Jamaicans primed for relay gold

By Simon Evans

BEIJING (Reuters) - Double Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Usain Bolt could claim his third triumph of the Beijing Games in the 4x100 sprint relay as Jamaica bid to crown a magnificent week on the track on Friday.

Bolt and the Jamaicans were already favourites for gold but the absence of the United States, champions Britain and 2004 bronze medallists Nigeria, all disqualified from the heats, improved their chances further.

"We were looking forward to running against them in the final because they are one of the best teams out there but our team is very strong. It would have been hard to beat us," said Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell, the former 100 metres world record holder.

The main challenge to Jamaican dominance is likely to come from Trinidad and Tobago and the absentees mean there is a chance for one of the unfancied nations to pick up a medal.

Jamaica are also hot favourites in the women's sprint relay after the U.S shared the same fate as their men's team, and it is hard to see anyone catching the Caribbean quartet led by individual gold medallist Shelley-Ann Fraser.

In the women's 5,000 metres, Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba is looking to become the first woman to complete the distance double after her success in the 10,000.

In the field events, champion Russian Tatyana Lebedeva is highly fancied in the women's long jump but will have to watch out for the best qualifier, American Brittney Reese.

Evgeny Lukyanenko of Russia and Australian Steve Hooker are the only men to clear six metres in the men's pole vault this season but the field looks wide open.

American Bryan Clay leads the decathlon heading into the second day when he will hope to go one better than four years ago when he took silver.

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)