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Daley: Medal hope in the diving
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The names may not yet trip off the tongue like those of Sebastian Coe and Daley Thompson but come August, the other Daley, Tom that is, plus several others might just be making headlines in Beijing.
Young diver Tom Daley plus the likes of Sarah Ayton, Frankie Gavin, Will Clarke and Michelle Rogers are unheralded figures in British sport.
The fact is big-name British stars look likely to be thin on the ground in China yet the 29th Olympiad holds the promise of some compelling stories.
For one, take Daley, who will become Britain's second-youngest male Olympian at 14 years and 81 days when he competes in the 10m dive competition.
The youngest British male competitor in an Olympics was Kenneth Lester, the cox to a rowing pair at the 1960 Games in Rome, aged 13 years and 144 days, while Margery Hinton, who swam in Paris in 1924 at the age of 13 years, 43 days, remains Britain's youngest-ever summer Olympian.
It is on water, as usual, where so much of Britain's medal promise lies.
The legacy left by Sir Steven Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent means Britain's rowing squad are never short of motivation.
Steve Williams remains from the coxless four boat which garnered a fourth gold medal for Pinsent in Athens and head coach Jurgen Grobler has yet to leave an Olympics without the ultimate prize.
Successful
Watch out also for Katherine Grainger, Britain's most successful female rower, who is bidding in the quadruple sculls to add gold to the two silvers she won in Sydney and Athens.
Grainger says: "I don't make it an obsession because that can be unhealthy. If you want something too much it can paralyse you.
"But we can't hide from the fact that's why we are here, to win gold, and we should say that openly."
So she does, as do Britain's sailors such as the 'blondes in the boat', Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, who are favourites in the Yngling class and Ben Ainslie, who is on course for his third consecutive Olympic gold.
Ruling the waves so often has been the mainstay of Britain's medal collection.
But in Beijing the boxing ring also promises great things.
If Audley Harrison was the gold star in Sydney and Amir Khan carried the flag with silver in Athens then this time there are half a dozen serious medal contenders.
Lightweight Frankie Gavin, aged 22, leads the bunch having emerged from Khan's shadow with a Commonwealth title followed by a world championship last year, the first by a British amateur.
A sharp boxing brain, fast hands and light feet are the tools of Gavin's trade and the same applies to 20-year-old Joe Murray, a banker for a bantamweight medal after taking bronze at the world championships.
Light-welterweight Bradley Saunders is the third of Britain's world title medallists and another to watch, although it should be noted that the Cubans were not at the world championships.
Outstanding
If you want a truly outstanding feat then how about Rebecca Romero, in the cycling individual pursuit. Former rower Romero already has a silver medal from the quadruple sculls boat in Athens but her gold at the cycling world championships suggests Britain could have a medallist in two different sports at successive Olympics.
Will Clarke in the triathlon, judo's Michelle Rogers and 22-year-old shooter Steven Scott will all do their country proud, even if they fall short of the medal podium.
No disrespect to the so-called minor sports, but what Britain really wants to see is a man or woman lighting up the Beijing Olympic stadium with the power of their performance in track and field.
The truth is that the stress injury to the femur of Paula Radcliffe has lowered the expectation that Britain might be raising too many athletics flags in China.
Poor Radcliffe. She waits four years to eradicate the pain of Athens where she pulled out four miles from home and picks up a debilitating injury with just weeks to go. She refuses to give up hope but the Olympic marathon is an unforgiving venue at the best of times.
We hope for the best from Dean Macey in the decathlon but it is a notoriously difficult event to gauge and Macey's health and fitness - he finished fourth in Athens with hamstring trouble - is fickle at the best of times.
Kelly Sotherton is a realistic hope in the heptathlon as are Nathan Douglas and Phillips Idowu in the triple jump, although gold may be beyond them all.
The relay teams might well cram on to the lower steps of the podium but the truth is Britain's athletes are a team in transition and may have to look to London in 2012.
In Beijing we will just have to trust that Britannia as usual rules the waves.
