BEIJING, 18 April - The final three of eight Olympic Team qualification places will be decided when the Team Free Final is held at the Olympic Games Synchronised Swimming Qualification Tournament 2008 concludes on Saturday.
 
Competition begins at 15:00 at the National Aquatics Center, with Spain hoping to maintain their lead from the Technical routine on Thursday and secure an Olympic berth.
 
Five teams have already booked their tickets for the Olympic Team event - Russia, Egypt, Australia and the United States qualified through continental tournaments, while China qualified as the host nation.
 
Neither of these five teams are competing in the team event here, which is only for NOCs who are still vying for Olympic selection. China is the only exception, with Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting competing in the Duet event.
 
Favourites:
Spain has a dynamic African-themed Free programme, a similar routine to its silver medal winning Free routine at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships where its girls wore original braided swimming caps.

Spain is renowned for its creativity, energy and presence in the water during its Free programmes.

Team members Gemma Mengual and Andrea Fuentes have already won a title for Spain in this Tournament - a gold medal in the Duet Free Final on Friday.

Spain has never won an Olympic medal in synchronised swimming, but has dominated the podiums at international meets in the last two years which should allow it to challenge Olympic champions Russia in August.

Challengers:
Reigning Olympic silver medallist Japan lacked its usual perfection in the water during the Technical routines, with the team citing consistency as an issue for their Olympic medal campaign in August.

Saho Harada and Emiko Suzuki won a bronze medal in the duet free final on Friday, after some synchronisation errors in their routine. They are also members of the Japanese team for final. 

Japan won the bronze medal behind Russia and Spain in the Team Free final at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia, after being unable to match the artistic impression marks of their counterparts.

Canada debuted their new Technical programme on Thursday and enters the Free routine final ranked third. The Team is 1.333 behind leaders Spain and 0.583 behind Japan.

Canada also has a new free programme, based around the concept of Chinese Astrology and choreographed by head coach Denise Sauve. Look out for the inclusion of twelve animals such as the tiger, monkey and snake which sister and fellow coach, Julie Sauve said makes the routine unique and the concept difficult to beat.

Canada just missed a medal in the duet competition, with Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon and Isabelle Rampling finishing fourth behing Chinese duet Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen.

Other:
Spain, Japan and Canada will be difficult to overcome but Greece, Ukraine and Italy will be motivated by the possibility of an Olympic berth. All three teams will be hoping for better synchronisation when they present their free routines.

Italy is the top-ranked of the three, sitting in fourth position after their Technical routine and trail leaders Spain by 1.583. The team featured in the top three at the 2008 European Swimming Championships in March, finishing with the silver medal behind Spain in the team final while Greece won the bronze.