Monthly Archives: July 2012

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Olympic Review – July 31st

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Archery

Jacob Wukie was the first archer to begin the day for the US. He took on Jayanta Talukdar of India in the round of 64. In that match Wukie was victorious 6-0 (27-22, 30-26, 29-28). Next Wukie took on Baard Nesteng of Norway in the round of 32. Wukie took a 2-0 lead by winning the first set 28-24 but then lost 3 straight to lose 6-2 (24-28, 29-28, 29-27, 29-26).

Next up was Jennifer Nichols who took on Chekrovolu Swuro of India. The two traded sets and had to go to a shoot off to decide it. In the end Nichols won 6-5 (24-27, 27-25, 25-25, 26-29, 28-25, 9-9 (closet)). In the round of 32 Nichols faced Bishindee Urantungalag of Mongolia. Nichols ended up losing 6-4 (27-27, 26-27, 26-26, 26-25, 28-25).

Basketball

Then USA men took on Tunisia on Tuesday and was only up 21-15 at the end of the 1st quarter and 46-33 at the half. The second half, and in particular the 3rd quarter, was where the US shown and after outscoring Tunisia 39-14 in the 3rd quarter the US went on to win 110-63. Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony led the US with 16 points a piece.

The win helped keep the US atop the table in group A where the US is the only team that is 2-0. The US will next be facing 4th place Nigeria on Thursday.

Beach Volleyball

The first match of the day saw Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers take on Gavira Collado/Herrera Allepuz of Spain. Both teams had won their set in straight sets and were fighting for the top of the group. With a 19-21, 21-16, 15-13 win the US duo moved into 1st place. They face Petr Benes/Premsyl Kubala of the Czech Republic on Thursday. If they win a single set they will guarantee they aren’t passed in the group and will advance to the quarterfinals. A win would win them the group.

In the 2nd match of the day April Ross/Jennifer Kessy took on Marleen Van Iersel /Sanne Keizer of the Netherlands. The win kept the US on top of the group by points ratio and guaranteed they will advance from the group stage. The only thing left to settle is who will win the group. Ross/Kessy or the team they play on Thursday, Elsa Baquerizo MicMillan/Liliana Fernandez Steiner of Spain.

Boxing

In the boxing competition on Tuesday Jamel Herring took on Daniya Teleussinov of Kazakhstan in the round of 32 of the men’s light welterweight competition. Jerring was behind from the start and lost 19-9 (8-5, 7-3, 4-1).

Equestrian

Tuesday was the last day of the eventing competition, both team and individual. In the first part of the day the first showjumping routines were run. Boyd Martin had to pull out of the competition after an injury to his horse was discovered.  Two of his teammates, Tiana Coudray and Will Coleman, were out of the running for the individual title. Coudray ended up with a score of 11 penalties in the jumping qualifier and a total of 88.6 penalties, placing her in 40th place. Will Coleman had a score of 2 penalties in the jumping qualifier and ended up with a score of 84.7 penalties to finish in 37th place. Philip Dutton was in contention for a spot and had a run featuring 23 penalties. He was able to advance despite his score of 70.1 being in 27th due to the limit on each country of only having three riders in the final. Karen O’Connor was in contention as well and seized the 16th spot by having a perfect ride in the qualifier, giving her 53.8 total penalties.  Coleman, Dutton, and O’Connor combined to give the US the 7th spot in the team competition with a total of 208.6.

In the eventing individual final Philip Dutton started off with a run with 11 penalties. That gave him a total of 81.10 and placed him in 23rd place. Karen O’Connor did much better and another perfect run left her in 9th with 53.8 penalties.  O’Connor was only 9 penalties off of the bronze medal.

Fencing

The first competitor to get the day underway for the US was Miles Chamley-Watson who took on Alaaeldin Abouelkassem of India in the round of 32. Chamley-Watson hung around for a while but lost 15-10 (4-2, 8-6, 3-2).  The next competitor for the US was Alexander Massialas  who faced off against Etienne Lalonde Turbide of Canada in the round of 32. Massialas had a great match and won 15-6 (11-3, 3-4). Massialas then moved on to the round of 16 where he was defeated 15-6 (8-3, 7-3) by Alexey Cheremisinov of Russia. The final competitor for the US was Race Imboden who defeated Guilherme Toldo of Brazil in the round of 32 by a score of 15-5 (12-5, 3-0). Imboden then moved on to the round of 16 where he was defeated 15-9 (9-5, 6-4) by Andrea Baldini of Italy.

Field Hockey

The US had a hugely important game against Argentina in the group stage of field hockey on Tuesday. After losing 2-1 in their first match the US needed a win to try and stay in the group. Only the top two teams advance, so there isn’t any room to spare. The US got the win they needed by defeating Argentina 1-0 in a continuation of their Pan-American rivalry. The win moved the US into a tie for 2nd with Argentina, Australia, and Germany. The US is in 4th due to goal differential. Their score will be improved a lot after they face South Africa (who Argentina defeated 7-1). The US next faces 3rd place Australia on Thursday. Another win there would give the US an even better shot at the medal round.

Gymnastics

Brilliance. Beauty. Dominance. All of those words perfectly describe the US performance in the women’s team final on Tuesday. With the Russians breathing down their necks for 3 of the 4 apparatus the US answered the questions and didn’t flinch. When Russia made mistakes on the floor routine the US didn’t back down and put up a great score to blow Russia away and win the gold by over 5 points. How dominate was the US? Consider their apparatus rankings. In vault they were first. On the uneven bars they were third. On the balance beam they were first. On the floor routine they were third.  They had the three best vault scores in the competition. The first, third and fourth best floor routines. The fourth, fifth and seventh best balance beam routines. Even on the US’s weakest apparatus, the uneven bars, they finished sixth, eight, and 11th out of 24 competitors. The US improved their score from the qualification round, even with all the pressure.  Needless to say it was a routine that will go down in history. The US’s first women’s team gold since 1996 and a set of routines that demonstrated how gold medals are meant to be won: in clear dominant fashion. There was no doubting this one, no relying on someone else to help you out. The US flat out won this medal all by themselves, no one was going to top these girls.

Judo

Travis Stevens was the US competitor in the 81kg judo competition on Tuesday. He started things off in the round of 32 by defeating Aljaz Sedej of Slovenia by getting an ippon with 45 seconds left in the match. Then in the round of 16 he defeated Avtandil Tchrikishvili by getting an ippon at the 1:37 mark of a golden score period. In the quarterfinals Stevens took on Leandro Guilheiro of Brazil and defeated him by scoring a waza-ari half way through the match and holding on to that lead til the end.

In the semifinals Travis took on Ole Bischof of Germany. The match went scoreless the entire eight minutes and the judges ruled Bischof the winner.  I’m no judo expert, so my opinion can’t say much about how close it was. However from the comments I’ve seen from Stevens and his coach and others, it was a surprise they ruled for Bischof. Stevens tried to rally for a bronze but in a match with Antoine Valois-Fortier of Canada he gave up an early yuko and never could get a score to overcome it.  It was disappointing that he couldn’t get a medal after such a good run.

Rowing

In the first rowing event of the day the women’s double sculls crew of Margot Shumway/Sarah Trowbridge were able to make the final by finishing in 2nd place of their repechage by 1.31 seconds. They will now be in the final on Friday.

In the next event the women’s lightweight double sculls crew of Kristin Hedstrom/Julie Nichols made the semifinals by finishing 1st in their heat of the repechages. They are now in the semifinals on Thursday.

