Tero Pitkamaki of Finland and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway are two good friends who look set to dominate the Javelin at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Pitkamaki was undoubtedly the world’s best javelin thrower of 2007 winning 14 out of the 16 competitions he entered, including the gold medal at the World Championships. Thorkildsen is the current Olympic gold medalist for Javelin and will be seeking to make up for the defeat he suffered to Pitkamaki at the World Championships. He was in strong form throughout 2007, but has not been nearly as dominant as his rival Pitkamaki, winning just 7 of the 14 competitions he entered in the 2007 season. Although one of these Scandinavians is expected to take the gold for Javelin in Beijing, Australian Jarrod Bannister cannot be ruled out following his throw of 89.02m, the best throw by anyone this year.

The women’s event will see British hopeful Goldie Sayers attempt to improve on her performance in Athens by making the podium, but she is likely to be some way behind favourites, Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic and Christina Obergföll of Germany.

The women’s shot will see arch rivals, Nadzeya Ostapchuk and Valerie Vili, go head to head for the gold medal. Belarusian Nadzeya Ostapchuk looks to be the athlete in form, having thrown four out of the top five distances in 2008. She will face strong competition from New Zealand rival Valerie Vili who is the 2007 World Champion and the current number one in the world. Americans Reese Hoffa and Adam Nelson, and Belarusian Andrei Mikhnevich look set to battle it out for the gold medal in the men’s event.

Belarus will also be challenging for a gold medal in the men’s and women’s hammer throw. For the women, Aksana Miankova will hope to out throw German favourite Betty Heidler and for the men Ivan Tikhon is strong favourite following his third World Championship gold medal in 2007 and strong form in 2008. He will face competition from Japanese thrower Koji Murofushi.

Completing the throwing events is the discus where Estonian Gerd Kanter looks to be the men’s favourite as the 2008 Beijing Olympics approaches. The 2007 season saw him win medals in all 25 competitions that he entered. His closest rival is Lithuanian Virgilijus Alekna who, prior to the 2007 season, was the dominant force in discus. This will be his third Olympics but he spent much of 2007 injured and will face an uphill task when facing the younger and in form Kanter.

The women’s discus will be competed without German legend Franka Dietzsch. The three-time World Champion has been forced to withdraw due to health problems leaving Russian Darya Pishchalnikova the opportunity to replace her as the top athlete in women’s discus.