Athletics - Track 100 - 400m - Can anyone beat Bolt?

So for the Athletics section of the Olympics I've decided to split it into several different post to be able to talk more about the favourites in each of the events. Athletics have been a staple of the modern Olympic games being on the Olympic programme from the first modern games in 1896, with women included from the 1928 Amsterdam games. The Athletics competition is always one of the most exciting competitions that always have a massive audience. The competition is often divided into four different categories: Track, Field, Combined and Road events.

Today I'll be talking about the track events that are between 100m and 400m long including running, hurdling and relay events. These events are always very competitive and have for a long time been big public favourites in the Olympic games.

To start up let's talk about probably the biggest event of the Olympic games at the moment, the 100m sprint. This has been named the event where the fastest Man and Woman on the planet are named and superstars of the sport are born. In the Men's event the huge favourite is Usain Bolt (JAM) who has since his extraordinary win at the 2008 Beijing games been by far been the fastest man on the planet smashing old world records pushing the limits of what scientist have predicted is humanly possible. He however has shown that he's human and has been beaten in races the last couple of years. The main challenger is Yohan Blake (JAM) the current World Champion who ironically is Bolts training partner and teammate, but he won after Bolt was disqualified for a false start. Another person to look for is Christophe Lemaitre (FRA), the only white man to have ever run under 10 seconds and is a two-time European Champion in this event, but it's unsure if he will be racing in the 100 m as he is more competitive in the 200m and might want to focus on that. In the Women's event the favourite is Carmelita Jeter (USA) the World Champion, but will face competition from Shelley-Ann Fraser the current Olympic Champion and Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)  who has the capability to win in 100m, but is better at 200m. In the Men's 4x100m relay the Jamaican team are huge favourites to take gold, but the competition for the other medals are between France, the Netherlands, USA and Great Britain, However anything can happen in relay events making them incredibly thrilling. For the Women the duel for gold will be between Jamaica and USA with the other countries that make the final vying for bronze.

In Men's 110m hurdles the favourites are Jason Richardson (USA) the current World Champion and Liu Xian (CHN) who won a gold in the 2004 Athens games and missed the finals in Beijing because of injuries. Both these guys are amazing and will give the games an amazing duel. In the Women's 100m hurdles there is another duel between the World Champion Sally Pearson (AUS) and Dawn Harper the current Olympic Champion who came third in the World Championships. this will be yet another exciting duel.

The 200m event often has the same favourites as in the 100m, but who beats who can often change. The two favourites in my mind is Usain Bolt (JAM) the World and Olympic Champion and Chrisotophe Lemaitre (FRA) the European Champion. Lemaitre has a much better chance to medal in the 200m and if he just focuses on this event he might just beat Bolt and take the gold. In the Women's event Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM) the World Champion will probably hava another duel agains Carmelita Jeter (USA), but is much more likely to win this one.

In the Men's 400m there are two identical twin brothers in Kevin and Jonathan Borlee (NED) that are both vying for medals, but the favourite to win is the current Olympic Champion LaShawn Merritt. In the Women's competition the sister of the Borlee twins, Olivia (NED) is hoping to make a mark, yes this family is 400m crazy with yet another brother doing well as a junior. However the favourites are Allyson Felix (USA) and World Champion Amantle Monsho (BOT). In the Men's 4x400 relay event the favourites are USA, Jamaica, the Netherlands and South Africa. For the Women the favourites are USA, Jamaica and Russia. One person to look out for in the 400m Mens race for not being a favourite  but rather an inspiration is Oscar Pistorius (RSA) also known as "Blade Runner". The reason why I call him an ispiration is that Pistorius is a double leg amputee and runs on prosthetic legs especially made for running. He was banned from the 2008 Beijing games due to accusations that his prosthetics gave him an advantage (stupid I know), but he has fought his way into international competitions taking silver in the relay event at last years WC and I'm happy to say he has qualified and been picked as a part of the Olympic team. Make sure you try to keep an eye out for him if you haven't seen him before because what he does is amazing.

The Men's 400m hurdles is likely to be a duel between home favourite Dai Greene (GBR) and Javier Coulson (PUR) with both men having beaten each other in races the last couple of months, but who knows how the pressure will affect Greene. For the Women the duel is between World Champion Lashinda Demus (USA) and Olympic Champion Melaine Walker (JAM) who switches on who wins races at the moment.

The sprint distances are always exciting with athletes pushing the limits of the human body. There is sure to be amazing results and duels on the track during the games.