Argentina and Ethiopia seek glory as end looms

Argentina's Sergio Aguero (L) celebrates scoring his second goal with team mate Angel Di Maria during their men's semi-final soccer match in the Worker's Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 19, 2008. (REUTERS/Sergio Moraes)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Argentina seek another soccer title and Ethiopian long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele attempts to become the first man since 1980 to win both 5,000 and 10,000 meters in the penultimate day of the Olympics on Saturday.

Boasting the skills of Lionel Messi and orchestration of Juan Roman Riquelme, Argentina defend their Olympic gold against Nigeria at midday on another broiling day in Beijing.

While the heat may sap strength, it should not dim passion in a re-run of the 1996 final when Nigeria won 3-2 with a last-gasp goal the South Americans claimed was offside.

"To defend against Lionel Messi is the biggest thing we have to do," said Nigerian coach Samson Siasia.

The noon start is the price paid for hosting the game in the magnificent Bird's Nest stadium, which is needed for the last session of track athletics in the evening. That underscored the second-tier place the 'beautiful game' has at the Olympics.

Governing body FIFA, wary of creating a rival to its own World Cup, restricts the Olympic tournament to under 23 year olds, with each team permitted three overage players.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt lit up the Bird's Nest on Friday night, taking a third gold in the men's 4x100 meters relay after his individual sprint double. All three victories have come in world record time.

"All I can say is yo, Jamaican sprinters (are) taking over the world," Bolt said after his final race.

Ethiopia's Bekele is the man to watch on the track on day 15 of the Games. He retained his 10,000m title last weekend and now needs his first major 5,000m gold to equal compatriot Miruts Yifter's long-distance double 28 years ago.

In the usual east African running rivalry, Bekele's toughest competition comes from a trio of Kenyans and their former compatriot Bernard Lagat, now running for the United States.

With 32 golds up for grabs on Saturday, China's Zhou Luxin is favored to take the last diving gold, in the 10m platform, and give the hosts a clean sweep of all eight diving medals.

"Everyone who has come before me has done their duty, so I have to make an extra effort," said Zhou.

With the last 12 golds of the Beijing Olympics to be awarded on Sunday, China is now assured top spot in the overall table.

CLOSING CEREMONY

The hosts have 47 golds to 31 for the United States. Britain have a surprising 18 golds, their best performance in a century.

China's position on top of the medal table was widely predicted, given their strength at events like diving and table-tennis, but the size of the gap has surprised many.

With one fifth of the world's population to choose from, Chinese authorities have poured billions into a Soviet-style training system geared to maximizing medals. Their new sporting superpower status reflects their emerging global economic might.

As the Olympic flag is lowered at Sunday's closing ceremony and passed to 2012 hosts Britain, China will feel the $43 billion investment on the Games was money well spent.

Despite a buildup dominated by talk of pollution and human rights, attention during the Games has focused on China's dazzling venues and the scintillating sport inside them.

The individual standouts have been Bolt and American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals to become the most successful athlete in the history of the Games.

Despite some small protests over Tibet, a couple of militant attacks in west China around the start of the Games, and the murder of a U.S. tourist, little has distracted from the sport.

A record number of nations, 85, have taken medals, including, for the first time, conflict-riven Afghanistan whose taekwondo bronze winner Rohullah Nikpai was rewarded with a house.

American team leaders have called for a post mortem into their disappointing showing after they failed to win a sprint gold in an unboycotted Games for the first time since 1976.

They were not in the finals of Friday's 4x100m relays after embarrassingly dropping the baton in men's and women's heats.

There was disappointment for the United States too in baseball, where perennial rival Cuba knocked them out in the semi-finals and now face surprise package South Korea at Wukesong Field for gold. That will be the last game before baseball is axed from the Olympics program.

Boxing, where Cuba is also strong, reaches a climax on Saturday and Sunday but has again been dogged by controversy.

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) is investigating allegations of manipulation following claims by a Romanian official that the assignment of judges and referees was not fair.

(Reporting by Beijing Olympics bureau; editing by Keith Weir)