A week on from the opening ceremony at London 2012 the Olympic Stadium will be packed out once again as the athletics events get underway on Friday.
Up to 80,000 people are expected to descend on the main stadium for the start of the athletics, one of the glamorous events in the Olympic Games, with plenty of exciting action to look forward to in track and field.
London 2012's athletics program begins at 10:00 a.m. local time, with men's shotput preliminary round. Gold medals are at stake in the women's 10,000m and the men's shot put on the opening day.
Britain's highly fancied Jessica Ennis starts her bid to win gold in the heptathlon when she competes in two of her favored events in the morning - the 100m hurdles and the high jump.
The Sheffield athlete, who will be making her Games debut after being ruled out of Beijing 2008 due to injury, will then compete in the shot put and the 200m in the evening.
The women's 100m and 400m will also begin on Day 7, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Carmelita Jeter two of the favorites to land gold in the shorter of the sprints.
Sanya-Richards Ross of the U.S. poses serious challenge to Britain's defending Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu for gold in the 400m.
Javier Culson of Puerto Rico and UK's world champion Dai Greene are two of the leading contenders in the 400m hurdles, which also get under way.
A total of 21 gold medals will be up for grabs across ten different sports on Day 7.
In the track cycling at the velodrome, Britain and Australia are the leading contenders for gold in the men's team pursuit.
Australian Anna Meares is favorite for gold in the women's Keirin, but Victoria Pendleton will be determined to triumph for the host nation.
Michael Phelps and Chad le Clos are set to go head-to-head once again in the 100m butterfly at the aquatics Center.
Phelps, now the most decorated Olympian in history, was forced to settle for silver when South African Le Clos narrowly beat him in the 200m Butterfly earlier in the week, and the U.S. swimmer will be out to set the record straight.
Britain's Rebecca Adlington will defend her 800m freestyle title although Denmark's Lotte Friis could push her all the way in the evening session.
There will also be finals in the men's 50m freestyle and the women's 200m backstroke.
It promises to be another exciting day in the rowing at Eton Dorney, with finals of the men's pair, the men's single sculls, the men's quadruple sculls and the women's double sculls to look forward to. The British pair of Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins is unbeaten since teaming up in 2010 in women's double sculls.
The men's trampoline final will take place at the North Greenwich arena, while the men's individual archery final will be held at Lord's.
The final of the men's 25m rapid fire pistol and men's 50m rifle prone will take place at The Royal Artillery Barracks and Wembley Arena will be the venue for the medal decider in the mixed doubles badminton competition.
All the semi-finals in tennis, except in mixed doubles, will take place on Friday. Andy Murray will play Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer will take on Juan Martin del Potro in men's singles, while the women's singles semifinals will see Victoria Azarenka against Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova v Maria Kirilenko.
Judo, weightlifting and fencing medals will also be decided on Friday.
As the London Olympics turned a week, the United States equaled China in the number of gold medals, and overtook them in the total medal tally. Both the teams now have 18 golds each. The United States has a total of 37 medals, while China has so far won 34 medals.
Britain has risen to fifth in the overall medal table with five golds after three were secured on Thursday.
by RTT Staff Writer
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