Friday, the opening ceremonies signifying the start of the Olympics will kick off the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.

Over the next two weeks the top athletes from all around the world will put four years of training to the test in hopes of receiving a medal.

There will be many headlines throughout the Olympics, but here are some to pay close attention to over the next couple of weeks.

The USA Basketball team will look to capture the gold medal and live up to Kobe Bryant’s comments that the 2012 team is better than the 1992 “Dream Team.”

This will be a tough task considering the 1992 team featured 11 Hall of Famers and won by an average of 43.8 points per game.

In their three exhibition games so far, the 2012 team has won by an average of 35 points per game, with one of those games against a Dominican Republic team that failed to qualify for the Olympics.

Another story to watch is the battle between rival swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. Phelps dominated the 2008 Beijing Olympics by winning eight gold medals, and he will look to become the winningest Olympian of all time during his final Olympic games. However, Lochte who edged Phelps in some of the Olympic trials will look to steal some of the headlines.

Phelps is currently the most decorated male athlete with 16 medals and has won the most gold medals of any athlete, but he needs three more medals to pass Russian gymnast Larisa Semyonovna Latynina. She won a total of 18 medals in her Olympic career.

A couple of track stories to watch are the fairy tale runs of South African athlete Oscar Pistorius and the Bryshon Nellum story.

Pistorius, who had both legs amputated below the knee as a child, was banned from competing in the 2008 Olympics because it was determined his prosthetic legs could give him an unfair advantage. This time around he is being allowed to compete and will run for South Africa in the 400 meter and 4 x 400 meter races.

Nellum was a rising track star with USC in 2008, when he was mistaken as a rival gang member and was shot in both legs. He was told by his doctors that he would be able to walk again, but that they did not believe he would regain his speed. After many surgeries and a long recovery, Nellum’s speed has returned and he looks to compete for a medal in the 400 meter race.

A final story to watch is that of local twins Grant and Ross James, from DeKalb, who will look to row their way to a gold medal in London. They will both compete on the eight man USA row team whose first race is July 28.