Having to run the most important race of your career in the heat and humidity of Beijing in August is the idea of hell for many marathon runners. Italy's Stefano Baldini, on the other hand, would not want to defend his Olympic title anywhere else.

"I think it can be a factor in my favour, I adapt well to conditions of this sort," Baldini told Reuters in a telephone interview.  "No one likes to run in hot, humid conditions. But I manage to race well in them."

The Italian proved he could stand the heat in 2004 when he beat a field that included Kenya's Paul Tergat and Morocco's Jaouad Gharib, respectively world record-holder and world champion at the time, to win gold at the Athens Olympics.

Baldini's recent form has not been great. His best performance of 2007 was fourth place in November's New York City Marathon, when he came in almost three minutes behind winner Martin Lel of Kenya.

However, the 36-year-old believes Beijing's hostile conditions can help him to narrow the gap on favourites such as Lel, his compatriot Robert Cheruiyot and Ethiopian world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie at what will be his last Olympics. "When the weather is hot and humid, personal bests go out of the window," he said. "The most difficult thing will be working to be in peak shape on the day of the race."

One feature of the Chinese capital Baldini is not so keen on is the choking smog.

"The smog will be a problem," he said. "Having to breathe in pollution while running is bound to affect performances. But I hope the situation will improve between now and August.

"There are ideas to reduce the pollution by closing factories before and during the Games and introducing traffic restrictions, so I think the situation can improve a lot."

What many people remember about Baldini's Athens gold is that the man he overtook on the way to victory, Brazil's Vanderlei de Lima, was knocked off his stride by a former Irish priest who ran at him from the crowd.
The Italian believes De Lima was tiring and that he would have won anyway but he also has great respect for the way the Brazilian recovered from the incident to take the bronze medal.

"I spoke to De Lima in Milan at the end of 2004 and I gave him my compliments," Baldini said. "He was great that day. He ran the best race of his life and reacted well to a very negative situation."

Baldini is now planning his pre-Olympic training programme. "We have not chosen any races yet. At the moment it is more important to decide how to train and where, then we'll see what races to run," he said.

"I won't do too many but there'll definitely be one in the spring. The important thing is to have clear in my mind the best way to be 100 percent in Beijing."

Baldini, from the north-eastern region of Emilia-Romagna, acknowledges that he is one of Italy's few gold-medal hopes in track and field.  "Our best chances lie with the people who won medals at (last) year's world championships in Osaka," he said. "Andrew Howe in the long jump, Antonietta Di Martino in the high jump and Alex Schwazer in the 50km walk. Then there is Ivano Brugnetti, the Olympic 20km walk champion.”

He does not see Italy as the only European country with problems nurturing new talent though. "Athletics is not practised so much in Europe as a whole," he said. "On the track especially, the African runners have eaten everything up.”