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Team GB medal hopefuls in action today: August 5

 

William Robson
Monday 23 July 2012 15:18 BST
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Victoria Pendleton
Victoria Pendleton (GETTY IMAGES)

Your one-stop guide to the Team GB medal hopes in action at the Olympics today...

Victoria Pendleton

Age: 31

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: Individual Sprint

Rival: Anna Meares, Australia

Medal Prospects: Will be vying with main rival Anna Meares for gold.

Victoria Pendleton won gold at the World Championships in April, beating Meares in the semi-final, so she comes into the Games on a high. This will be her last Games and her last track competition so it carries extra weight and importance for her.

Dates of event: August 5 – August 7

Odds: 11/5

Robbie Grabarz

Age: 24

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: High Jump

Rival: Ivan Ukhov and Andrey Silnov, both of Russia

Medal Prospects: Gold could be within his reach.

Robbie Grabarz has quite literally jumped from relative anonymity into the limelight this year. At the end of last month he won his first European title and his personal best for the year is one centimetre short of the British record – a far cry from someone who ended last season 44th best in the world. His newfound form has seen him record the third highest jump in the world this year and in with a real chance of taking gold in London.

Dates of event: August 5 – August 7

Odds: 13/2

Perri Shakes-Drayton

Age: 23

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: 400m Hurdles

Rival: Natalya Antyukh, Russia

Medal Prospects: Could snatch gold in a very open field.

Perri Shake-Drayton proved to the world that she has the ability to take gold in the Games when she raced to victory at the London Diamond League Grand Prix. Her time from that run was not only a personal best, but also put her joint second on the world list for this year – all on a wet and windy English night. If she can prove that it wasn’t a one off, then in a field that lacks stand out runners, she could even be in the hunt for a gold medal.

Dates of event: August 5 – August 8

Odds: 11/2

Paula Radcliffe

Age: 38

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: Marathon

Medal Prospects: Has struggled in past Olympics so has the potential to finish on top or well off the pace.

Paula Radcliffe, veteran marathon runner, has one gap left in her superb career: she has not had Olympic success. The current World record holder had a slight injury scare at the beginning of the month. The foot problem that forced her to miss the London Marathon flared up again and meant she had to see a specialist in Germany. However, it is thought that she will make the Games and since this will be her last attempt she will surely be more motivated than ever to overcome here Olympic curse and win a medal.

Date of Marathon: August 5

Odds: 12/1

Nicola Adams

Age: 29

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: Boxing Flyweight

Rival: Cancan Ren, China

Medal Prospects: Will probably be yet another showdown between Adams and Ren for gold.

Nicola Adams was the first British woman to win a major title when she triumphed at the European Championships in 2011. She has finished second place in the World Championships three times in a row and this year has been characterised by bouts with current World number one Cancan Ren. Adams and Ren have met twice this year, Adams won the first encounter but Ren triumphed in the second to win the World Championships.

Dates of event: August 5 – August 9

Odds: 7/4

Louis Smith

Age: 23

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: Pommel Horse

Rival: Hungarian Kristzian Berki is the man who stands in between Smith and gold.

Medal Prospects: Smith enters the Olympics as second favourite.

Louis Smith has been a European silver medallist three times in the pommel horse and has won gold at the Commonwealth Games. On the world stage he won bronze at the 2008 Olympics and again in the 2011 World Championships. Currently in great form the 23-year-old is hotly tipped for a medal in London.

Date of event: August 5

Odds: 3/1

Andy Murray

Age: 25

Place of Birth: Scotland

Main Event: Men’s Singles Tennis

Rival: Anyone of the two men ranked above him – although a rematch with Roger Federer is the one that will be most hotly anticipated.

Medal Prospects: He came so close at Wimbledon that he will surely back himself to go that one step further on his return to the grass courts.

Any Murray became the first British male to reach a Wimbledon final for over 70 yearsin July but was prevented from winning the title by a sublime Roger Federer. The London Olympics sees the tennis return to the grass courts of West London and give the Scot another chance to claim glory at the home of British tennis. Many said that defeat in the final would signal the start of the rise of Murray and the Games will be the first chance to see if such predictions will be fulfilled.

Dates of event: July 28 - August 5th

Odds: 17/2

Ben Ainslie

Age: 35

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: Men’s Finn

Rival: Zach Riley, USA

Medal Prospects: Looking to make it four gold medals.

