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Olympics Day 11 Preview: Ronaldinho vs Messi as old foes meet

Andrew Hughes previews a day in which the 1500m is likely to be the top attraction. Also, in the football, there's a clash of the South American giants.

After success in the pool, on the cycling track and at the rowing lake, the pressure is on the British athletes to deliver further golds and there are three Britons in today's men's high jump final. The highlight of the action at the Birds Nest Stadium though is the men's 1500 metres, which looks like a clash between Rashid Ramzi [1.8] and Asbel Kiprop [2.66]. Other gold medals up for grabs today include the men's discus, the women's 400 metres and the wide open women's 100 metre hurdles.

There are also heats in a host of track and field events including the women's 5000, 1500 and 200 metres and the men's 200 metres in which Usain Bolt will presumably be enjoying another evening stroll as a prelude to picking up a shiny medal.

Elsewhere, the long anticipated clash in the men's football tournament is finally here with Brazil taking on Argentina. The Argentinians are slight favourites at [2.46] with Ronaldinho's Brazilians on [3.05] whilst Nigeria against Belguim in the other semi is has the look of a silver medal play-off. It's also the semi-finals in the women's beach volleyball competition and the women's water-polo, where the USA take on Australia and Hungary play Netherlands.

The track cycling has been a revelation, not just because of the number of British medallists but the sheer number of different ways there are to ride a bike round in a circle. Today's action, for instance, includes finals of the men's and women's sprints and something called the Madison, an event in which pairs of riders compete to see who can ride the most laps in a set time.

Meanwhile, there will be even greater feats of endurance on display in the men's triathlon and at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre it's the medal races in the Laser and Laser Radial classes.

Some of the other team events have reached the quarter-final stages, most notably the women's basketball where massive favourites USA, currently [1.29] for gold, take on [220.0] outsiders Korea. In the women's volleyball, there are some interesting clashes, notably between USA and the impressive Italians, whilst the strong Chinese take on the lanky Russians. France against Russia is the highlight of the women's handball quarter-finals and there are further group matches in the men's hockey and baseball.

It's quarter-final time in the boxing competition as we reach the last eights of the light featherweight, lightweight and light heavyweight divisions and more gravity defying action in the artistic gymnastics with golds to be won in the men's horizontal and parallel bars and the women's beam. Other golds to be won today include wrestling (men's freestyle 60kg and 55kg) weightlifting (men's 105kg) diving (men's 3 metre springboard) and trampolining.

Finally, there are more heats in the flatwater canoeing and kayaking events, a whole lot of ping pong in the table tennis singles and down in Hong Kong there will be medals handed out in something called 'freestyle' dressage. It may be significantly more exciting than regular dressage, but I wouldn't count on it.

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22/11/2008 | Rugby
Rugby League World Cup Final