Next up was the men’s single sculls quarterfinals. The US finally got some disappointment as Ken Jurkowski finished 5th, a full 16+ seconds out of 3rd and will not make the regular semifinals. Jurkowski will be in the semifinal C/D on Wednesday to help determine rankings.

In the women’s single sculls quarterfinals Genevra  Stone rowed a great race and finished 2nd in her quarterfinal to advance to the A/B semifinals on Thursday.

In the final US event on Tuesday the lightweight four crew was not able to advance to the final as they finished in 5th place, 3.5 seconds out of 3rd place. They will race in the B final on Thursday.

Sailing

In the men’s 49er event on Tuesday Erik Storck and Trevor Moore finished in 16th in race 3 before winning race 4. Their total score is now 33 points as they are in 9th place and they are only 7 points behind 3rd place. Races 5 and 6 will be on Wednesday.

In the laser radial event Paige Railey finished in 12th in race 3 and 17th in race 4. She is now in 9th place with 42 points. That places her 24 points behind the 3rd place spot.  Races 5 and 6 will be on Wednesday

In the finn event Zach Railey finished 2nd in race 5 and 8th in race 6. Zach is now in 12th place with 48 points and is 25 points behind 3rd place. Races 7 and 8 will be on Thursday.

In the men’s RS-X event Robert Willis finished in 7th in race 1 and in 10th in race 2. His combined total is 17 and that puts him in 7th place, 11 points behind 3rd place. Races 3 and 4 will be on Wednesday.

In the star event Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih finished in 8th in race 5 and 9th in race 6. Their total is now 30 and that puts them in 6th place, just 13 points behind 3rd place. Races 7 and 8 will be on Thursday.

In the women’s RS-X event Farrah Hall finished in 22nd in race 1 and 18th in race 2. She is in 21st place with a total score of 40, 33 points out of 3rd. Races 3 and 4 will be on Wednesday.

In the elliott 6m event the US defeated Finland by two seconds and France by five seconds to move to 4-2 in the event. They are tied for 3rd place.  They will face 6th place New Zealand (3-3) and 3rd place Russia (5-1) tomorrow.

In the laser event Rob Crane finished race 3 in 30th place and race 4 in 28th place. His score of 135 places him 36th and is 120 out of 3rd place. He will have races 5 and 6 on Wednesday.

Shooting

Frank Thompson and Vincent Hancock competed in the qualification period of the skeet competition. Vincent Hancock set an Olympic record hitting 123 of 125 and led the group heading into the final. Frank Thompson hit 119 of 125 and was tied for 7th. Only six make the final, so he was JUST outside that group. In the final Hancock was perfect hitting 25 of 25. His total of 148 is a new Olympic record and he won gold for the 2nd straight Olympics. No man had ever won two skeet golds before, let alone in a row. An amazing accomplishment for a very talented shooter.

Soccer

The US defeated North Korea on Tuesday by a score of 1-0 led by an Ally Wambach first half goal. The result gave the US the top spot in Group G and sent them into a quarterfinal matchup with New Zealand on Friday. The US caught a big break as Sweden, France and Japan, the other three quarterfinalists in the last World Cup, along with Brazil, who the US beat in the quarterfinals of that World Cup, are all on the other half of the bracket. Beating New Zealand would earn the US a semifinal matchup with Canada or Great Britain.

Swimming

In the Men’s 100m freestyle Nathan Adrian finished 1st in the heats and Cullen Jones finished 9th, a 100th of a second behind 8th.  Adrian did great in the semifinals winning his heat and finishing 2nd overall, but Cullen Jones was only 14th, missing the final by .22 seconds. Adrian will swim in the final tomorrow.

Next in the women’s 200m butterfly Kathleen Hersey finished 1st and Cammile Adams 8th in the heats to move on to the semifinals. In the semifinals Hersey finished 1st but Cammile Adams was in a slower heat and just made the final finishing in 7th, .36 ahead of 9th. They will swim in the final on Wednesday.

Then in the men’s 200m breaststroke Clark Burckle and Scott Weltz went 6-7 in the heats to qualify for the afternoon semifinals. In the semifinals Weltz finished 4th and Burckle 6th to make the final. Weltz was .79 seconds behind leader Michael Jamieson of Great Britain in the semifinals. They will swim for gold on Wednesday.

In the women’s 200m freestyle Allison Schmitt zoomed into the lead after the 1st turn and never looked back. She blew away the field and finished 1.97 seconds ahead and set an Olympic record with a time of 1:53.61. Missy Franklin was just out touched at the wall and finished 4th by .01 seconds.

In the men’s 200m butterfly final Michael Phelps swam a great race and appeared to have it won, but was beaten to the touch by Chad le Clos of South Africa. Phelps seemed to try to coast in while le Clos finished strong. It was almost a mirror image of Beijing. Phelps did pick up the silver, just .05 seconds back, his 18th career medal, tied for the most all-time. Tyler Clary was well back in 5th place in the race.

In the women’s 200m individual medley Shiwen Ye came on in the final 50m and blew the field away and to overtake Caitlin Levernez.  Leverenz had been in 1st at the final turn but came in 3rd to win the bronze. Ariana Kukors was another .88 seconds behind her in 5th place. Ye sat an Olympic record in the event.

In the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay the US team of Charlie Houchin, Matthew McLean, Davis Tarwater, and Conor Dwyer swam a time 2.43 seconds better than the 2nd place team, France, to put the US into the final. In the final the US turned to a team of Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Ricky Berens, and Michael Phelps to win the gold. They led the entire race and Michael Phelps led it home to win his 19th  medal, a new Olympics record. Incredible story for Phelps, one of the greatest athletes ever.  They were over 3 seconds ahead of France at the end.

Tennis

There was some good news and some bad news for the US on Tuesday. In the women’s singles round of 32 Venus Williams defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-3 to move on to a round of 16 match against 7th seed Angelique Kerber of Germany.  Varvara Lepchenko was knocked out by Julia Georges of Germany, 6-3, 7-5 in a round of 32 match.

In men’s singles Andy Roddick saw his tournament come to an end as he lost 6-2, 6-1 to 2nd-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the round of 32.

In women’s doubles top-seeded Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond defeated Agnieszka Radwanska/Urszula Radwanksa of Poland 6-4, 7-6 in the round of 16 to move on to a quarterfinal against 6th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina of Russia tomorrow. Venus and Serena Williams were victorious over Angelique Kerber/Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-5 in the round of 16 to move on to a Wednesday quarterfinal against 2nd-seeded Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci of Italy.

Finally in men’s doubles top-seeded Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan defeated Nikolay Davydenko/Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in the round of 16 to move on to the quarterfinals. Their match will be on Thursday against a yet to be determined opponent.

Volleyball

The men’s volleyball team continue their dominant play as they bounced Germany in three sets (25-23, 25-26, 25-20) to stay atop the group. They and Brazil are 2-0 with all six sets won but the US has a slightly better point ratio. That tie will be broken when the two countries meet on Thursday.

Water Polo

The US men got a huge victory over Romania on Tuesday as they knocked Romania from the top of the group and moved up to 2nd. The US is only behind Serbia who has a goal differential of +18 largely thanks to beating Great Britain by 14 on Tuesday. The US will get a chance to build theirs up on Thursday when they face the British.

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Olympic Review – July 30th

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Archery

#14 Miranda Leek was the first archer to compete individually for the US. Her first match of the day was in the round of 64 against #51 Kateryna Palekha. Leek won the match 6-2 (29-26, 29-24, 28-28, 27-27). She then moved on to the round of 32 where she was eliminated by Pia Lionetti 6-4 (27-26, 28-27, 28-28, 26-26, 28-26).

