The last weeks before the Olympics may be the most difficult for the athletes. The work is done and there’s nothing else to do but wait, rest, watch grass grow and let the pressure build. It’s a time which tests athletes’ mental strength and discipline.

In the last week before my first Olympic race, I tried very hard to escape the Games.

Practices were short and light and didn’t do much to drain my energy. So I looked elsewhere. I went to the movies, mostly on my own, and hung out with friends who promised not to mention running. Time crawled and race day just wouldn’t get any closer. I suspected I was going crazy because I kept looking up in the sky, expecting a roof tile to fall on my head and end my Olympic hopes.

The anticipation drains the soul. It’s no accident Britain’s athletics team headed to Macau nearly two weeks before the athletics programme started in Beijing. They won’t be doing great deal of training there but being away from home and being together in a camp gives a sense that something has already begun.

And being shielded from the media also helps. I’m now representing the media but at that time I’ll admit, being asked over and over again how I was feeling didn’t help.

Once athletes move into the Olympic Village, distractions become abundant, which is in a way good. The Village is a novelty with its games arcade, shops, internet room and general bustle, but there is a drawback and it’s felt on the track.

As most runners tend to practise at the same venue, workouts can be more about watching everyone else: Who is he? What is he doing? He’s looking smooth/tired/sharp/flat/invincible?

It’s also a place to meet others, have friendly chats:  So, are you going out fast/hard/easy? and talk frankly: Boy, I’m tired/beat/slow/drained/hopeless.

In the end, everyone will be all too happy to forget the last few days before the Games.

NOTE: Balazs Koranyi was an Olympic semi-finalist in the 800m at the 1996 and 2000 Games for Hungary and since 2004 has been a Budapest-based correspondent, covering mainly political and business news. He will be covering the Beijing Games for Reuters.

PHOTO: Pool tables in the recreation area in the Olympic village in Beijing, July 27, 2008. REUTERS/David Gray

Russell Boyce writes: Great contacts and hard work led to Reuters News Pictures photographer Hans Deryk getting exclusive pictures of Usain Bolt, the 100m world record holder at the National Stadium.

The simple picture of Bolt posing with the specially made gold running shoes that he will wear when he aims for Olympic gold are a perfect blend of a sports news value with timing and place. After all, how much better could it get: the fastest man, being seen for the first time at the venue with is new running shoes.

Bolt posing, sitting down in front of the Bird’s Nest, his shoes in the foreground and arms stretched has led to a great shaped image that embraces the viewer and draws them into an eye catching picture.

Russell Boyce is Reuters chief photographer, Asia. For a selection of other great Reuters pix from the Games click here. 

Note: The text was amended on Aug. 6 at 0347 to remove a reference to Bolt defending his title.

The great thing about sport is that the next great upset is never far away.

Some gold medals at the Games look a lot easier to predict than others, though, and if I had to put my pay cheque on one athlete to win in Beijing I would go for Yelena Isinbayeva, the remarkable Russian pole vaulter who can’t stop breaking records.

Isinbayeva cleared 5.04 metres in Monaco on Tuesday to record her 13th outdoor world record and 23rd overall.

If she is beaten in Beijing it will be astonishing, yet experience shows you can’t rule it out altogether. After all, the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Sergei Bubka won just one Olympic gold medal in Seoul in 1988 (and he very nearly missed out on that one). I also remember Jonathan Edwards having to settle for silver in 1996 after going into the Atlanta Games as the hottest of favourites.

I know of a few other pretty solid favourites, including Croatia’s world champion high jumper Blanka Vlasic and American swimmer Michael Phelps in several events, but who are the lesser known athletes almost certain to take gold? Is there a fencer, a boxer, a cyclist or a weightlifter you’d put your last penny on?

Let us know in the comments…

PHOTO: Yelena Isinbayeva reacts after breaking her own world pole vault record in Monte Carlo July 29, 2008. REUTERS/Pascal Deschamps