The Olympics is the biggest of all sports events, steeped in tradition and history dating back to 776 BC.
And today it remains a pedestal where the world's best athletes can showcase their talents. But it is also a place for unknown names to capture our imaginations.
In Beijing there will be several noteworthy athletes: a 14-year-old diver, a 67-year-old dressage rider – China's most bankable star and a female swimmer with one leg.
Many have overcome age, injury, publicity or pressure to represent their country at the Olympic Games and have thoroughly earned the plaudits they are receiving.
As part of our build-up to the 2008 Games which start on August 8, Emirates Business takes a look at seven sportsmen and women who stand head and shoulders above the pack – particularly 7ft 6in Yao Ming.
THE STAR WHO WILL SHINE THE BRIGHTEST
NAME: Sania Mirza
Not only will the tennis star have more than a billion sport-crazy Indian fans following her every move, a poll by a Chinese news agency placed her among the most popular tennis players with the billion-something host fans as well.
Not all interest will be favourable though with the 21-year-old garnering much criticism in the past for seemingly irrelevant things such as the length of her skirt or where her feet are placed in relation to the Indian flag. Expect some more controversies to emerge at the Olympics.
With fatwas on her head and court cases awaiting her, just the fact that she is still appearing on the court is a credit to her tenacity.
The world No32, who underwent optional wrist surgery in April to be fit in time for the Olympics, is still Asia's best tennis medal hope after securing a gold and two silvers at the Doha Asian Games in 2006 .
However, even with the overwhelming support she is bound to get, she will need every ounce of that tenacity to progress to the later rounds in the Olympic tennis competition.
Either way, it's almost certain she will be a frequent name on the lips of sports fans.
MEET THE 'FEMALE MICHAEL JORDAN'
NAME: Sheryl Swoopes
If the woman known as the "female Michael Jordan" wins gold at the Beijing Games with the US basketball team, it will represent a landmark as imposing as her on-court physique – her fourth consecutive Olympic gold.
The 37-year old has had a stellar career right from when she first began competing at age seven.
In 1993 Swoopes won the NCAA women's basketball championship with the Texas Tech Lady Raiders during her senior season. Her jersey was retired by the school the following year, making her one of only three Lady Raiders to be honoured in this way.
Swoopes was recruited for the Houston Comets of the WNBA during the 1997 inaugural season and she came back from giving birth to her son, to play the last third of the season and lead the Comets.
She is joining a group of only seven players to have won NCAA (1993), WNBA (consecutive wins between 1997 and 2000) and Olympic titles.
In March she signed with the Seattle Storm, ending an 11-year career with the Houston Comets.
Beijing is likely to mark the end of a colourful career.
MAKING THE GAMES' BIGGEST SPLASH
NAME: Tom Daley
The 14-year old diver will be the youngest member of Britain's Olympic squad and is already capturing the headlines.
Specialising in the 10-metre platform event, he started diving at the age of seven and last year needed a special dispensation to compete at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival, where the usual minimum age is 15.
In January 2008, he won the event at the British Championships to become the youngest winner of the senior British 10m title. He also won the 10m platform synchro title with partner Blake Aldridge.
Two weeks later he won his first medals on the Fina circuit, winning a bronze in the individual platform competition and a silver in synchro at the Madrid Grand Prix. Daley and Aldridge won bronze in synchro at the 2008 Fina Diving World Cup. Their score was a British record, and Daley became the youngest-ever male medallist in a world diving event.
With the English press patriotically behind him, the schoolboy is set to become one of the biggest celebrities at the Games – irrespective if he wins a medal or not – and the face of 2012.
THE OLYMPIC'S OLDEST PARTICIPANT
NAME: Hiroshi Hoketsu
At the age of 67, the Japanese dressage rider will be the oldest competitor in Bejing.
He started riding at the age of 12 and was just 22 years old when he competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, although he was placed a disappointing 40th in the showjumping event.
He didn't give-up despite pursuing a career in the pharmaceutical industry and was an alternate in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and qualified for the Seoul Olympics four years later, but had to drop out because his horse did not pass a quarantine exam.
In 2003, he switched from showjumping to dressage on advice from his wife and moved to Germany to get the best possible training. The move worked and this year he was placed first at the Pan-Asian Olympic qualifiers, helping Japan secure a team slot in the equestrian events.
THE FIVE-TIME OLYMPIAN
NAME: Dara Torres
The American swimmer will be attending her fifth Olympics in Beijing after previously featuring in the 1984, 1988, 1992 and 2000 Games.
The 41-year old has already won nine Olympic medals, including four golds and five medals at the Sydney Games in 2000. This year she will compete in the 50-metre freestyle, 4x4 100 medley relay, and 4x4 100 freestyle relay.
Torres surprised everybody when she returned after seven years of retirement in 2000, competing just three weeks after giving birth. The mother-of-one is impressively swimming faster now than during her medal winning days pre-2000.
In 2007, she twice broke her own American 50m freestyle record – 26 years after she first set the record at the age of 15.
Torres has battled through bouts of bulimia, two divorces and five knee surgeries over the years to excel in a sport where most athletes are in their teens and no one can deny she fully deserves the attention.
A TALL ORDER
NAME: Yao Ming
Playing in the America's National Basketball Association (NBA), the Houston Rockets forward towers in at 7ft 6in and is most recognisable athlete from China.
He also played a large part in the country's Olympic promotion campaign.
The 27-year-old will represent more than a billion people as he embarks on the unenviable task of leading the host nation to a medal place.
Since he entered the NBA draft in 2002 with the Rockets, he has been selected to start for the Western Conference in the NBA All-Star Game in all six of his seasons, and has been named in the sport the All-NBA team three times.
Yao has also led the Forbes' Chinese celebrities list in income and popularity for five straight years, with reported earnings of $54.6 million (Dh200.5m) last year.
He is no stranger to the limelight, but the pressure of the country's expectations could destroy his chances. Or alternatively, the expected strong home support could be just the thing to inspire and spur Yao and China to a medal.
THE FIRST EVER DISABLED SWIMMER
NAME: Natalie du Toit
Arguably the most amazing athlete to feature in Beijing, the 21-year old swimmer qualified for the 10km open water race with only one leg.
The South African had her leg amputated at the age of 16 after a motorcycle accident, but that didn't put an end to her dream of a swimming career.
During the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Du Toit, who was then 18 years-old, won both the multi-disability 50m freestyle and the multi-disability 100m freestyle in world record time. She also made sporting history by qualifying for the 800m able-bodied freestyle final – the first time that an athlete with a disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event.
She continued to win medals and set records in the disabled disciplines before this year becoming the first disabled athlete to qualify for the Olympics after finishing fourth out of 50 in the 10km open water race in Spain.
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