Badminton

In women’s badminton Rena Wang gave a valiant effort but lost to Xin Wang, who is amazing according to my viewing… not sure how you score on her. Badminton looks impossible. The score was 21-8, 21-6. Rena Wang had a tough break getting drawn in a group of 2 so she only got one match in London. Hope the 20-year-old is back in Rio.

In the men’s badminton doubles event Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan were already eliminated but had one final match against Kawamae/Sato of Japan. They lost the match 21-15, 21-15.

Basketball

The women’s basketball team destroyed Angola 90-38 to place themselves high atop Group A with a point differential of +77 through two games. Their next match is against 3rd place and 2-0 Turkey on Wednesday.

Beach Volleyball

In men’s beach volleyball we saw our first upset of the tournament as Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal were knocked off 21-17, 21-18 by the Polish team of Mariusz Prudel/Grzegorz Fijalek. The Polish team was ranked 9th in the world heading into the match, but the result was still surprising.  The loss leaves the US in 3rd in their group and they need a result on Wednesday against group leaders Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins.

To end the day Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh  beat Kolocova/Slukova 21-14, 21-19. The win moved the Americans into 1st place alone ahead of Wednesday’s match with Cook/Hinchley of Australia.

Boxing

Marcus Browne took on Damien Hooper in the round of 32 portion of the light heavyweight competition. Browne got off to a good start and led 3-2 after round 1 and 6-5 after round 2. Unfortunately Hooper took control of round 3 and won the bout 13-11, eliminating Browne from the competition.

Canoeing

After a rough first day in the canoeing slalom events the US turned to the men’s C2 and the women’s K1 teams to do a little better. Unfortunately Eric Hurd and Jeff Larimer in the C2 competition turned in the 12th best time in run 1. In run 2 they had the 9th best time, but it was only 12th best overall, eliminating them from the competition. In the K1 event Caroline Queen needed a top 15 finish and was in 13th after the 1st run. She struggled in her 2nd run and had the 19th best of the 2nd runs. Her 1st run didn’t stand up as several competitors passed her and she ended up finishing 17th.

Diving

In a competition that featured a lot of teams that weren’t the Chinese making mistakes, the US duo of David Boudia and Nick McCrory avoided some big ones and put up a solid score of 463.47 to finish with the bronze medal. The bronze is the 2nd diving medal for the US in the last two days after only one in the last 12! Incredible! Both are in the individual 10m platform competition starting on Friday.

Equestrian

Boyd Martin started the day off for the US and had only 3.6 penalties to set a good starting point. Karen O’Connor was next and her penalty score of 5.6 left her just ahead of Boyd. Needing just one more rider to have a solid day to be in good position in the team competition Tiana Coudray struggled and had a score of 25.6 before Will Coleman had one of 36.4.  That meant it was up to veteran Phillip Dutton to lock things down for the US. He did with a score of 2.8 and it looks like he and O’Connor/Boyd will form the 3 highest scores for the team competition.

In the team competition the US is in 5th with a score of 155.2. The 3rd place team is Sweden with a score of 131.4. Tough task to come back for the US, have to hope some teams make mistakes.

In the individual competition Phillip Dutton is in 12th (47.1), 7.6 points behind the 3rd place rider. Karen O’Connor is in 24th (53.8), Boyd Martin in 26th (54.3), Tiana Coudray in 42nd (77.6) and Will Coleman in 46th (82.7).

Tomorrow will be the show jumping which will determine the team medals and individual standings. The top 25 riders will participate in the jumping final. Dutton is in good position now while O’Connor and Martin are right on the bubble.

Fencing

The individual epee competition was Monday. Susie Scanlan took on Olena Kryvtska of Ukraine in the round of 64 and lost 15-13. In the round of 32 Maya Lawrence faced Mara Navarria of Italy and pulled off a 15-12 upset. At the same time Courtney Hurley took on Laura Flessel-Colovic of France and lost 15-12. In the round of 16 Lawrence faced Rossella Fiamingo and lost 15-7.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics was a disaster for the US today. Having qualified in 1st they were 3rd on the floor routine to start but finished 7th on the pommel horse, and 4th on the rings. There was some thought they might rally on the vault but when John Orozco fell to his butt on his landing you knew it was not going to be a medal day for the US. They finished 5th overall and were really just 2 points out of silver. Really hurts knowing how close they were and how good the guys who made mistakes are.

The two individuals who will be in the individual all around struggled. Danell Leyva was 9th, 20th, and 10th on his first three apparatus before being 4th on the horizontal bar. Orozco was 23rd, 13th, 20th, 15th, and 8th. Not a confidence builder for these two as they head to the individual all around on Wednesday.

Judo

Judo was probably the highlight of the day for me. I absolutely loved watching Nick Delpopolo and Marti Malloy. Both have great fun names and were a joy to watch.  Delpopolo started off in the round of 32 beating Chi Yip Cheung with two Waza-aris. Next Delpopolo faced Dirk van Tichelt in the round of 16 and won with a yuko that held up as the only score.  Delpopolo finally lost in the quarterfinals after going a full match with Ki Chun Wang without any scores. Wang advanced on the judge’s decision.  In the repechage to get to the bronze medal match Delpopolo lost to Nyam-Ochir Sainjarga when he scored a yuko right at the end of the five minutes.

Marti Malloy started things off in the round of 32 when she defeated Telma Monteiro, one of the top competitors in the world, with a yuko in the golden score period.  She then moved on to the round of 16 where she made quick work of Yadinys Amaris getting an ippon just 40 seconds into the match.  In the quarterfinals she defeated Irina Zabludina with a yuko during the golden score period. Then in the semifinals she battled Corina Caproioriu tough but got taken down for an ippon with just seven seconds left. After that disappointing loss which meant she wouldn’t be the first woman to reach the gold medal final in judo she rebounded with an ippon halfway through her match with Giulia Quintavalle to win a bronze medal.

If you’ve never watched judo you should give it a watch. It takes a little time to figure out what is going on but it’s very interesting to watch and the matches go really quick.

Rowing

In the women’s quadruple sculls repechage the US needed to finish in the top four to make the final and they did more than that. They went boat-to-boat with the Australians and just barely finished 2nd by .7 seconds. They will be in the final on Wednesday.

In the men’s quadruple sculls the US needed to finish in the top 3 to make the semifinal. The US faltered early but came back strong. Unfortunately in the end they finished 4th by .72 seconds, so they were eliminated.

In the men’s pair repechage the US needed to finish in the top 3 to move on to the seimifinals on Wednesday. The US just barely did that as they were nearly caught at the line, squeaking out 3rd place by .53 seconds.

The women’s double sculls competition started today and the US duo came in 3rd in their heat. They will have to go to the repechage on Tuesday to qualify for the final.

Finally the men’s four competition started and the US got off to a great start. They won their heat by over a second and will be in the semifinals on Thursday.

Sailing

In the first day of 49er racing the US team of Erik Storck and Trevor Moore finished race 1 in 6th and race 2 in 10th. Their total of 16 points is 7 back of 3rd place.   Races 3 and 4 are tomorrow.

In the first day of laser racing the US competitor, Rob Crane, finished race 1 in 35th and race 2 in 42nd. The total of 77 puts him in 39th, 66 points behind 3rd place. Races 3 and 4 are tomorrow.

In the first day of laser radial racing Paige Railey finished race 1 in 8th and race 2 in 5th. Her total of 13 was good for 5th and puts her just just 4 points out of 3rd. Races 3 and 4 are tomorrow.

