JUDO
Men
60 kg (132 lbs.)
G: Ruben Houkes, Netherlands
S: Hiroaki Hiraoka, Japan
B: Tsagaanbaatar Khashbaatar, Mongolia
B: Nestor Khergiani, Georgia
Mongolia has 15 Olympic medals but no golds.
66 kg (145 lbs.)
G: Yordanis Arencibia, Cuba
S: Arash Miresmaeili, Iran
B: Joao Derly, Brazil
B: Miklos Ungvari, Hungary
Miresmaeili was DQ'd in Athens after not making weight.
73 kg (160.5 lbs.)
G: Elnur Mammadli, Azerbaijan
S: Wang Ki Chun, South Korea
B: David Kevkhishvili, Georgia
B: Bogiev Rasul, Tajikistan
Tajikistan has never won an Olympic medal.
81 kg (178 lbs.)
G: Tiago Camilo, Brazil
S: Guillaume Elmont, Netherlands
B: Kim Jae Bum, South Korea
B: Robert Krawczyk, Poland
Camilo won 73-kg silver in Sydney at age 18.
90 kg (198 lbs.)
G: Ilias Iliadis, Greece
S: Irakli Tsirekidze, Georgia
B: Mark Huizinga, Netherlands
B: Hiroshi Izumi, Japan
Iliadis was also born in Georgia.
100 kg (220 lbs.)
G: Henk Grol, Netherlands
S: Daniel Hadfi, Hungary
B: Luciano Correa, Brazil
B: Ariel Zeevi, Israel
Three-time Euro champ Zeevi may be Israel's best athlete ever.
100+ kg (220+ lbs.)
G: Tamerlan Tmenov, Russia
S: Teddy Riner, France
B: Satoshi Ishii, Japan
B: Joăo Gabriel Schlittler, Brazil
In '07, at 18, Riner became the youngest men's world champ.
Women
48 kg (105.5 lbs.)
G: Ryoko Tani, Japan
S: Alina Dumitru, Romania
B: Yanet Bermoy, Cuba
B: Gao Feng, China
Tani has two golds and two silvers in four Olympics.
52 kg (114.5 lbs.)
G: Xian Dongmei, China
S: Telma Monteiro, Portugal
B: Ana Carrascosa, Spain
B: Romi Tarangul, Germany
After childbirth and knee surgery, Xian is better than ever.
57 kg (125.5 lbs.)
G: Kye Sun Hui, North Korea
S: Sabrina Filzmoser, Austria
B: Isabel Fernández, Spain
B: Aiko Sato, Japan
At 48 kg, Kye snapped Tani's 84-match winning streak in '96.
63 kg (138.5 lbs.)
G: Lucie Décosse, France
S: Elisabeth Willeboordse, Netherlands
B: Driulis González, Cuba
B: Ayumi Tanimoto, Japan
González took away Decosse's world crown last fall.
70 kg (154 lbs.)
G: Gévrise Emane, France
S: Ronda Rousey, U.S.
B: Edith Bosch, Netherlands
B: Masae Ueno, Japan
Rousey could be U.S.'s first Olympic judo champ.
78 kg (171.5 lbs.)
G: Vera Moskalyuk, Russia
S: Yang Xiuli, China
B: Yagnelis Castillo, Cuba
B: Heide Wollert, Germany
Yang beat Moskalyuk in Super World Cup in Paris in February.
78+ kg (171.5+ lbs.)
G: Tong Wen, China
S: Anne-Sophie Mondičre, France
B: Tea Donguzashvili, Russia
B: Maki Tsukada, Japan
Tong has won six straight world and Asian championships.
MODERN PENTATHLON
Men G: Jean-Maxence Berrou, France
S: Ilia Frolov, Russia
B: David Svoboda, Czech Republic
World champ Frolov will win a medal unless he blows riding phase as he has in the past.
Women
G: Aya Medany, Egypt
S: Heather Fell, Great Britain
B: Amélie Caze, France
Naval student Medany placed 28th in Athens at age 15.
ROWING
Men
Single sculls
G: Mahe Drysdale, New Zealand
S: Ondrej Synek, Czech Republic
B: Olaf Tufte, Norway
Drysdale has won three world championships.
Double sculls
G: Waddell & Cohen, New Zealand
S: Cop & Spik, Slovenia
B: Macquet & Hardy, France
Rob Waddell was a grinder on Kiwi America's Cup team.
Lightweight double sculls
G: Purchase & Hunter, Great Britain
S: Rasmussen & Quist, Denmark
B: Goisset & Dufour, France
Only event without a U.S. boat.
Quadruple sculls without cox
G: Poland
S: Italy
B: U.S.
U.S. beat Poles in June to end three-year winning streak.
Pairs without cox
G: Ginn & Free, Australia
S: Twaddle & Bridgewater, New Zealand
B: Calder & Frandsen, Canada
Duncan Free is down from quads.
Fours without cox
G: New Zealand
S: Australia
B: Netherlands
Hit by truck, Kiwi Hamish Bond has protruding collarbone.
Lightweight fours without cox
G: China
S: Denmark
B: France
China has never won rowing gold.
Eights
G: Canada
S: U.S.
B: Great Britain
U.S. is defending gold medalist.
Women
Single sculls
G: Ekaterina Karsten, Belarus
S: Rumyana Neykova, Bulgaria
B: Zhang Xiuyun, China
Harvard grad Michelle Guerrette is in the medal hunt.
Double sculls
G: Li & Tian, China
S: Evers-Swindell & Evers-Swindell, New Zealand
B: Thiele & Huth, Germany
Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell are identical twins.
Lightweight double sculls
G: Yu & Xu, China
S: Halliday & Houston, Australia
B: Van der Kolk & Van Eupen, Netherlands
Amber Halliday broke six ribs in '04 and was fourth in Athens.
