Following nine gold medals in the World Championships, Great Britain enters the 2008 Beijing Olympics as favourites to top the medal table in the cycling. In the cycling sprints, British cyclists Chris Hoy in the men’s race and Rebecca Romero, Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade in the women’s, are all tipped to finish on the podium in their respective events.

Cavendish and Wiggins will reunite to compete in the men’s Madison and are hot favourites to scoop gold, and Chris Hoy looking to win the men’s Keirin.

Sarah Hammer has the best chance of claiming a gold medal for the US and enters the women’s individual pursuit looking to improve on the silver medal that she won at the 2008 World Championships in Manchester. However she will face former British rower Rebecca Romero who won gold at the worlds in the individual and team pursuits.

The men’s individual pursuit is likely to come down to a final between Britain’s Bradley Wiggins and Australian Bradley McGee. Italian cycling legend Paulo Bettini will retire following the end of the Olympics and is looking to end his career with a gold medal in the road race; he is the current Olympic and World Champion.

Continuing with off-track disciplines, young Brit Shanaze Reade is the BMX gold medal favourite and has taken this event by storm, winning a total of eight European and four world titles. At the age of only 19 she is the overwhelming favourite due to the distance she finished ahead of her rivals in the recent World Championships.