London 2012 will be Ben Ainslie’s fifth Olympic Games and sees him in the hunt for his fifth medal to add to his three golds and one silver. Ainslie has dominated the

sport in recent years and in May won seven out of nine races at the Finn Gold Cup in Falmouth. However at the pre-Games regatta in June he showed he could have an off-day when he capsized and finished second.

Dates of event: July 29 - August 5th

Odds: ½

Iain Percy & Andrew Simpson

Age: Both 36

Main Event: Men’s Star

Rival: Robert Scheidt & Bruno Prada, Brazil

Medal Prospects: Will be aiming for a silver

The duo won gold in 2008 in Beijing but their build-up to 2012 was difficult as Iain Percy was hit with a back problem at the World Championships in 2011. However,

the two have worked hard and returned to the World Cup circuit in April where they vied with their Brazilian rivals for top spot. Their final warm-up competition saw them finish third in Weymouth in June.

Dates of event: July 29 - August 5th

Odds: 7/2

Christine Ohuruogu

Age: 28

Place of Birth: London

Main Event: 400m

Rival: Amantle Montsho, Botswana

Medal Prospects: An outsider for a medal but could potentially be looking at gold if run in the London Grand Prix is anything to go by.

Last year after the World Championships in South Korea, Christine Ohuruogu was a broken woman. A run of very poor performances had left her half the athlete she was in Beijing 2008. However, her performance in the London Grand Prix harked back to her superb displays in the last Olympics and showed that she might well have returned to form at the perfect time as she easily cruised past reigning world champion Amantle Montsho.

Dates of event: August 3 - August 5th

Odds: 15/2

Luke Campbell

Age: 24

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: Bantamweight boxing

Rival: Lazaro Alvarez Estrada. Cuba

Medal Prospect: One of Britain’s best chances for boxing gold.

Luke Campbell took silver at the World Amateur Boxing Championships last year and is seen as a favourite for gold at the Olympics this summer. Two years ago

Campbell was described as the benchmark for British boxing after going on an unbeaten run of 23 matches and he is still seen as the example for other British boxers to follow.

Dates of event: July 28 – August 11

Odds: 13/2

Bryony Shaw

Age: 29

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: Windsurfing RS:X

Rival: Marina Alabau, Spain

Medal Prospects: Gold is the dream but silver or bronze might be more realistic.

Bryony Shaw is Britain’s first women's windsurfing Olympic medallist, having taken home bronze fromthe 2008 Games. Since 2008 she has seen great success, her biggest highlight being a gold medal at the 2010 World Cup in France. She ranked fourth at the last World Championships but will see herself as having a great chance of winning gold.

Dates of event: July 31 – August 7

Odds: 4/1

Nick Dempsey

Age: 31

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: Windsurfing RS:X

Rival: Nimrod Mashich, Israel

Medal Prospects: Determined to get gold but current world number Mashich will probably get in his way. Silver at best.

Nick Dempsey comes into the 2012 Games determined to finish on the podium after a disappointing fourth place in Beijing. Since 2008 he has worked hard and enjoyed

success, winning World Championship gold for the first time in 2009. That World Championships happened to have been at Weymouth and Portland, the venue for

this year’s Olympic – surely a promising sign for the first Britain to win a medal in windsurfing.

Dates of event: July 31 – August 7

Odds: 4/1

Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark

Age: 23 and 31

Main Event: 470 Class

Rival: Spain are tipped to push them the hardest.

Medal Prospects: The duo are in a great position to take gold.

This year has so far looked promising for the newly formed partnership and they enter the Games as favourites. The duo took silver at their first major regatta in April followed by two more – including one at the Olympic test event. The Games will of course bring a different level of competition, but the two should be more than motivated as Clark looks to put the disappointment of not winning a medal in 2008 and Mills tries to prove a point at her first Olympics.

Dates of event: August 3 – August 10

Odds: 11/4

Jason Kenny

Age: 24

Place of Birth: England

Main Event: Men’s Sprint

Rival: Gregory Bauge, France

Medal Prospects: Will be competing with his French rival Bauge and team-mate Hoy for gold.

Jason Kenny was part of the Men’s Sprint team that won gold in the 2008 Games and also won a silver medal in the Individual sprint, losing out to Chris Hoy. Since then he has won gold in the World Sprint Championship in 2011 – after his opponent Gregory Bauge was disqualified for infringing anti-doping laws – and taken silver in the same event in 2012, losing out to Bauge.

Dates of event: August 4 – August 6

Odds: 8/1

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