In the second day of finn racing Zach Railey finished race 3 in 13th and race 4 in 17th. His total of 55 places him 13th and he is 33 points out of 3rd. Races 5 and 6 are tomorrow.

In the second day of star racing the US team of Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih placed 5th in race 3 and 3rd in race 4. Their total of 27 is good for 5th place and are only 8 points show of 3rd. Races 5 and 6 are tomorrow.

Finally in the elliott 6m races the US crew of Anna Tunnicliffe, Debbie Capozzi and Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer beat Portugal by 12 seconds and then lost to Australia by less than a second. These results left the US at 2-2 and in 5th place in the competition.  The US will face Finland and France tomorrow.

Shooting

Matt Emmons finished 35th (590) and Jonathan Hall finished 27th (592) in the men’s 10m air rifle competition Monday.

Vincent Hancock and Frank Thompson started the skeet competition with the first three rounds. Hancock leads the way with 74 out of 75 hit while Thompson is in a tie for 5th with 71 out of 75 hit. Only the top six make the final. There are two more rounds of 25 before that point though. Those rounds and the final take place tomorrow.

Swimming

In the women’s 200m freestyle the US had both Allison Schmitt and Missy Franklin easily qualify for the semifinals. It got a bit more interesting there as Schmitt swam the 2nd best time but Franklin just barely made the final finishing .19 seconds ahead of 9th place. They’ll both race in the final tomorrow.

In the men’s 200m butterfly Tyler Clary and Michael Phelps qualified easily for the semifinals. In the semifinals Clary was 4th in his heat but thanks to a slower 2nd heat he is 6th for the finals. Phelps finished 1st in his heat but is 4th for the finals. We’ll see them head-to-head in the final tomorrow.

In the women’s 200m individual medley the US qualified Ariana Kukors and Caitlin Leverenz for the semifinals. They finished 3-4 in their heat but will be 3-4 in tomorrow’s final as well because Kukors was .66 seconds ahead of the top time in the other heat.

In the men’s 200m freestyle final Ryan Lochte was 2nd at the final turn but was passed and finished 4th, missing the bronze by .11 seconds.

In the women’s 100m backstroke final Missy Franklin was coming off a nice rest. A nice rest of 10 minutes since the 200m freestyle. That was no bother to her though as she won the final setting an American record of 58.33.  Great gold medal for Missy Franklin!

In the men’s 100m backstroke final the US was very excited as Matt Grevers won the gold with an Olympic record 52.16 and saw his teammate Nick Thoman come home in 2nd to take the silver!

Finally in the women’s 100m breaststroke final Rebecca Soni tried her best but couldn’t track down 15-year-old Ruta Meilutyte. Soni took home the silver, losing out on the gold by just .08 seconds. Breeja Larson finished 6th, but just .03 seconds behind 4th.

Tennis

Andy Roddick won his round of 64 match against Martin Klizan 7-5, 6-4 on Monday. His reward? A round of 32 match against #2 Novak Djokovic on Tuesday. John Isner got his round of 32 match over already defeating Malek Jaziri 7-6, 6-2. He will face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the round of 16.

In women’s singles Varvara Lepchenko was able to complete her round of 64 match with Veronica Cepede Royg and beat her 7-5, 6-7, 6-2.  Her opponent in the round of 32, Julia Goerges, knocked off #2 seed Agnieszka Radwanksa in the round of 64. That match will be on Tuesday. Venus Williams easily handled Sara Errani 6-3, 6-1 in the round of 64 and moves on to a round of 32 match with Aleksandra Wozniak on Tuesday. #4 Serena Williams defeated Urszula Radwanska in the round of 32 6-2, 6-3. Serena moves on to face Vera Zvonareva in the round of 16.

In women’s doubles play Venus and Serena teamed up to defeated Sorana Cristea/Simona Halep 6-3, 6-2 on Monday. They now face #5 Angelique Kerber/Sabine Lisicki on Tuesday in the round of 16.

How both of those happen AND the sisters play their scheduled round of 32 doubles match with Cristea/Halep of Romania… I don’t know. So perhaps the Serena match will be on Tuesday and the doubles match will make it in on Monday.

Volleyball

The US women’s volleyball team got a great result when they defeated Brazil 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21. Not only was the win big in trying to win the group but getting a match like this out of the way helped the US grow into the tournament. The US has to be considered a strong contender for the gold if they keep playing like this. They next play group leader China on Wednesday.

Water Polo

The US women’s water polo team got a big 14-13 win over Hungary to start off their group stage.  Maggie Steffens lead the way with 7 goals for the US. The goal put the US into 2nd place in the group and sets them up for a match for the top of the group with leader Spain on Wednesday.

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Olympic Preview – July 31st

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Tuesday’s competition starts at 4 AM with the 4th round of skeet shooting qualification getting underway. It will continue for 14 hours until 6 PM when the beach volleyball duo of April Ross/Jennifer Kessy take on Van Iersel/Keizer in a group stage match.

As always follow me on twitter for the most current information and coverage.  If you have any questions feel free to shoot them my way and I will attempt to help you!

It appears almost everything is available online at nbcolympics.com with the exception of the qualifying rounds for shooting.

All times mentioned from now on are ET.

Archery

On Tuesday the US will have two of their top archers taking part in the individual archery competition. First at 4:13 AM #12 Jacob Wukie will take on #53 Jayanta Talukdar of India in the round of 64. If Wukie wins he will shoot again in the round of 32 at 4:52 AM.

Next up will be #15 Jennifer Nichols at 5:44 AM when she faces #50 Chekrovolu Swuro of India in the round of 64. If Nichols wins her match she will move on to the round of 32 at 6:23 AM.

There will be archery coverage on MSNBC from 5 PM-5:30 PM.

4:13 AM – Men’s Archery – #12 Jacob Wukie vs. #53 Jayanta Talukdar – Round of 64
4:52 AM – Men’s Archery – Individual – Round of 32
5:44 AM – Women’s Archery – #15 Jennifer Nichols vs. #50 Chekrovolu Swuro – Round of 64
6:23 AM – Women’s Archery – Individual – Round of 32

Basketball

The US will look to stay atop of Group A when they face Tunisia on Tuesday at 5:15 PM. Tunisia currently sits in 4th place in the group.

The US game will be shown on the Special Basketball channel and on NBC Sports Network from 5:15-7:15 PM.

5:15 PM – Men’s Basketball – Tunisia – Group Stage

Beach Volleyball

In the men’s beach volleyball competition Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers will take on Gavira Collado/Herrera Allepuz of Spain at 4 PM. The Spaniards are 2nd in the group so this match could determine the group winner.

At 6 PM April Ross/Jennifer Kessy will take on Marleen Van Iersel/Sanne Keizer in a group stage match. The US duo is currently first in their group and will be hoping to stay on top against the #3 team in their group.

The men’s beach volleyball match will be shown live on NBC from 4-5 PM while the women’s beach volleyball match will be shown during late night coverage from 12:35-1:35 AM on Wednesday.

4 PM – Men’s Beach Volleyball – Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers vs. Gavira Collado/Herrera Allepuz – Group Stage
6 PM – Women’s Beach Volleyball – April Ross/Jennifer Kessy vs. Marleen Van Iersel/Sanne Keizer – Group Stage

Boxing

In the boxing competition, at 10:30 AM Tuesday, Jamel Herring will be taking on Daniya Teleussinov of Kazakhstan in the round of 32 of the men’s light welterweight competition.

