With the spectacle and excitement of the Beijing Olympics now fully behind us, what sports can we look forward to recapturing some of that entertainment this fall? Here are five you should be looking out for – three on television, and two that you might want to consider trying yourself.

Golf (The Ryder Cup) – The practice rounds for the 2008 Ryder Cup are already underway but the event doesn’t begin official until Friday, September 19. The competition has a rich history, beginning in 1926 following an exhibition match between a team of visiting American professionals and the British equivalent. The first proper event took place in 1927. After World War II, repeated US dominance led to the decision to extend representation of the British team to Europe in 1979. Since then, Europe has won the Ryder Cup seven times, and retained the Cup once, while the USA has won six.

Europe has won the last three, following the USA’s controversial win at Brookline in 1999. Indeed, the last two Ryder Cups have seen the USA side being completed obliterated at the hands of more experienced European teams. The American team this year is also without the game’s greatest player, Tiger Woods.

What makes things different this time? Pride. At the helm of both teams are two players with a rich history in the event and also a well-documented personal rivalry – Nick Faldo (Europe) and Paul Azinger (USA). Azinger, whose on and off-course battles with Seve Ballesteros in the 1989 and 1991 Ryder Cups (where both accused the other of cheating) helped fire up the Cup, has always had a pretty frosty relationship with Faldo.

Throw in a fairly eclectic mixture of veterans and rookies on both sides and you have everything you need for chaos.

Since 1999, there has been a real attempt to ensure that Ryder Cups are played in the ‘spirit of the game’. But we don’t want that – we want a fight. And 2008 has all the ingredients to get that delivered.

Cycling (Lance Armstrong) – Armstrong shocked the sporting world with his comeback announcement on September 9. "After talking with my children, my family and my closest friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the global cancer burden.” Can arguably history’s greatest endurance athlete, who won seven consecutive Tour de France titles from 1999-2005, compete or even dominate in the cutthroat, ultra-competitive world of professional road cycling after a four-year absence, and at the age of 37?

The oldest-ever winner of the Tour was Firmin Lambot, who was 36 when he secured the coveted yellow jersey way back in 1922. Since retiring, Armstrong has focused his efforts on raising money for his Foundation – including two sub-three hour marathon runs at New York and Boston – and recently placed second at the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race.

Armstrong was always the Michael Jordan of his sport – is he risking tarnishing his career just a little bit, possibly like Jordan did, by not knowing when to throw in the towel? The Tour doesn’t get underway until July 2009, but you can bet that Armstrong – who will compete in five road races this season, and has stated that he will race for no salary or bonuses and post his internally tested blood work online – will be heavily scrutinised every step of the way.

Triathlon (Hawaii Ironman) – Since its inception in 1974, the sport of triathlon has grown from a somewhat wacky, eclectic test of endurance to one of the world’s most popular athletic pursuits, and has been a stalwart of the Olympic Games since 2000.

Even Jennifer Lopez is finishing triathlons, aged 39 and only seven months after giving birth to twins.

The cornerstone of the sport has always been the annual Hawaii Ironman event, which is made up of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run – the full marathon. Last year’s race saw the emergence of two forces who have the potential to be all-time greats – Australian Chris McCormack and new British star Chrissie Wellington.

McCormack had won virtually every major race in the sport but could never put it all together for Hawaii, suffering various meltdowns, DNFs and other problems in five consecutive races. In 2006 he had a major breakthrough, finish second, and was finally able to grab the big one last year, posting a closing 2:42 marathon to win the title. With a sub-hour victory (Ironman’s equivalent of the four-minute mile) in 2008’s European Championship, McCormack has a real chance to further his legacy as one of the greatest in the sport.

Wellington, meantime, has been nothing short of a revelation. Echoing comparisons with Paula Newby-Fraser, arguably the greatest Ironman-distance athlete of all time, Wellington came out of nowhere to win the 2007 Hawaii Ironman title, less than a year after turning pro – running a sub-three hour marathon along the way – and has since gone on to complete and total domination. After breaking nine-hours in the European Ironman championship, she finished second overall – both genders – in the Alpe d’Huez long-distance triathlon, only 1 minute and 23 seconds behind the winning man.

And two sports to try:

Wingsuit Flying – Everybody wants to fly, right? Now you can. Wingsuit flying is the art of flying the human body through the air using a special jumpsuit – called a wingsuit – that shapes the body into an airfoil that creates lift.

The wingsuit can be flown – or launched – from any point that provides significant altitude to allow gliding, such as an aeroplane or BASE jumping point. Wingsuiters wear special parachutes that are triggered at predetermined points.

Zorbing – Forget bungee jumping – Zorbing (or globe-riding) is the big thing this Fall. Participants – called zorbonauts – roll down half-mile long hills at speeds of 25-30mph while strapped inside large transparent balls.

Zorbing was invented in New Zealand, and is increasingly popular down under. The sports developer, Zorb Ltd (hence the name), has eight sites worldwide and is looking to franchise up to ten more in the United States, following facilities at Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, and Amesbury, Massachusetts.