ROK's Im Dong-Hyun targets gold (Photo credit: Xinhua)
In Men's and Women's Archery, the Republic of Korea World No.1 ranked athletes are both in action. Yun Ok-hee will shoot in the second group of the Women's Individual ranking round, while in the men's tournament top-ranked Im Dong-hyun goes in group 15.
The much-anticipated Beijing 2008 Swimming competition will make a splash with the preliminary rounds of the Men's 400m Individual Medley, (where the spotlight will fall on US swimming superstar Michael Phelps, the defending Olympic and World champion and world record-holder), 400m Freestyle, and 100m Breaststroke, while the women's events include: 100m Butterfly, 400m Individual Medley (featuring the queen of world swimming, 19 year-old Katie Hoff) and 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay heats.
Among the other star swimmers on show, 41-year-old Dara Torres is part of the US Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay team, while two-time 1500m Freestyle gold-medalist Grant Hackett of Australia swims in the preliminaries of the Men's 400m Freestyle.
The Artistic Gymnastics event begins with men's qualification competition at the National Indoor Stadium. China, Japan, the United States and Germany are regarded as major gold medal contenders.
The Beijing 2008 Basketball tournament tips off with six women's round-robin preliminary matches between all twelve teams in groups A and B. In group A, outsiders Belarus take on highly-fancied Australia, while Brazil faces the Republic of Korea, and Russia plays Latvia in what could be closer encounters of the basketball kind.
World No. 1 United States should be too strong for Czech Republic (ranked ninth), while World No. 5 Spain plays host China (winners of the 2006 Asian Games), and African minnows Mali meets New Zealand in the day's group B matches.
The Beijing 2008 Women's Football tournament continues with the second round of preliminary group games, in which defending champions the United States could face an early exit from the tournament if they lose to Japan, having been surprisingly beaten by Norway in their opening group G game.
Most of the world's top players will sit out the first round of the Olympic Games Badminton competition at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium, while the Women's and Men's Beach Volleyball competitions start with the first qualification matches, including Women's No. 1 seed Tian Jia and Wang Jie of China facing Simone Kuhn and Lea Schwer of Switzerland in Pool A, while Men's No. 1 seed Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser of the United States take on Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Martins Plavins of Latvia.
The indoor version of Volleyball begins at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium with two traditionally strong teams - Italy and Russia - jockeying for an early advantage in what looks to be the pick of the day's encounters. Kazakhstan makes its Olympic debut in the sport, taking on 2007 European Championship silver medalist Serbia.
The Olympic Softball tournament opens at Fengtai Sports Center where the United States comes in search of its fourth consecutive gold medal in the event. Other contenders could include Japan (bronze medal 2004, silver medal 2000) and Australia (silver medal 2004, bronze medal 2000, bronze medal 1996).
Sailor supreme: Ben Ainslie (GB) (Photo credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Some 400 sailors from 62 nations and regions will competing in the Sailing competition in Qingdao, which begins with Finn and Yngling classes, including previous medalists like Ben Ainslie of Great Britain and Robert Scheidt of Brazil.
The Equestrian events of the 29th Olympiad begin in Hong Kong with Eventing Individual and Team Dressage competition in which 24 nations will participate, including defending Athens champions France, and Great Britain who, despite the loss of World and European gold medalist Zara Phillips, is expected to compete for gold.
It all adds up to a potentially enthralling opening day of action to get Beijing 2008 started off with a bang. Hang onto your hats, its going to be a 16 day ride.
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