SYDNEY, June 26: World champions Jana Rawlinson and Nathan Deakes will head a 41-member Australian track and field team at this year’s Beijing Olympics.

The squad is Australia’s smallest athletics squad for an Olympics since they sent 39 to the 1992 Games in Barcelona and does not include a single competitor in either the men’s or women’s 100 and 200 metres sprints.

More than half the team will be making their first appearance at an Olympics while walker Jane Saville is the most experienced member, having competed at three previous Games.

Rawlinson and Deakes loom as Australia’s best chances of a gold medal.

Rawlinson is a two-time 400 hurdles world champion while Deakes is the reigning 50 kilometre walking world champion after his victory in Osaka last year.—Reuters