Athletics
Usain Bolt (pic) will be the cynosure of all eyes when the track and field competition starts on August 3. The 100m sprint preliminaries start on the second weekend, at 2.30pm on August 4; the semis and final are at 12.15am and 2.20 am, respectively, on August 6.
Barring an unlikely disqualification, the final line up is likely to pit Bolt against
compatriots Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell and American Tyson Gay, four of the fastest men on the planet.
Swimming
Michael Phelps (pic) has won 14 gold medals over the last two Olympics. Now he needs just three more to surpass Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina as the most-decorated Olympian of all time. The American swimmer has four individual and three relay events from July 28 to August 4.
Here's the quick guide
Gymnastics
196 competitors — 98 men and 98 women — compete across 14 medal events. Look out for US gymnast Jordyn Wieber (pic), Russia’s Viktoria Komova and China’a Yao Jinnan in the women’s section. In the men’s section, it will be Japan’s Kohei Uchimura, Zou Kai of China, American Danell Leyva and Germany’s Philipp Boy. The action begins on July 28.
Basketball
The Americans, with NBA stars like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant (pic) and Kevin Durant, among others, look unbeatable. Team veteran Bryant has upped the ante by prodding the team to surpass the Michael Jordan-led Dream Team of ‘92. Bryant said: US players’ citizenship should be revoked if they fail to win gold.
Football
Heavyweights Brazil will hope to break their drought at the Olympics for which they will bank on their star striker Neymar Da Silva. Among the other big teams, Spain will hope to continue their recent world domination, while Great Britain too will see this as a big opportunity to strike gold at home.