(BEIJING, August 8) -- The greatest sporting show on the Earth gets officially underway on Saturday, August 9 with seven gold medals at stake in five separate sports and competition kicking off in a further 13 sports.
Two of them are vying to claim the first gold medal of the Games. Battling it out for the initial podium place are the winners of the Women's 48 kilogram Weightlifting contest and the Women's 10m Air Rifle Shooting contest.
Weightlifting starts at Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics Gymnasium at 10 a.m. local time (UTC/GMT +8) with 14 weightlifters from 11 countries trying to hoist the first gold of the Games.
Defending champion Nurcan Taylan was the toast of Turkey in Athens four years ago when she set a new world record, lifting a total weight of 210kg to push China's Li Zhuo into silver spot.
Taylan's form has since dipped and China could claim its first gold of the Games through 2007 World Champion, Chen Xiexia. However, the 25-year-old world record holder will have to out-lift the challenge of Thai duo, Pensiri Laosirikul and Pramsiri Bunphithak, who claimed silver and bronze medals at the 2006 Asian Games. Other potential medalists include Taylan's Turkish team-mate Sibel Özkan, Im Jyoung-Hwa of the Republic of Korea and Hiromi Miyake of Japan.
Chinese sharp shooter: Du Li (Photo credit: Xinhua)
Across the city, action starts earlier (8.30 a.m. local time) at the Beijing Shooting Range where Chinese hopes will be high with home-favorite Du Li of China defending the 10m Air Rifle crown she won four years ago in Athens.
However, the 2006 world champion will face strong opposition from current World No. 1 Sonja Pfeilschifter of Germany, who is competing in her third Games but has yet to seize an Olympic medal, and Czech Republic shooter, Katerina Emmons, bronze medalist in 2004 (where she met her husband American gold medalist Matthew Emmons). Her father and coach, Petr Kurka, is also a two-time world champion.
The Men's 10m Air Pistol starts later in the morning and could be an open contest with the world's top two shooters in the event, Russian duo Vladimir Isakov and Vladimir Gontcharov, both missing.
The medal favorites include Sydney 2000 champion Franck Dumoulin of France, who won the event at the Good Luck Beijing International Sports Shooting Federation (ISSF) World Cup, while 22-year-old Chinese shooter Pang Wei is also likely to challenge.
Outdoors, the Men's Road Cycling race, at 245.4km distance, is the longest in Olympic history and will take in stunning scenery.
Starting at the Yongdingmen Gate in south Beijing, the route passes landmarks such as the Temple of Heaven, the Great Hall of the People, Tiananmen Square, the Imperial Palace Wall Relics Park, Yonghe Gong Lama Temple and ends with a grueling finish near The Great Wall, 70km north of Beijing.
Nothing new then for this year's Tour de France winner, Carlos Sastre of Spain, who comes to Beijing in hot form. However, the 33-year-old Spaniard will be challenged for gold by defending champion Paolo Bettini of Italy, and team-mates Alejandro Valverde and Alberto Contador, the 2007 Tour de France champion. Australians Cadel Evans, a Tour de France runner up, and three-time world individual time trail champion Michael Rogers could feature, while Levi Leipheimer leads the USA challenge.
In Fencing, the Women's Individual Sabre gold medals could go to US trio Rebecca Ward, Mariel Zagunis and Sada Jacobson. Ward, ranked second in the world, starts as favorite, but defending champion Zagunis, World No. 5, and Jacobson (bronze medalist at Athens) could push Ward all the way. China's Tan Xue, with the home crowd behind her, could prevent a US gold, silver and bronze, with Russia's Elena Netchaeva, the reigning World Champion, also a potential medalist.
Two Judo finals will be decided on the opening day of action at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium (USTB).
Judo golden girl: Tani Ryoko aims for gold again. (Photo credit: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
In the Women's 48kg class, Tani Ryoko of Japan is going for her third consecutive Olympic Games gold. The seven-time world champion is competing in her fifth Games and scooped silver medals at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996. French judoka Frederique Jossinet was the silver medalist in Athens and is a strong contender again, with Michaela Baschin of Germany, first-place finisher at the 2007 and 2008 World Cups, also in contention.