The boxing will be covered tape delayed from 5-8 PM on CNBC.

10:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Light Welterweight – Jamel Herring vs. Daniyar Yeleussinov – Round of 32

Equestrian

In the last day of the equestrian eventing competition there will be two rounds of showjumping. The first round, starting at 5:30 AM, will determine the final team standings and help rank the individuals. After that round the top 25 individuals will jump one more time starting at 9:30 AM to determine the final individual standings.

The equestrian competition will be covered LIVE on NBC Sports Network from 5:45-8:15 AM and from 9:15-10:35 AM.

5:30 AM – Equestrian – Eventing – Jumping
9:30 AM – Equestrian – Eventing – Individual Jumping

Fencing

Men’s individual foil is the fencing event of the day for Tuesday. At 6:50 AM Miles Chamley-Watson will take on Alaaedldin Abouelkassem of Egypt in the round of 32. Next at 7:20 AM Alexander Massialas faces Etienne Lalonde Turbide of Canada, also in the round of 32. Finally at 8:20 AM Race Imboden will have his round of 32 bout against a round of 64 winner. If any of the competitors advance the rest of the rounds are on Tuesday and start at the times listed below.

Once again there is no fencing on TV Tuesday.

6:50 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Foil – Miles Chamley-Watson vs. Alaaedldin Abouelkassem – Round of 32
7:20 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Foil – Alexander Massialas vs. Etienne Lalonde Turbide – Round of 32
8:20 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Foil – Race Imboden vs. TBD – Round of 32
9:10 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Foil – Round of 16
10:30 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Foil – Quarterfinals
1 PM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Foil – Semifinals
2:10 PM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Foil – Bronze Medal Match
2:40 PM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Foil – Gold Medal Match

Field Hockey

After starting off with a 2-1 loss to Germany the US is now forced to face the top team in the group so far, Argentina, at 2 PM. The US and Argentina are old rivals from Pan-American type competitions so this game should be very exciting.

The field hockey match will be shown LIVE on NBC Sports Network from 2-3:30 PM.

2 PM – Women’s Field Hockey – Argentina – Group Stage

Gymnastics

The women’s gymnastics team will be looking to do what the men couldn’t do on Monday… take their 1st place qualification spot and actually medal from it! The women will start at 11:30 AM on the vault. They will rotate through the uneven bars, the balance beam and finally the floor routine. They are paired with the Russians in the rotation.

The gymnastics competition will be tape delayed and shown as part of NBC’s primetime coverage from 8 PM-12 AM

11:30 AM – Women’s Gymnastics – Team Final

Judo

After falling for judo on Monday I’m excited to see some more on Tuesday! Things will start with Travis Stevens in the round of 32 taking on Aljaz Sedej of Slovenia. If he wins he will progress through the rounds which start at the times listed below.

There will be no judo coverage on TV on Tuesday.

5:19 AM – Men’s Judo – 81kg – Travis Stevens vs. Alijaz Sedej – Round of 32
6:29 AM – Men’s Judo – 81kg – Round of 16
7:11 AM – Men’s Judo – 81kg – Quarterfinals
9:28 AM – Men’s Judo – 81kg – Repechage and Bronze
9:42 AM – Men’s Judo – 81kg – Semifinals
11:10 AM – Men’s Judo – 81kg – Gold Medal Final

Rowing

Things will start off at 4:50 AM with Margot Shumway/Sarah Trowbridge in the women’s double sculls repechage. They will have to finish in the top two to make the final and were 2nd fastest of the six boats in the heats.

In women’s lightweight double sculls the repechage will offer three boats a path to the semifinals. The US crew of Kristin Hedstrom/Julie Nichols is in repechage 2 of the event, which starts at 5:10 AM. The US was the top boat of their repechage during the heats.

In the 6 AM quarterfinals of the men’s single sculls Ken Jurkowski will attempt to make the semifinals by finishing in the top 3 of quarterfinal 3. Jurkowski was the slowest of the six boats in his quarterfinal during the opening rounds.

At 6:40 AM the quarterfinals of the women’s single sculls will take place. Generva Stone will be in quarterfinal 2 for the US, seeking to be in the top 3 to make the semifinals. Stone was 3rd best from her quarterfinal in the opening rounds.

Finally at 7:40 AM the men’s lightweight four semifinals will take place. The US is in semifinal A and needs a top 3 finish to move into the final. They had the slowest time of the six boats in the earlier rounds.

Rowing will be covered on tape delay on NBC from 11:15-11:45 AM and from 2:15-2:40 PM.

4:50 AM – Women’s Rowing – Double Sculls – Repechage
5:10 AM – Women’s Rowing – Lightweight Double Sculls – Repechage
6 AM – Men’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Quarterfinals
6:40 AM – Women’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Quarterfinals
7:40 AM – Men’s Rowing – Lightweight Four – Semifinals

Sailing

In sailing on Tuesday we’ll see lots of competition.

In 49er the US team of Erik Storck and Trevor Moore are in 7th after 2 races. In laser radial Paige Railey is in 5th after 2 races. In finn Zach Railey is in 13th after 4 races. In men’s RS-X Robert Willis will be the US competitor as the event begins. In women’s RS-X it will be Farrah Hall. In star the US crew is in 6th after 4 races. In laser Rob Crane is in 39th after 2 races. In elliott 6m the US is in 5th place at 2-2 and will be facing #5 Finland (2-2) and #3 France (3-1).

There will be no sailing on TV on Tuesday.

7 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 3
7 AM – Women’s Sailing – Laser Radial – Race 3
7 AM – Men’s Sailing – Finn – Race 5
7 AM – Men’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 1
7:10 AM – Men’s Sailing – Star – Race 5
7:50 AM – Men’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 2
7:50 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 4
8:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – Finn – Race 6
8:30 AM – Women’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 1
8:35 AM – Women’s Sailing – Elliott 6m – Finland – Round Robin
8:50 AM – Men’s Sailing – Star – Race 6
9 AM – Men’s Sailing – Laser – Race 3
9:10 AM – Women’s Sailing – Laser Radial – Race 4
9:20 AM – Women’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 2
10:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – Laser – Race 4
10:30 AM – Women’s Sailing – Elliott 6m – France – Round Robin

Shooting

Frank Thompson and Vincent Hancock are both in good position to make the final after day one. Hancock is 1st with 74 out of 75 while Thompson is tied for 5th with 71 of 75. The top six make the final which will be figured out after two more rounds of 25 tomorrow. The final will be another round of 25 with the highest total the winner.

There will be shooting coverage tape delayed from 4:45-5:15 PM on NBC Sports Network.

4 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Qualification – Frank Thompson – Round 4
5 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Qualification – Vincent Hancock – Round 4
6 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Qualification – Frank Thompson – Round 5
7 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Qualification – Vincent Hancock – Round 5
9 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Final

Soccer

After 2 games the US is atop their group in soccer and any point against North Korea, 3rd in the group, in their 12:15 PM match would see the US win the group.

The USA game will air LIVE on NBC Sports Network and the Special Soccer channel from 12:15-2 PM.

12:15 PM – Women’s Soccer – North Korea – Group Stage

Swimming

In the morning session we will see Nathan Adrian in heat 6 of the men’s 100m freestyle with Cullen Jones in heat 8. Top 16 move on to the evening’s semifinals.

Then in the women’s 200m butterfly Cammile Adams in heat 3 and Kathleen Hersey in heat 4 will look to finish in the top 16 and advance to that evening’s semifinals.

