41.   Her nearest rivals, based on world championship achievements, would be teammates He Cihong and Liu Limin, triple gold medallists in Rome.

42.   His nearest rivals are socialist Lionel Jospin and the neo-Gaullist mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac.

43.   His nearest rival in a pool of six candidates, Roukiat Ibrahim Abdoulmadjid, had won nine percent, although she is slightly ahead in the Anjouan capital Mutsamudu.

44.   His nearest rival is Victor Ciorbea, candidate of the Romanian Democratic Convention, the main opposition group.

45.   His nearest rivals realise they will need to do something extraordinary on Sunday to overhaul him.

46.   His nearest rivals, Blaine McCallister and Andrew Magee also benefitted from early tee-times.

47.   In terms of annual turnover, these are the five biggest firms in the world, well ahead of their nearest rival, General Motors.

48.   It is illegal to conduct exit polls in Colombia, but the independent hardliner Alvaro Uribe was expected to finish far ahead of his nearest rival Horacio Serpa.

49.   Both are a long way ahead of their nearest rival, the former dissident Jacek Kuron, who was credited with eight percent.

50.   The ruling socialist PASOK party led the European poll in Greece by several points over its nearest rival, the conservative New Democracy, according to first official counts.