Tym Glaser

I KNOW, I know, times are tuff. Gas prices are rising like helium and the figures at the bottom of your shopping bill look like an overseas telephone number.

But, never mind, Nostratymus is back and ready to ease that burden with some can't-miss picks for the Olympic Games which start in Beijing (I still prefer Peking) on Friday.

No, no, please don't thank me; I feel it's my civic duty ... just don't gouge your local bookie too badly; spread the bets around a bit as touts have to eat, too, you know.

Now, I assume y'all want me to pick the men's 100-metre showdown between Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay, but I ain't going there because the short sprint is too high a risk - a bad start and you are done. The trusty crystal ball is more murky than my tap water in the morning on that one.

Favourites

If I had to go one way or the other, it would be for Bolt, but I'll just watch it and savour all nine and a bit seconds of entertainment that final will provide.

Our own Veronica Campbell-Brown (VCB) looks a good thing in the women's 200 but not safe enough for me and, as far as relays go - and despite how strong the Jamaica 4x100 teams look, don't touch 'em. Those batons seem to be greased when it comes to the finals and have a nasty habit of hitting the track and that's no way to blow your hard-earned 'Nannys' and 'Manleys'.

No, folks, we play it safe and earn.

Our first sure-fire pick is my current favourite track-and-field athlete, Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic. The 6' 4", 24-year-old is the reigning outdoor and indoor champion and is head and heels (likkle pun dere) above of the rest of the field going into the Games. Don't be surprised if she breaks the long-standing world record of 2.09 metres set by Bulgaria's Stefka Kostadinova in 1987.

Skeptical

Another dead cert is another lady leaper, Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isibayeva, who casually broke her own world record at her first meet of the season in Rome last month.

Well, she didn't just break the mark of 4.91, she smashed it with a soar of 5.03. She added another centimetre to that in Monaco less than a week ago. Now, I've been skeptical about the vault since can't-lose Sergey Bubka's meltdown at the 1992 Games, but lightning ain't gonna strike twice in this one. 'Isi's' the only woman to clear 5m, so she'll probably start her leaps when most of the field has already been eliminated.

There's not going to be great value there, but she'll win ... what more do you want?

Yet another short-price favourite will be American fish Michael Phelps. I don't think he can break Mark Spitz's record of seven gold in the pool but there's no way he's going to lose the 200 and 400m individual medleysunless they throw a hungry shark in his lane.

My final moneymaker of the Games is the American men's basketball team. My old Aussie Rules coaches used to say a champion team will always beat a team of champions - mainly when our team had no champions ... and we still lost.

This US team with Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and co has been years in the making (and training) and shouldn't be pushed by any foe. No value there - again, but perhaps you could put them in a quinella with Spain.

Please, please, don't thank me, just spend wisely.

Later ...

Feedback: tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com.