Liu Xiang, Usain Bolt, Yelena Isinbayeva and the other titans of track and field face the same challenge when competition starts Friday – do something at the Bird's Nest stadium to top a memorable opening ceremony highlighted by a retired gymnast's spacewalk to light the Olympic flame. Consider it likely. Under that fiery cauldron at the 91,000-seat stadium, the morning of the first day begins with Bolt and Asafa Powell of Jamaica and Tyson Gay of the United States qualifying for the 100 meters. The first golden moment will come later Friday when Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia seeks to turn her domination of the 10,000 into her first Olympic title. It will set off the scramble between African giants Kenya and Ethiopia to determine which is the dominant force in long-distance running. That is hardly the only duel to highlight the nine days of competition which will last through the Aug. 24 closing day of the Games. While swimming is overwhelmed by one story – the dogged pursuit of a record eight gold medals for Michael Phelps – athletics has a captivating story every day as the sport tries to recapture its pre-eminent status at the Games following years of doping scandals. There will be no bigger story than China's biggest star, 110-meter hurdler Liu. He is seeking to win what would likely be the only gold for the host nation in the iconic stadium. The stage is set for the showdown with Dayron Robles of Cuba, who already lowered Liu's world record earlier this year by .01 second to 12.87. With heats and the semifinals, the drama will be spread over four days, culminating in the Aug. 21 final. Injuries also shadow the other marquee race of the athletics program. In the 100, Gay has also struggled with a testy hamstring. He went down seeking to qualify for the 200 at the US Olympic trials last month and has not raced competitively since. Powell, meanwhile, has been recovering from a chest muscle injury which wreaked havoc with his early season coming into the Games. It puts a big question mark behind the three-way dash for gold, though both claim to be fully fit. All eyes will be on Bolt, who shot onto the scene this year with a stunning world record of 9.72 seconds, shaving .02 off Powell's mark. American sprinter Allyson Felix was marketed early this season to do even better – a potential quadruple champion. But her failure to qualify for the 100m squashed that story, leaving her a mere favorite in the 200m and a potential candidate to add golds in both relay races. Over longer distances, Kenenisa Bekele will seek to become the first 5,000-10,000m champion since his Ethiopian compatriot Miruts Yifter at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The United States is coming into the Games with one of its strongest teams yet and could surpass than the record 14 gold and 26 medals overall it won in Osaka. With athletics closing out the Olympics, the gold medal rush on the track could take on a meaning well beyond the sport. US runners could decide one of the major questions dominating the Games – will China or the United States finish at the top of the medal standings. – AP __
