The biggest sporting event of the year has begun.

Day three of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games went on with athletes breaking new world records for pride and honor representing their respective countries. Powerhouse teams like China and USA have begun their quest for Olympic glory as well and it only gets tougher at this point.

What happened since the opening ceremonies last Friday? Starting off with the event in gymnastics, the Chinese women’s team survived a rare bout of nerves to come first in the qualifiers on Sunday thanks to an equally error-strewn outing from arch-rivals the United States.

Chinese head coach Lu Shanzhen wanted more from his charges, rating their performance at only 70 percent after a string of errors gave a glimpse of the immense pressure on the Chinese to win gold in the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. The Americans came up short after vault specialist Samantha Peszek injured her ankle just 30 minutes before she was due to take the floor, failing to capitalize when they also served up a mistake-ridden performance.

In archery, South Korea’s archers set a new 24-arrow world record Sunday en-route to their sixth consecutive Olympic women’s team gold medal. Double Olympic champion Park Sung-Hyun combined with teammates Yun Ok-Hee and Joo Hyun-Jung to fire eleven 10s and nine 9s in the 24-arrow women’s elimination round for a 231 point total. The previous world record of 228 was set by South Korea’s Yun Ok-Hee, Yun Mi-Jin and Lee Tuk-Young at the World Cup in Shanghai in 2006.

In swimming, the United States broke their own world record in the men’s 4×100-meters freestyle relay with a time of three minutes 12.23 seconds in the heats at the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Sunday.

The American team of Nathan Adrian, Cullen Jones, Ben Wildman-Tobriner and Matt Grevers beat the previous record of 3:12.46 held by the USA at the Pan Pacs in Victoria, Canada, in August 2006.

France qualified with the second fastest time and a new European record while Canada and Great Britain also reached the final with the seventh and eighth fastest times respectively.

In day one of the Olympic basketball tournament, probably the most popular sport in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Argentina’s hopes of defending the Olympic men’s basketball crown took a serious blow when Lithuania stunned the South American squad featuring five NBA standouts, 79-75.

Linas Kleiza of team Lithiunia sank the game-winning three-pointer with just over two seconds remaining after Manu Ginobili, who scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, sparked an 11-0 run to level the game at 75-75.

Reigning world champion Spain opened by routing Greece 81-66 in a rematch of the 2006 World Championship final in a Group B clash.

Who will be the winners of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games? Bodog sportsbook has the odds.

Most Overall Medals

China 1.80

United States 2.10

Russia 15.00

Want more odds? Visit Bodog sportsbook for more Olympic Games betting odds and the best betting lines on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

2008 Beijing Olympic Games Team USA