Quadruple sculls without cox
G: China
S: Great Britain
B: Germany
German or East German boats have won last five titles.
Pairs without cox
G: Wu & Gao, China
S: Cummins & McGee, U.S.
B: Bichyk & Helakh, Belarus
Portia McGee missed Athens team by .2 of a second.
Eights
G: Romania
S: U.S.
B: Canada
U.S. beat '04 Olympic champ Romania at last two worlds.
SAILING
Men
470 (two-person dinghy)
G: Wilmot & Page, Australia
S: Rogers & Glanfield, Great Britain
B: Coster & Coster, Netherlands
Nathan Wilmot's father and uncle sailed for national team.
Laser (one-person dinghy)
G: Tom Slingsby, Australia
S: Paul Goodison, Great Britain
B: Rasmus Myrgren, Sweden
Slingsby won world titles in 2007 and '08.
RS:X (windsurfing)
G: Przemyslaw Miarczynski, Poland
S: Zhou Yuanguo, China
B: Tom Ashley, New Zealand
Zhou has fared best on his home course in Qingdao.
Star (keelboat)
G: Percy & Simpson, Great Britain
S: Scheidt & Prada, Brazil
B: Kusznierewicz & Zycki, Poland
Robert Scheidt is an eight-time world champ in Laser class.
Women
470 (two-person dinghy)
G: Kondo & Kamata, Japan
S: Conti & Micol, Italy
B: Rechichi & Parkinson, Australia
Dutch stars de Koning and Berkhout have been fading.
Laser Radial (one-person dinghy)
G: Anna Tunnicliffe, U.S.
S: Sarah Blanck, Australia
B: Xu Lijia, China
Tunnicliffe wed Brad Funk, who just missed men's Laser berth.
RS:X (windsurfing)
G: Marina Alabau, Spain
S: Barbara Kendall, New Zealand
B: Yin Jian, China
Kendall, the 1992 gold medalist, is in her fifth Olympics.
Yngling (keelboat)
G: Great Britain
S: U.S.
B: Netherlands
U.S. was briefly No. 1 last year.
Open
Finn (heavyweight dinghy)
G: Ben Ainslie, Great Britain
S: Rafael Trujillo Villar, Spain
B: Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic, Croatia
Ainslie has Olympic golds in Finn and Laser on his résumé.
49er (skiff)
G: Martínez & Fernández, Spain
S: Sibello & Sibello, Italy
B: Outteridge & Austin, Australia
U.S.'s Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast will challenge.
Tornado (multihull)
G: Bundock & Ashby, Australia
S: Hagara & Steinacher, Austria
B: Booth & Nieuwenhuis, Netherlands
Mitch Booth won two Olympic medals for his native Australia.
SHOOTING
Men 10-meter air pistol
G: Pang Wei, China
S: Vladimir Isakov, Russia
B: Franck Dumoulin, France
China's Wang Yifu won medals in this event at last four Games.
25-meter rapid-fire pistol
G: Ralf Schumann, Germany
S: Christian Reitz, Germany
B: Sergei Alifrenko, Russia
Schumann blamed bad Sydney score on electronic malfunction.
50-meter pistol
G: Lin Zhongzai, China
S: Boris Kokorev, Russia
B: Tomoyuki Matsuda, Japan
Xu Haifeng won in '84 for China's first Olympic gold.
10-meter air rifle
G: Zhu Qinan, China
S: Alin George Moldoveanu, Romania
B: Peter Sidi, Hungary
In Athens, Zhu broke U.S. shooter Jason Parker's world record.
50-meter rifle, 3 positions
G: Jia Zhanbo, China
S: Artur Aivazian, Ukraine
B: Maik Eckhardt, Germany
U.S.'s Matt Emmons was winning in '04 before hitting wrong target.
50-meter rifle, prone
G: Warren Potent, Australia
S: Matt Emmons, U.S.
B: Sergei Martynov, Belarus
Potent sold his house to pay for his mom's Alzheimer's care.
Trap
G: Michael Diamond, Australia
S: Mario Filipovi´c, Slovakia
B: Bret Erickson, U.S.
Erickson's heart stopped during jog in '04; now has pacemaker.
Double trap
G: Hu Binyuan, China
S: Richard Faulds, Great Britain
B: Glenn Eller, U.S.
Faulds did focusing exercises as a boy to correct poor vision.
Skeet
G: Georgios Achilleos, Cyprus
S: Vincent Hancock, U.S.
B: Anthony Terras, France
Hancock was world shooter of the year in 2005 at age 16.
Women
10-meter air pistol
G: Guo Wenjun, China
S: Natalia Paderina, Russia
B: Stéphanie Tirode, France
Sydney champ Tao Luna was left off the Chinese squad.
25-meter pistol
G: Jasna Sekari´c, Serbia
S: Lalita Yauhleuskaya, Australia
B: Chen Ying, China
This would be Sekaric's fifth medal in the event.
10-meter air rifle
G: Sonja Pfeilschifter, Germany
S: Du Li, China
B: Katy Emmons, Czech Republic
Katy Kurkova married U.S. shooter Matt Emmons in '07.
50-meter rifle, 3 positions
G: Sonja Pfeilschifter, Germany
S: Du Li, China
B: Lidija Mihajlovi´c, Serbia
Watch for U.S.'s Jamie Beyerle, who coaches a BB-gun team.
Trap
G: Daniela Del Din, San Marino
S: Giulia Iannotti, Italy
B: Park Yong Hui, North Korea
Del Din's home country has only 30,000 people.
Skeet
G: Wei Ning, China
S: Diana Bacosi, Italy
B: Danka Barteková, Czech Republic
Wei edged Bacosi on the Olympic range in April.
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