He’s the hero of the Beijing Olympics — but Michael Phelps has become the bane of bookmakers. Gamblers have joined Phelps’s winning streak with online betting sites reporting a spike in money riding on the US swimmer and higher interest overall from gamblers in the Games. Phelps has been the favourite in all of his races in the Aug. 8-24 Games on various online betting sites, with odds for his victories down to about 5/2 on paying out about $40 on a $100 bet.

Playboy striker

German hockey player Katharina Scholz fears news of her being a Playboy covergirl might overshadow her Olympic campaign. Scholz and three other German Olympic sportswomen will appear on the cover of the German edition, adding their names to the list of athletes baring all for cash or a cause. “I think now I have to play hockey and later talk about things like that. I think it a good opportunity but now it’s not important for me for now,” Scholz said on Thursday.

Kipketer hope

Wilson Kipketer, three-times world champion and the 800 metres world record holder, thinks Sudanese teenager Abubaker Kaki will win Olympic gold in the event, the one big medal that eluded the Dane. “He has won every race he has been in. He has the confidence and the drive to win and he is top on my list if he brings other factors also to bear,” Kipketer said. Kipketer also said Russian Olympic champion, Yuriy Borzakovskiy and Kenyan-born Yusuf Saad Kamel of Bahrain have strong chances.