Next in the men’s 200m breaststroke Scott Weltz will be in heat 3 and Clark Burckle in heat 4. The top 15 will move on to the evening semifinals.

In the final session of the morning the US men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team will try to qualify for the Tuesday evening final by finishing in the top eight. The US is in heat 2.

In the evening session we will see the men’s 100m freestyle semifinals hopefully featuring Nathan Adrian and Cullen Jones. Top 8 move into Wednesday’s final.

Next in the women’s 200m freestyle final Allison Schmitt (2nd) and Missy Franklin (8th) will look to improve upon their semifinal positions and swim for the gold medal.

In the men’s 200m butterfly final Tyler Clary (5th) and Michael Phelps (4th) will look to improve on their semifinal times and win medals in the event.

Then in the women’s 200m butterfly semifinals Cammile Adams and Kathleen Hersey will try to finish in the top 8 and advance to Wednesday’s final.

Next in the men’s 200m breaststroke semifinals Scott Weltz and Clark Burckle will be vying for one of eight spots in Wednesday’s final.

After that in the women’s 200m individual medley final Caitlin Leverenz (3rd) and Ariana Kukors (4th) will try their luck at beating the amazingly fast 16-year-old, Shiwen Ye of China.

In the final session of the evening the US men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team will be swimming in the final.

There will be tape delayed heats shown from 10:30-11:15 AM and 1:30-2:15 PM on NBC. The finals will be tape delayed and shown on the primetime cover from 8 PM – 12 AM on NBC and some semifinals from 12:35-1:35 AM on Wednesday morning.

5 AM – Men’s Swimming – 100m Freestyle – Heats
5:25 AM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Butterfly – Heats
5:47 AM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Breaststroke – Heats
6:17 AM – Men’s Swimming – 4x200m Freestyle Relay – Heats
2:30 PM – Men’s Swimming – 100m Freestyle – Semifinals
2:39 PM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Freestyle – Final
2:47 PM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Butterfly – Final
2:55 PM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Butterfly – Semifinals
3:17 PM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Breaststroke – Semifinals
3:39 PM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Individual Medley – Final
3:47 PM – Men’s Swimming – 4x200m Freestyle Relay – Final

Tennis

The first match of the day for the US will feature Venus Williams taking on Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada in the round of 32 at 7 AM. Next up will be Varvara Lepchenko who will face Julia Georges of Germany in the round of 32 at 8:30 AM. Next will be some doubles matches on the women’s side. Venus and Serena Williams will take on Angelique Kerber/Sabine Lisicki of Germany while Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond will take on Agnieszka Radwanska/Urszula Radwanska of Poland, both matches starting at 10:30 AM in the round of 16.

On the men’s side Andy Roddick will take on Novak Djokovic of Serbia in a round of 32 match at 11 AM. Finally Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan will face Nikolay Davydenko/Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in a round of 16 match at 12:30 PM.

Any and all tennis coverage will be on Bravo from 7 AM – 3 PM.

7 AM – Women’s Tennis – Singles – Venus Williams vs. Aleksandra Wozniak – Round of 32
8:30 AM – Women’s Tennis – Singles – Varvara Lepchenko vs. Julia Goerges – Round of 32
10:30 AM – Women’s Tennis – Doubles – Venus Williams/Serena Williams vs. Angelique Kerber/Sabine Lisicki – Round of 16
10:30 AM – Women’s Tennis – Doubles – Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond vs. Agnieszka Radwanska/Urszula Radwanska – Round of 16
11 AM – Men’s Tennis – Singles – Andy Roddick vs. Novak Djokovic – Round of 32
12:30 PM – Men’s Tennis – Doubles – Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan vs. Nikolay Davydenko/Mikhail Youzhny – Round of 16

Volleyball

After winning game 1 the US find themselves in the 3rd spot in group B. Tomorrow might be a chance to move up as they face 5th place Germany at 11:45 AM. The US is looking to defend the gold medal in this event.

The USA-Germany match will be on NBC LIVE from 11:45 AM – 1:30 PM.

11:45 AM – Men’s Volleyball – Germany – Group Stage

Water Polo

After starting off with a win the US will be looking to fight for the top of the group with 1st place Romania when they meet at 2:40 PM. The US is ranked 3rd on goal differential so far.

The US Water Polo match will be shown live on NBC from 2:40-4 PM.

2:40 PM – Men’s Water Polo – Romania – Group Stage

Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoeing, Daily Previews, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Gymnastics, Judo, London 2012, Olympics, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo

Olympic Preview – July 30th

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Monday’s competition starts at 3:30 AM with the badminton match between Rena Wang of the US and Xin Wang of China. It will end at 6 PM with Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh taking on Kolocova/Slukova. In between will be almost everything and everything.

As always follow me on twitter for the most current information and coverage.  If you have any questions feel free to shoot them my way and I will attempt to help you!

It appears almost everything is available online at nbcolympics.com with the exception of the qualifying rounds for shooting.

All times mentioned from now on are ET.

Archery

Women’s Archery’s individual round starts on Monday and the only American on Monday will be #14 Miranda Leek who takes on #51 Kateryna Palekha of Ukraine at 4:39 AM. If she wins she’ll move on to the round of 32, starting around 5:05 AM.

There will be TV coverage of archery from 12:45-1:45 on NBC Sports Network.

4:39 AM – Women’s Archery – #14 Miranda Leek vs. #51 Kateryna Palekha – Round of 64
5:05 AM – Women’s Archery – Individual – Round of 32

Badminton

Rena Wang will finally get her badminton group under way Monday morning… and she’ll finish it Monday morning. Yes, Wang is in a group with Wang Xin of China… and that’s it. So unless Rena Wang can pull off a big upset on Monday morning at 3:30 AM she will be eliminated with just a single match played.

In the men’s badminton doubles event Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan are already eliminated but will play a final match against Kawamae/Sato of Japan at 3:50 PM.

The NBC Sports Network will show the Wang-Wang match on tape delay from 6-6:30 AM. The men’s doubles match should be shown live on MSNBC from 3:45-5 PM.

3:30 AM – Women’s Badminton – Rena Wang vs. Wang Xin – Group Stage
3:50 PM – Men’s Badminton – Howard Bach/Tony Gunawan vs. Kawamae/Sato – Group Stage

Basketball

The women’s basketball team is back for game 2 against Angola at 5:15 PM. The US leads the group and Angola is in 5th place. This one could get pretty ugly.

The US basketball game appears to only be available on the special Basketball channel from 5:15-7 PM.

5:15 PM – USA Women’s Basketball vs. Angola

Beach Volleyball

At 4 PM the men’s beach volleyball team of Josh Gibb and Sean Rosenthal will complete against Fijalek/Prudel of Poland. The US duo is in 1st in the group and the Polish team in 3rd after the first games. They could be a tough match still though as they are ranked #9 in the world.

At 6 PM Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh play the #13 team Kolocova/Slukova of the Czech Republic in the group stage. The two teams are 1-2 in the group so this one will probably decide the group winner.

The men’s beach volleyball match is scheduled to be shown LIVE on NBC from 4-5 PM with the May-Treanor/Walsh match probably saved for the evening primetime coverage.

4 PM – Men’s Beach Volleyball – Josh Gibb/Sean Rosenthal vs. Fijalek/Prudel – Group Stage
6 PM – Women’s Beach Volleyball – Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh vs. Kolocova/Slukova – Group Stage

Boxing

There is only one boxer going for the US on Monday. At 10:45 AM Marcus Browne will begin the light heavyweight competition with a bout against Damien Hooper of Australia in the round of 32.

The bout will be live on CNBC at 10:45 AM.

