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Olympics Betting: Women's Athletics - First Day's Preview- Get on Chernova

Jack Houghton is quick to dismiss the chances of GB' s Kelly Sotherton in the heptathlon and is far more interested in the price of a certain Chernova. But who else are we looking to back in today's other events?

Women's 10,000m Final

During the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, China's women athletes shot to infamy by sweeping all the golds from 1,500m to 10,000m under controversial coach Ma Junren. With well over a minute to find on 10,000m favourite Tirumesh Dibaba, it would bring similarly sceptical looks if they were able to do something comparable here. Dibaba should win comfortably, but [1.26] isn't big enough to account for potential negative reactions to conditions in Beijing or poor tactical choices. One to watch and enjoy.

Women's Heptathlon

Medals will be decided on Saturday, but four of the seven events will be completed on Friday, in a competition thrown open by the surprise withdrawal of Carolina Klüft. For rivals of the three-time World Champion, that's the news equivalent of Tiger Woods being out for the year.

The announcement fuelled nationalistic hope that Kelly Southerton could win gold, but she stands little realistic chance - mainly due to her woeful javelin throw, 15m behind what is necessary at this level - and the [5.8] currently available looks very short. Hyleas Fountain won the US trials in a world's best for the year of 6,667 and will be hard to beat.

I recommend a 1pt bet on her at [7.6]. But the outstanding athlete in the field is Russia's Chernova. Only 20 years old, she beat Blonska in Gotzis, posting a personal best (PB) of 6,618. The former World Youth and Junior Champion, she has improved every one of her event specific PBs this year and her only weakness looks to be her inexperience. I recommend a 2pts bet on her at [4.7].

Women's Discus

With barely a metre covering the top five in the world at the moment, this has a lottery look about it. I'll wait to see who qualifies for the final, but the whole event looks like being a washout from a betting perspective.

Women's Triple Jump

Two centimetres separate Savigne and Devetzi this year, and another 20cm brings in Etone and Lebedeva. Qualification might bring more clarity as to who is jumping well, but much like the women's discus, the prices look right and there aren't any obvious betting angles.
Women's 3,000m Steeplechase

Gulnara Samitova, World Record holder and the fastest woman this year, is favourite for this event. She demonstrated her wellbeing when setting that season's best in Oslo; beating most of her key rivals in the process. But Samitova went into last year's World Championships as favourite - only managing seventh - and has looked weak when it really matters. A case can be made for a number of athletes to upset the favourite - Volkova, Petrova and Jepkorir all look dangerous - but the percentage call is probably just to lay Samitova for 2pts at [2.44].

Women's 800m

Arguably the most exciting athlete on show in these Games is the Kenyan, Pamela Jelimo. At just 18 years old, she has stunned the World with her performances this year. Initially a sprinter, winning the African Championships at 400m in 2007, she ran her first competitive 800m this year. A few races later, she has run a breathtaking 1:54.97 and racked up four consecutive Golden League wins. Amazingly, Yelena Soboleva went quicker in Kazan this year, but she is suspended due to doping test irregularities and this looks a penalty kick for the Kenyan phenom. I can't recommend backing her at [1.23] - there's always the chance someone so young will make a tactical mistake in the cauldron of Olympic competition - but there is an argument to say she is value at that price.

Jack's Selections:

Women's Heptathlon Back Hyleas Fountain 1pt [7.6]
Women's Heptathlon Back Tatyana Chernova 2pts [4.7]
Women's 3,000m SC Lay Gulnara Samitova 2pts [2.44]