one race remaining in the Men's RS:X (Windsurfer) opening series, to be sailed on Tuesday, and the double-points medal race, to be sailed on Wednesday. Only 12 points separate the top five.

  China will expect gold medal success on the last day of the Olympic Artistic Gymnastics competition, which will see three gold medals contested in the Men's Parallel Bars, the Women's Beam and the Men's Horizontal Bar.

Li Xiaopeng of China

  Li Xiaopeng is the favorite for the gold medal in the Men's Parallel Bars. Li was the gold medalist at Sydney 2000 and the bronze medalist at Athens 2004, while Li Shanshan will be tough to beat in the Women's Beam, although American duo Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson have been in good form.

  Germany's Fabian Hambuechen could finally win his first Olympic medal in the Men's Horizontal Bars. Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands is a dark horse for the gold medal and fresh from winning a gold medal in the Men's Floor Exercise; China's Zou Kai may also challenge.

  Lu Chunlong and Dong Dong look well placed to win China's first ever Men's Gymnastic Trampoline medal on the final day of competition at the National Indoor Stadium

  Lu finished first in qualification, while Dong won the silver medal at the 2007 World Championships. Russian Dmitry Ushakov's finished third in qualification and should be one of the main medal contenders.

  The Beijing 2008 Weightlifting competition concludes with the Men's 105kg class likely to feature giants from Belarus, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. Favorites would appear to be Russia's 25-year-old Dmitriy Klokov. The 2005 world champion is a consistent performer, although 2006 world champion Marcin Dołęga from Poland is another big event lifter.

  This year's world champion Javier Gomez of Spain is the red-hot favorite for the Men's Triathlon. Courtney Atkinson of Australia (second at the World Championships) and Docherty Bevan of New Zealand could be in contention.

  China will be confident to still be on course for a sweep of all eight Games Diving medals by winning the sixth final of Diving competition �C the Men's 3m Springboard.

  He Chong and Qin Kai led the field into the semifinal, with legendary Russian diver Dmitry Sautin, who was fourth in qualifying, looking for his eighth Olympic medal and third gold.

  The Wrestling competition resumes with gold medals in the Men's Freestyle 55 kilogram and 60 kilogram weight classes. Besik Kudukhov of Russia is the favorite for the 55kg category, although 24-year-old Bulgarian Radoslav Velikov is also a top wrestler in this class. In the Men's Freestyle 60kg, 2007 world champion Mavlet Batirov of Russia is likely to win his second Olympic gold medal, having moved up to the 60kg category after his victory at Athens 2004

Triathlete Javier Gomez of Spain

  Among the team sports, it is quarterfinals day in Women's Basketball, with China playing Belarus, Australia meeting the Czech Republic, the United States facing the Republic of Korea and Russia taking on Spain. In the Women's Handball quarterfinals, it's an all-Scandinavian duel between Norway and Sweden, east European clash between Hungary and Romania and Asian showdown involving China vs. the Republic of Korea, while Russia vs. France completes the line up. Meanwhile at the Yingdong Natatorium Hungary take on the Netherlands, and the United States face Australia in the semifinals of the Women's Water Polo competition.

  The quarterfinals of three weight categories (Bantamweight 54kg, Featherweight 57kg and Super Heavyweight +91kg) will be held on August 18 at the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing, including bouts for world champion Roberto Cammarelle of Italy at Super Heavyweight and Li Yang of China at Featherweight, while Indian boxer Akhil Kumar is hoping to add to his list of upsets in the Bantamweight class against Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova.

  It looks like being another busy, enthralling day at Beijing 2008.