10:45 AM – Men’s Boxing – Light Heavyweight – Marcus Browne vs. Damien Hooper – Round of 32

Canoeing

After a disappointing Sunday the US will look to the C-2 team of Eric Hurd/Jeff Larimer and the women’s K-1 competitor, Caroline Queen, to try and qualify at least one America for the semifinals. In the C-2 the top 10 will qualify for the semifinals while the top 15 will qualify in the K-1. In each event the athletes are ranked by their best run.

Apparently the K-1 heats will be covered from 11-11:30 AM on NBC, more coverage from 12:35-1:35 AM on the late night coverage on NBC.

8:33 AM – Men’s Canoeing – Slalom – C-2 – Eric Hurd/Jeff Larimer – Heats – Run 1
9:43 AM – Women’s Canoeing – Slalom – K-1 – Caroline Queen – Heats – Run 1
10:38 AM – Men’s Canoeing – Slalom – C-2 – Eric Hurd/Jeff Larimer – Heats – Run 1
11:48 AM – Women’s Canoeing – Slalom – K-1 – Caroline Queen – Heats – Run 1

Diving

At 10 AM the men’s duo of David Boudia and Nicholas McCrory will compete as one of eight teams in the men’s synchronized 10m platform. They will have six dives and are ranked on the highest total.

The diving coverage will be saved for the NBC primetime programming.

10 AM – Men’s Diving – Synchronized 10m Platform – Final

Equestrian

The very exciting Cross-Country portion of the eventing competition is on Monday. Starting with Boyd Martin at 7:30 AM the US has five competitors going during the day. The course will have up to 45 jumps and riders will be penalized for jumping errors and time penalties (not finishing quick enough). These penalties will be added to the penalties from the dressage portion.

There will be equestrian coverage from 8:15-12:45 on NBC Sports Network.

7:30 AM – Equestrian – Eventing – Boyd Martin – Cross-Country
8:26 AM – Equestrian – Eventing – Karen O’Connor – Cross-Country
9:26 AM – Equestrian – Eventing – Tiana Coudray – Cross-Country
10:30 AM – Equestrian – Eventing – William Coleman – Cross-Country
1:34 PM – Equestrian – Eventing – Philip Dutton – Cross-Country

Fencing

In women’s individual epee competition the US will start with #30 Susie Scanlan taking on #35 Olena Kryvtska of Ukraine in the round of 64 at 5:30 AM. If Scanlan wins she will fence next at 6:50 AM against #3 Anca Maroiu of Romania. #24 Maya Lawrence will start her day at 7:50 AM against #9 Mara Navarria of Italy. At the same time #24 Courtney Hurley will be taking on #13 Laura Flessel-Colovic of France. If the women advance the rest of the competition will take place later in the day.

No scheduled fencing coverage on TV once again on Monday :(.

5:30 AM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Susie Scanlan vs. Olena Kryvytska – Round of 64
6:50 AM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Round of 32
7:50 AM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Maya Lawrence vs. Mara Navarria – Round of 32
7:50 AM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Courtney Hurley vs. Laura Flessel-Colovic – Round of 32
9:10 AM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Round of 16
10:30 AM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Quarterfinals
1 PM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Semifinals
2:10 PM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Bronze Medal Match
2:40 PM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Gold Medal Match

Gymnastics

The men’s team final will take place on Monday. The US had the highest qualifying score and will be paired with the Russians. The order of apparatus for the US will be floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar. It will be very exciting to see the two teams going head-to-head all afternoon.

The gymnastics will be saved for NBC’s primetime coverage.

11:30 AM – Men’s Gymnastics – Team Final

Judo

The US finally sees some Judo competitors get underway. At 4:37 AM the US will see Marti Malloy start things off in the women’s 57kg against Telma Monteiro of Portugal. The men’s 73kg will have Nicholas Delpopolo against Chi Yip Cheung of Hong Kong at 5:26 AM. If both competitors advance the times are listed below for when the various rounds begin.

There is no judo coverage scheduled for TV Monday.

4:37 AM – Women’s Judo – 57kg – Marti Malloy vs. Telma Monteiro – Round of 32
5:26 AM – Men’s Judo – 73kg – Nicholas Delpopolo vs. Chi Yip Cheung – Round of 32
6:01 AM – Women’s Judo – 57kg – Round of 16
6:29 AM – Men’s Judo – 73kg – Round of 16
6:57 AM – Women’s Judo – 57kg – Quarterfinals
7:11 AM – Men’s Judo – 73kg – Quarterfinals
9 AM – Women’s Judo – 57kg – Repechage and Bronze
9:14 AM – Women’s Judo – 57kg – Semifinals
9:28 AM – Men’s Judo – 73kg – Repechage and Bronze
9:42 AM – Men’s Judo – 73kg – Semifinals
11 AM – Women’s Judo – 57kg – Gold Medal Final
11:10 AM – Men’s Judo – 73kg – Gold Medal Final

Rowing

The US has five boats competing in rowing on Monday. In the women’s quadruple sculls repechage at 4:40 AM the US will have to finish in the top 4 to reach the final. The US was the best of these six boats in the heats.

In the men’s quadruple sculls repechage at 5 AM the US will have to finish in the top 3 to advance to the semifinals. The US was 3rd of these four boats in the heats.

In the men’s pair repechage at 5:10 AM the US will have to finish in the top 3 to advance to the semifinals. The US was 2nd of the four boats in the heats.

At 5:20 AM the women’s double sculls heats will finally start. The US crew of Sarah Trowbridge/Margot Shumway will be in heat 2. The top boat is the only one that will qualify for the final directly.

At 5:40 AM the men’s four heats will start. The US is in heat 3. The top 3 in each heat will move on directly to the semifinals.

There is coverage of the heats (tape delay) from 10:30-11 AM on NBC.

4:40 AM – Women’s Rowing – Quadruple Sculls – Repechage
5 AM – Men’s Rowing – Quadruple Sculls – Repechage
5:10 AM – Men’s Rowing – Pair – Repechage
5:20 AM – Women’s Rowing – Double Sculls – Heats
5:40 AM – Men’s Rowing – Four – Heats

Sailing

In men’s sailing at 7 AM the 49er and laser competitions will have their first race. Erik Storck and Trevor Moore make up the 49er team with Rob Crane the laser sailor. The 2nd 49er race is at 8 while the 2nd laser race is at 8:30.

The women’s laser radial race starts at 7:10 and features Paige Railey. The 2nd race will start at 8:40.

In men’s finn the 3rd race starts at 9 AM with the 4th at 10:20 AM. Zach Railey is in 15th after the first two races. The men’s star 3rd race is starting at 9:10 AM and the 4th race at 10:50 AM. Mark Mendelblatt/Brian Fatih are in 10th after the first two races.

After going 1-1 on the first day the Americans will take on Portugal (0-1) at 9:30 AM and Australia (2-0) at 11 AM in the women’s elliott 6m competition.

There is no scheduled sailing coverage on TV on Monday.

7 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 1
7 AM – Men’s Sailing – Laser – Race 1
7:10 AM – Women’s Sailing – Laser Radial – Race 1
8 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 2
8:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – Laser – Race 2
8:40 AM – Women’s Sailing – Laser Radial – Race 2
9 AM – Men’s Sailing – Finn – Race 3
9:10 AM – Men’s Sailing – Star – Race 3
9:30 AM – Women’s Sailing – Elliott 6m – Portugal – Round Robin
10:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – Finn – Race 4
10:50 AM – Men’s Sailing – Star – Race 4
11 AM – Women’s Sailing – Elliott 6m – Australia – Round Robin

Shooting

The US will have Matt Emmons and Jonathan Hall competing in the men’s 10m air rifle competition starting at 4 AM. They will have sixty shots to try and make the top eight and qualify for the final.

