Here are a select few who the world could be talking about for the next few weeks. 

China

Liu Xiang - The Olympic 110m hurdles champion from Athens is under huge pressure at these games. Like Cathy Freeman in Sydney 2000 the country expects only one thing, a gold medal. After he equalled Colin Jackson's world record of 12.91 seconds he has gone on to be arguably China's most famous sportsman. The coming weeks will show if he can ignore the pressure as he says he can.

Yao Ming - After Liu Xiang definitely the most popular in China. The 7' 6" NBA basketball star is not blessed with the marketable good looks of Liu Xiang but has still managed to be the top earning celebrity in China for the past 5 years. As for medal chances the China basketball team may actually struggle with their only other NBA player being Yi Jian Lian.

Guo JingJing - The pin up star of diving is reportedly the highest earning female athlete in China. She has spent the last year alongside Liu Xiang and Yao Ming on Coca Cola cans across the country. With 3 double Olympic golds and 8 World championship titles to her name she is the most decorated of the three. Beijing is rumoured to be her last games so keep an eye out for her in the 3m individual synchronised diving.

Cheng Fei - this young 20 year old woman is expected to lead the Chinese gymnast team to glory in Beijing. She has more world titles than any other gymnast but just missed out on medals in Athens, which left the judges subject to jeers from the crowd. She is expected to compete in the vault, floor and balance for the team.

Lin Dan - the ‘bad boy' of badminton was at risk of not making the Chinese team for this Olympics. Despite being world no.1 for almost 2 years his fiery temper led to two incidents of unprofessional behaviour prompting calls for him to be axed from the China team. Nevertheless he's in and will no doubt be battling to get an Olympic gold.

Ma XiaoXu - There were high hopes for the 2007 women's world cup staged in China last year, but the Chinese team disappointed faltering in the early stages. Described as the female Wayne Rooney Ma XiaoXu has had a race to be fit for the women's Olympic football tournament, so whether she can reach the heights of their 2006 Asian cup win remains to be seen.

UK

Paula Radcliffe - Athens was painful for one of Britain's greatest ever female athletes. The world record holder and world champion famously broke down by the side of the road at the last Olympics marathon. Her preparation for these games has been less than ideal as a stress fracture in her thigh has hindered progress this past year. However it would take a brave soul to bet against the inspirational Radcliffe.

Phillips Idowu - After failing to register a single jump in Athens Britain's pretender to Jonathan Edwards triple jump crown is in better shape this time round. Having registered the two biggest jumps this year and taken the indoor world championship he is the big favourite in Beijing. Defending Olympic champion Christian Olsson has also withdrawn from the games through injury further boosting Idowu's hopes.

Craig Fallon - The first day of competition will see Craig enter the men's 60kg Judo with a great chance of glory. The 25 year old was European and World champion in his weight in 2005 and 2006, so hopes to regain that kind of form on the mat in Beijing. He will also definitely look to improve on his shock 2nd round exit in Athens.

Tom Daley - perhaps not realistically a medal hope, but this 14 year old diver has created headlines by beating athletes twice his age to qualify for Beijing. He has shown he can handle pressure as well, having secured gold in both the UK and European championships. The two synchronised titles he attained with Blake Aldridge are testimony to this too. However perhaps Beijing is more along the lines of gaining experience in order to make a real push in front of a home crowd in 2012

We've highlighted just a few of the many contenders we could list, especially with China as one of the favourites to top the medal table in Beijing. However the beauty of the Olympics is its ability to surprise us. Let the games begin.