Thursday's Hot Links...

*Some human interest stories on several key American track & field Olympians from the New York Times, on among others, Jenny Barringer, Leo Manzano, & Dee Dee Trotter;

*A revelation that shot putter Adam Nelson has a sore rib that affects his throwing, courtesy of NPR;

*NBCOlympics.com's eight key track & field matchups to watch;

*Another account of the Bernard Lagat press conference from the IAAF;

*A story from the IAAF web site quoting quoting former world record holder Colin Jackson on Liu Xiang--“Now, he knows if (Dayron) Robles runs his very best, the Cuban can beat him".

The Olympic track & field competition gets underway in Beijing in a few hours!