Dibaba to complete womens long-distance double

Tirunesh Dibaba won the London 2012 Olympic Games women`s 10,000 metres going away from the field and she is a good bet at odds of around 4-7 to confirm her status as an athletics great by completing the long-distance double.

Dibaba won both the women`s 5,000m and 10,000m gold medals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and, despite suffering a series of injury setbacks between the events in China and the United Kingdom, proved that she has still got what it takes when winning the London 2012 Olympic Games women`s 10,000m by more than five and a half seconds from the Kenya double act of Sally Kipyego and Vivian Cheruiyot.

Such was the emphatic manner in which Dibaba won the London 2012 Olympic Games race over 25 laps that she is impossible to oppose in her rematch against Kipyego and Cheruiyot over 12 and a half circuits. The Ethiopian star has qualified for the final fastest and merits being even shorter than 4-7.

Staying on the track, the London 2012 Olympic Games men`s 4x100m relay and women`s 4x400 relay competitions are about to get under way. The women`s event is easily the most interesting of the two from a betting perspective, with the United States of America the odds-on favourite at around 4-7 ahead of Russia (around 5-2) and Jamaica (around 8-1).

Based on 2012 times, Russia should be the favourite. Its top four women`s 400m runners this year are Antonina Krivoshapka (49.16 seconds), Yulia Gushchina (49.28s), Natalya Nazarova (50.00s) and Anastasiya Kapachinskaya (50.37s), whereas the United States of America`s fastest quartet features Sanya Richards-Ross (49.28s), Deedee Trotter (49.72s), Francena McCorory (50.06s) and Ashley Spencer (50.50s).

Add up the times and Russia is, on paper, 1.40s faster than the United States of America. However, if one excludes runs other than those performed during the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Americans come out on top by a wide margin.

Punters have to ask themselves do they value London 2012 Olympic Games form more than anything else achieved this year. If the answer is yes - and it most probably should be - then the United States of America is a fair bet at 4-7.

The London 2012 Olympic Games men`s 4x100m relay shapes as a head-to-head battle between Jamaica, which is the favourite at around 2-5, and the United States of America, which is around 11-4. The Jamaicans have the edge on both 2012 and London 2012 Olympic Games times, with their advantage over the Americans being 0.25s and 0.16s respectively.

Young diver Tom Daley is one of Great Britain`s poster boys but one cannot help thinking that he is under the odds at around 4-1 to win the London 2012 Olympic Games men`s 10m platform because of his profile in the host nation.

China`s Qiu Bo has taken out the last two World Championship titles and no-one comes closes to matching his consistency in major events since the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Bookmakers have got the Chinese superstar as the favourite but, at around 8-15, he seems somewhat overpriced because of the weight of expectation and patriotic money on Daley.

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08/08/2012     © Frixo 2024