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There are another six gold medals up for grabs on day 3 of the athletics but it is a relatively quiet day for Australia with no real prospects of medal, but all eyes will be on the Men’s 100m Final.
However the eyes of the world will be drawn to the Olympic Stadium as Bolt, Blake, Powell, Gatlin and Gay battle it out in the 100m for immortality and the title of the fastest man on the planet.
UPDATE: The Men’s 100m final will be run at 6:50am (AEST)- 9:50pm London time
The Gold Medal Events:
Women’s Marathon
The Women’s Marathon is about as far as you can get from my speciality of sprinting and pole vaulting. Sentimental favourite and the hope for the home nation Paula Radcliffe pulled out just a few days ago and so arguably the greatest female long distance / marathon runner of all time will end her career without an Olympic medal.
Australia has a full contingent of three with Benita Willis, Jess Trengove and Lisa Weighman flying the flag. Benita, in PB form, would be in medal contention but she hasn’t been in that shape since 2006. My tips are Keitany for gold, Shobukova for silver and Kiplagat for bronze.
Women’s Triple Jump
The best triple jumper of the last 10 years Tatyana Lebedeva is making a comeback after having her second child. She will have the support of a large part of the crowd as they attempt to lift her to a very much deserved first Olympic Gold medal.
However much like Radcliffe in the marathon, some legends of the sport have the Olympic dream unfulfilled and this is what I predict for Lebedeva. My tips are Saladuha for gold, Ibarguen for silver and Rypakova for bronze.
Men’s Hammer Throw
One of the most impressive things to watch in athletics is Koji Murofushi of Japan throwing the hammer. He has indescribable speed and power for a man so big and somehow manages to look cooler than everyone else he competes against. He has had a very quite lead up but with 2012 season leader Tsikhan not competing in qualifying, his chances of victory have dramatically increased.
My tips are Pars for gold and Murofushi for silver in a reverse of their placing’s from Daegu with reigning Olympic Champion Kozmus for bronze.
Women’s 400m
Every major championship the Russian 400m women run some amazing times at their trials and then fail to reproduce that form when it matters. Havign said that, Antonina Krivoshapka looked phenomenal in the heat and the semi final and if she can finish off her race in the final she will be very hard to beat. Sanya Richards-Ross has been without doubt the best 400m runner in the world since 2004 but has yet to win an individual Olympic gold.
However today continues to be the day when the legend doesn’t quite make it as I am tipping Krivoshapka for gold, Richards-Ross for silver and 2011 World Champion Montsho for bronze.
Men’s 3000m Steeple
There are two things I want to see at the end of the Men’s Steeplechase. The first is Ezekiel Kemboi to win.
That is because after winning the last two World Championships he has ripped of his shirt Hulk Hogan style and conducted his victory lap topless and flexing his very lean but not very impressive East African body for the crowd.
It is pure entertainment. The second is serial pest Frenchman Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad to assault a mascot. Wenlock and Mandeville (two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton and the strangest Olympic mascots since Izzy from Atlanta 1996) had better watch out as Mahiedine has two priors from when he won the Steeple at the European Athletics Championships in 2010 and 2012.
Both times after crossing the line he approached the Games mascot and pushed them, one of which had a 14 year old girl inside. He also spent most of the 2011 season banned from competing due to getting into a fistfight after a race with French team mate Mehdi Baala.
My tips are Kemboi for gold, Kiprop Kipruto for silver and Mekhissi-Benabbad for bronze.
Men’s 100m
The last gold medal to be decided today will be one of the highlights of the games, the blue ribbon event, the Men’s 100m. Even with the NBA stars here and 17 time gold medallist Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt is undeniably the superstar of these Olympic Games.
At the 2008 Olympic Games he turned the world of sprinting on its head winning three gold medals and breaking three world records including the legendary 200m mark of Michael Johnson’s.
Up until Yohan Blake ran 19.26 for the 200m it was inconceivable that Bolt would be beaten at the London Olympics. Since then in 2012 he has beaten Bolt at the Jamaican trails and has the fastest time in the world for the year. The title will almost certainly be fought out between those two with Powell, Gatlin and Gay to sort out who gets third.
Whilst Bolt did break the 100m world record at Beijing and Berlin I can not see him repeating that feat here. I refuse to believe anyone can run faster than 9.58 seconds! Though Bolt is coming into these games with a faster season’s best then he did in 2009…
My tips are Bolt for gold, Blake for silver and Gay for bronze. This is run at 6:50am AEST.
Other Australians
Lauren Boden lines up in the Women’s 400m Hurdles and the training partner of Melissa Breen and Brendan Cole should make it through to the semi finals.
Ryan Gregson is in the semi finals of the Men’s 1500m. With the top five going through to the final, on both season’s bests and personal bests he should make it through, but will need an improved effort from his run in the heats.