Thirty-three competitors will contest the Men's 60kg medals. The favorite is consecutive world champion Ludwig Paischer of Austria, with former European champion Craig Fallon of Great Britain also in the hunt. The Netherlands' Ruben Houkes is currently ranked second in the world and could also feature.
Away from the medals, 13 other sports start on August 9, including individual sports archery, badminton, boxing, artistic gymnastics, sailing, swimming, and team sports basketball, beach volleyball, equestrian, handball, rowing and volleyball, while football, which started on August 6, continues.
ROK's Im Dong-Hyun targets gold (Photo credit: Xinhua)
In Men's and Women's Archery, the Republic of Korea World No.1 ranked athletes are both in action. Yun Ok-hee will shoot in the second group of the Women's Individual ranking round, while in the men's tournament top-ranked Im Dong-hyun goes in group 15.
The much-anticipated Beijing 2008 Swimming competition will make a splash with the preliminary rounds of the Men's 400m Individual Medley, (where the spotlight will fall on US swimming superstar Michael Phelps, the defending Olympic and World champion and world record-holder), 400m Freestyle, and 100m Breaststroke, while the women's events include: 100m Butterfly, 400m Individual Medley (featuring the queen of world swimming, 19 year-old Katie Hoff) and 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay heats.
Among the other star swimmers on show, 41-year-old Dara Torres is part of the US Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay team, while two-time 1500m Freestyle gold-medalist Grant Hackett of Australia swims in the preliminaries of the Men's 400m Freestyle.
The Artistic Gymnastics event begins with men's qualification competition at the National Indoor Stadium. China, Japan, the United States and Germany are regarded as major gold medal contenders.
The Beijing 2008 Basketball tournament tips off with six women's round-robin preliminary matches between all twelve teams in groups A and B. In group A, outsiders Belarus take on highly-fancied Australia, while Brazil faces the Republic of Korea, and Russia plays Latvia in what could be closer encounters of the basketball kind.
World No. 1 United States should be too strong for Czech Republic (ranked ninth), while World No. 5 Spain plays host China (winners of the 2006 Asian Games), and African minnows Mali meets New Zealand in the day's group B matches.
The Beijing 2008 Women's Football tournament continues with the second round of preliminary group games, in which defending champions the United States could face an early exit from the tournament if they lose to Japan, having been surprisingly beaten by Norway in their opening group G game.
Most of the world's top players will sit out the first round of the Olympic Games Badminton competition at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium, while the Women's and Men's Beach Volleyball competitions start with the first qualification matches, including Women's No. 1 seed Tian Jia and Wang Jie of China facing Simone Kuhn and Lea Schwer of Switzerland in Pool A, while Men's No. 1 seed Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser of the United States take on Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Martins Plavins of Latvia.
The indoor version of Volleyball begins at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium with two traditionally strong teams - Italy and Russia - jockeying for an early advantage in what looks to be the pick of the day's encounters. Kazakhstan makes its Olympic debut in the sport, taking on 2007 European Championship silver medalist Serbia.
The Olympic Softball tournament opens at Fengtai Sports Center where the United States comes in search of its fourth consecutive gold medal in the event. Other contenders could include Japan (bronze medal 2004, silver medal 2000) and Australia (silver medal 2004, bronze medal 2000, bronze medal 1996).
Sailor supreme: Ben Ainslie (GB) (Photo credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Some 400 sailors from 62 nations and regions will competing in the Sailing competition in Qingdao, which begins with Finn and Yngling classes, including previous medalists like Ben Ainslie of Great Britain and Robert Scheidt of Brazil.
The Equestrian events of the 29th Olympiad begin in Hong Kong with Eventing Individual and Team Dressage competition in which 24 nations will participate, including defending Athens champions France, and Great Britain who, despite the loss of World and European gold medalist Zara Phillips, is expected to compete for gold.
It all adds up to a potentially enthralling opening day of action to get Beijing 2008 started off with a bang. Hang onto your hats, its going to be a 16 day ride.
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