Idowu 8-5 favourite to strike Olympic gold

THE Olympic Games in Beijing are almost upon us and the bookmakers are clamouring for our business, with markets open on many of the showpiece events.

Athletics generates the largest turnover at the Games and patriotic punters will be particularly interested in backing some of the Britons with realistic chances of winning gold medals.

Having looked through the various track and field events, it’s pretty obvious our best chance of gold lies in the triple jump, where Phillips Idowu is the hot favourite at 8-5.

The women’s 400 metres is another event in which Britain has gold-medal prospects, but Christine Ohuruogu (14-1) and Nicola Sanders (25-1) will have their work cut out to overcome 4-1 ON favourite Sanya Richards, the fastest American of all time and the dominant force in her chosen event.

The men’s blue riband event, the 100 metres, features three superb athletes who will be vieing for the title of “fastest man on earth”.

Usain Bolt (8-5), Tyson Gay (2-1) and Asafa Powell (100-30) should provide us with a spectacle to remember and it’s the latter who appeals at current odds.

Idowu is our most realistic chance of success in the athletics stadium, but the cycling track gives us several chances to strike gold.

Britain is arguably the world’s leading nation in cycling - Mark Cavendish was the winner of four stages in the recent Tour De France - and stars like Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and Cavendish give us a strong hand.

Such is the cycling squad’s strength in depth that the team pursuit gold is considered a formality, bookies quoting our boys at 7-2 ON to come home in front.

But for the Olympics as a whole, the general consensus is for a Games dominated by host nation China and the mighty USA.

China are 4-5 favourites to win most gold medals, with the US 11-10 and Russia 20-1.