The big men of the shot put open 10 days of athletics action at the London Olympics on Friday morning with the more slender frames of the East African distance runners closing out the day in the much-anticipated women's 10,000 meters final.

Distance queens Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya and Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba will go head-to-head for the second gold medal in athletics in what is expected to be a thrilling final at the Olympic Stadium.

Dibaba won the 5,000-10,000m double at the Beijing Olympics before taking a couple of years off but looked back at her best when her fearsome finish drove her to the fastest time of the year in Oregon in June.

Cheruiyot matched Dibaba's double at the world championships last year and she and Sally Kipyego, who is also running both races in London, are gunning for Kenya's first Olympic gold medal in the event.

From Reuters