Briton Phillips Idowu aims to make up for his disappointment four years ago when he goes for triple jump glory in the Bird's Nest on Thursday.
The world indoor champion produced three no jumps in Athens but will be favourite when he starts at 1325 BST.
On a day with 23 golds up for grabs, the men's 110m hurdles and women's 200m titles will also be decided.
In the 400m final, reigning Olympic and two-time world champion Jeremy Wariner will face compatriot LaShawn Merritt.
The 110m hurdles final will be missing defending champion Liu Xiang after the Chinese hero withdrew from the heats through injury, leaving world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba as the favourite.
Idowu, Britain's world indoor and Commonwealth champion, needed just one attempt to book his place in the triple jump final with a leap of 17.44m, while team-mate Larry Achike went through with 17.18m.
World record holder Jonathan Edwards believes Idowu can now prove he has the mental ability to go all the way.
"Phillips looked fantastic in qualifying, he couldn't have really asked for a more assured performance," said the BBC commentator.
"He has in the past in major outdoor championship finals not produced the best jumps, so there is a little bit of a history there, but that said this season he has looked fantastic."
The other gold to be decided in the Bird's Nest will be the women's 20km walk, while the men's decathlon gets under way.
Britain's javelin hope Goldie Sayers, competing in her second Olympics, threw an impressive 62.99m in qualifying to make Thursday's final.
In the women's football final, Brazil take on defending champions the US.
Brazil had to come from behind to beat Germany 4-1 in their semi-final, while the Americans saw off Japan 4-2.
There are other golds to be decided in the women's water polo, men's wrestling, women's taekwondo and women's softball.
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