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Great Britain is sending more than 600 competitors to the Olympic Games in Beijing. Here are 10 female members of Team GB with good chances of returning home with a gold medal.
REBECCA ADLINGTON, 19, SWIMMER
The last Olympics where a British woman won a medal in the pool was Los Angeles in 1984. The girl with the best chance of ending the drought is this 19-year-old from Mansfield, who will be swimming freestyle in both the 400m and 800m.
KATHERINE GRAINGER, 33, ROWER
Unusually for a sportswoman, the Glaswegian rower is studying for a PHD in homicide. She won silver medals at both the last two Olympics, and the quadruple skulls boat that she'll be rowing for this time round has a real chance of gold.
KATY LIVINGSTON, 24, MODERN PENTATHLETE
Since the women's modern pentathlon - an exhausting medley of shooting, fencing, swimming, riding and running - was reintroduced eight years ago, Britain has won half the medals, including gold for Stephanie Cook in Sydney. Livingston is the great hope this time: she won a prestigious event in Cairo and took bronze at this year’s World Championship.
CHRISTINE OHURUOGU, 24, 400M RUNNER
The girl who lives inches away from the 2012 Olympic stadium in Stratford, East London, was best known for failing to turn up to three out-of-competition drugs tests until she became the surprise winner of the 400m at last year's World Championships. This year though, the rangy Londoner will have to beat returning American favourite Sanya Richards, along with Nicola Sanders, another Brit.
PAULA RADCLIFFE, 34, MARATHON RUNNER
The nation's favourite athlete is struggling to regain fitness in time for Beijing after she suffered a stress fracture on her femur. Radcliffe has dominated marathons around the world since 2002 but has never finished higher than fourth in the Olympics. She would do anything to banish the memories of her desperate roadside retirement in scorching Athens.
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 SHANAZE READE, 19, BMX CYCLIST
The teenager from Crewe boasted on her website that she’s a "badass chick who kicks guys". 'Speedy Ready’ tore her opponents apart in winning her third BMX world title this year, and looks almost certain to win gold in Beijing.
REBECCA ROMERO, 28, TRACK CYCLIST
She won silver as a rower in the quadruple skulls at the last Olympics and then had to retire from the sport with a persistent back injury. So she took up track cycling and won the individual and team pursuit medals this year, an incredible transformation. Victoria Pendleton, the glamorous sprinter, is another potential winner.
KELLY SOTHERTON, 31, HEPTATHLETE
Carolina Kluft's retirement and Jessica Ennis's absence through injury means Sotherton has every chance of winning heptathlon gold. Strong at the sprints and jumping events, her atrocious javelin throwing is a glaring weakness.
HELEN TUCKER, 24, TRIATHLETE
Nobody was more surprised than this Welsh triathlete when she sprinted away in the closing stages to win the world title in Vancouver in June. Tucker had to recover from a nasty torn Achilles tendon and the removal of her National Lottery funding. Now, if she can capitalise on her strong swimming, she could be able to stay away from the pack.
THE YNGLING GIRLS, SAILORS
Four years ago, the 'Three Blondes in a Boat’ of Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton won an emphatic gold on the Greek waters. Since then, captain Robertson has been replaced in the Yngling keelboat by young Pippa Wilson, and the trio have continued to be among the fastest in their class. Much will depend on whether the August wind decides to blow at the Qingdao regatta.
FIRST POSTED JULY 24, 2008
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Beijing 2008: 10 British men to watch
Green peril
