Olympics 1992 Friday 7 August: Elsewhere

The best bet to win the 3,000 metres steeplechase, Moses Kiptanui, only found a place late, as three were ahead of him in the Kenyan trial. It may be little different today, with Algeria's Azzedine Brahmi having the best chance of preventing a clean sweep.

The women's long jump will be a tougher assignment for Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Heike Drechsler of Germany has shown some of her best form this summer, and may be able to reverse the finishing order from Seoul.

Sergei Bubka is one of the safest favourites of the Games, in the pole vault. At his best he should be a head above the rest. In the women's shot the defending champion Nataliya Lisovskaya could be toppled by Svetlana Mitkova of Bulgaria or Cuba's Belsis Laza, who has thrown furthest this year by half a metre.

Britain's best chance of repeating last year's heroic 4 x 400m relay win is for their powerful US rivals to drop the baton in today's preliminaries. The American 4 x 100m squad is also impressive, and the British quartet could also be bettered by the well-drilled French squad. Nigeria could also show.

The American women will also be favourites for both relays. In the 4 x 400m only the Unified Team has comparable strength. The sprint relay, with both Nigerian and German teams depleted by athletes either banned or withdrawn, will still provide good competition. The world-champion Jamaicans are improved from last year.

The US men's volleyball team is weakened since the last two Olympics, when they won gold, but are still medal prospects for today's semi-finals. The Unified Team, European champions, must be favoured, with Brazil, Cuba and world champions Italy also threatening.