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Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning the men's 100m race during the Diamond League athletics competition at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo in this June 7, 2012 file photo.DYLAN MARTINEZ/Reuters

Usain Bolt is the world-record holder in the men's 100 and 200 metres and part of the world-record holding 4x100-metres relay team, yet odds makers favour his training partner, Yohan (The Beast) Blake. The men's 100-metres final is scheduled for Sunday at 4:50 p.m.; the 200-metres final goes Thursday at 3:55 p.m.; the 4x100-metres relays are Aug. 11 at 4 p.m.. The women's 100-metres final is Saturday at 4:55 p.m., with Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica and Carmelita Jeter of the U.S. expected to run a close race.

If you see Phillips Idowu, can you please direct him to Olympic Stadium? Britain's triple-jump world silver medalist has cut off contact with coach Aston Moore after leaving the team's training camp in Portugal and hooking up with a private physiotherapist in hopes of recovering from a leg and hip injury. Idowu hasn't reported to the athletes' village and has been skewered by UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee. The men's triple-jump final is scheduled for Thursday at 2:20 p.m.

Sally Pearson of Australia suffered her first loss in almost two years in a Diamond League meet on July 14, but she remains the favourite to win the women's 100-metres hurdles ahead of American Dawn Harper, who overcame knee surgery and a pair of borrowed spikes to win gold in Beijing in 2008. Also back is Lolo Jones, the evangelical Christian and self-professed virgin who posed nude for ESPN magazine's body issue, was the gold-medal favourite in Beijing before tripping over the second-last hurdle. The final is scheduled for Tuesday at 4 p.m.

It just seems as if nobody pole vaults any more. Elena Isinbaeva of Russia still does and is bidding to become the first woman to win three Olympic pole vault titles. She also has 53 world records. The pole vault final is 2 p.m. on Monday.

After missing the 2008 Beijing Games with stress fractures in her right foot, heptathlete Jessica Ennis is the face of the London Games. She set a British record this year, and she can stake an early claim to gold on Friday in the 100-metres hurdles, since her times are routinely better than her main challengers, Tatyana Chernova of Russia and Natallia Dobrynska of Ukraine. The heptathletes, including Jessica Zelinka of Canada, will also compete in the high jump, shot put and 200 metres Friday, before competing in the long jump, javelin and 800 metres Saturday.

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