Vincent Hancock and Frank Thompson will be involved in the skeet competition. There are five rounds of 25 shots in the qualifying competition. The first three rounds are today with the final two tomorrow before the final. Only the top six make the final. Vincent Hancock won gold in Beijing hitting 145 shots. He has gone 150 for 150 before.

There is supposed to be shooting coverage on NBC Sports Network from 4:30-5:15. It is quite unclear what that will be of.

4 AM – Men’s Shooting – 10m Air Rifle – Qualification
4 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Frank Thompson – Qualification Day 1 – Round 1
5 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Vincent Hancock – Qualification Day 1 – Round 1
6 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Frank Thompson – Qualification Day 1 – Round 2
7 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Vincent Hancock – Qualification Day 1 – Round 2
7:15 AM – Men’s Shooting – 10m Air Rifle – Final
8 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Frank Thompson – Qualification Day 1 – Round 3
9 AM – Men’s Shooting – Skeet – Vincent Hancock – Qualification Day 1 – Round 3

Swimming

In the swimming morning session only three events will be contested. In the women’s 200m freestyle at 5 AM Missy Franklin will be in heat 3 and Allison Schmitt in heat 5. They only need a top 16 spot to qualify for the evening semifinals.

In the men’s 200m butterfly at 5:25 AM the US will have Michael Phelps and Tyler Clary in the 5th heat. They will only need a top 16 finish to qualify for the evening semifinals.

Finally at 5:49 AM in the women’s 200m Individual Medley, Ariana Kukors is in heat 3 and Caitlin Leverenz is in heat 4. They will be looking to finish in the top 16 and qualify for Monday evening’s semifinals.

To start the afternoon session off at 2:30 PM the women’s 200m freestyle semifinals will be held with Missy Franklin and Allison Schmitt hopefully in it.

At 2:41 PM the men’s 200m freestyle final will take place. Ryan Lochte qualified for the final, but .7 seconds out of the lead in the semifinals. He’ll need a stronger swim today. He was .29 seconds behind 3rd in the semifinals as well.

At 2:49 PM the women’s 100m backstroke final is contested Missy Franklin is the only US competitor. She qualified in 2nd from the semifinals, finishing .73 seconds behind the winner.

Then at 2:56 PM The men’s 100m backstroke final will take place with both Matthew Grevers and Nick Thoman in the final. Grevers had the best semifinal time by .47 seconds while Thoman finished 5th and was .22 seconds out of 3rd.

Next at 3:13 PM the women’s 100m breaststroke final is a showdown featuring Rebecca Soni and Breeja Larson. Soni was in 2nd in the semifinals, but a full .77 seconds behind the leader. Larson’s time was in 4th, .13 seconds behind 3rd.

At 3:30 PM the men’s 200m butterfly competitors will be back for the semifinals. Michael Phelps and Tyler Clary are expected in the field as they race for the top 8 and a berth in Tuesday’s final.

Finally at 3:51 PM the women’s 200m individual medley semifinals take place with Ariana Kukors and Caitlin Leverenz hoping to be in the mix. The top 8 move on to Tuesday’s final.

From 10-10:30 AM and 1:45-2:30 PM NBC will be showing swimming heats on tape delay. They will save the afternoon session until the primetime coverage.

5 AM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Freestyle – Heats
5:25 AM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Butterfly – Heats
5:49 AM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Individual Medley – Heats
2:30 PM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Freestyle – Semifinals
2:41 PM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Freestyle – Final
2:49 PM – Women’s Swimming – 100m Backstroke – Final
2:56 PM – Men’s Swimming – 100m Backstroke – Final
3:13 PM – Women’s Swimming – 100m Breaststroke – Final
3:30 PM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Butterfly – Semifinals
3:51 PM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Individual Medley – Semifinals

Tennis

It’s really unclear when the tennis will be getting going on Monday… but the site currently lists Andy Roddick as starting at 6:30 AM against Martin Klizan of Slovakia. #10 John Isner is supposed to face Malek Jaziri of Tunisia sometime on Monday as well.

In women’s singles Varvara Lepchenko should be continuing her match with Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay. I would imagine this should start right away at 6:30… but nothing would surprise me. Venus Williams will need to get her round of 64 match with Sara Errani of Italy in, while Serena Williams is scheduled to face Urszula Radwanska of Poland in the round of 32.

How both of those happen AND the sisters play their scheduled round of 32 doubles match with Cristea/Halep of Romania… I don’t know. So perhaps the Serena match will be on Tuesday and the doubles match will make it in on Monday.

Whatever tennis matches are shown they will be on Bravo which has all tennis coverage from 7 AM to 3 PM.

6:30 AM – Men’s Tennis – Singles – Andy Roddick vs. Martin Klizan – Round of 64
UNKNOWN – Women’s Tennis – Singles – Varvara Lepchenko vs. Veronica Cepede Royg – Round of 64
UNKNOWN – Men’s Tennis – Singles – John Isner vs. Malek Jaziri – Round of 32
UNKNOWN – Women’s Tennis – Singles – Serena Williams vs. Urszula Radwanska – Round of 32
UNKNOWN – Women’s Tennis – Singles – Venus Williams vs. Sara Errani – Round of 64
UNKNOWN – Women’s Tennis – Doubles – Venus and Serena Williams vs. Cirstea/Halep – Round of 32

Volleyball

There is a great matchup in women’s volleyball at 11:45 AM when the US takes on Brazil in the group stage. The US is 2nd in the group with Brazil 3rd, but both are historically top competitors.

The volleyball match will be LIVE on NBC from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM.

11:45 AM – USA Women’s Volleyball vs. Brazil

Water Polo

The US women’s water polo team will get their Olympics underway when they take on Hungary in the first of three group stage matches. A win here would be a big first step for the United States as they try to reach the final again and this time win the gold.

The women’s water polo match will be shown LIVE on NBC from 2:30-4 PM.

2:40 PM – USA Women’s Water Polo vs. Hungary – Group Stage

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Olympic Review – July 29th

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Archery

In the women’s team competition on Sunday the US women started off by facing China in the quarterfinals. That is where their day ended as they were upset 218-213. It was a disappointing outing for a US after a 2nd place team qualification. The women will now focus on the individual competitions, beginning on Monday.

Badminton

In badminton Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan had their 2nd group stage match as they facted Koo/Tan of Malyasia. Koo/Tan won 21-12, 21-14. That combined with Jae-sung/Yong-dae’s victory on Sunday means the US has been eliminated from the competition. They will have one final match tomorrow against Kawamae/Sato of Japan. Both teams are 0-2.

Basketball

The US men’s basketball team only led by a point after the 1st quarter but led by 16 at the half and went on to win 98-71. Kevin Durant led the way with 22 points and the US put themselves atop the group with a point differential of +27, 4 better than Argentina. They will next face Tunisia. 4th in the group, on Tuesday.

Beach Volleyball

The US women’s duo of Jennifer Kessy/April Ross won their match 21-11, 21-18 over Gallay/Zonta of Argentina. The US went into the group lead since they won in straight sets while Baquerizo/Fernandez won in three sets. They will next face Keizer/van Iersel (currently 3rd) of the Netherlands on Tuesday.

The men’s pair of Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers won 21-15, 21-16 over Asahi/Shiratori of Japan. The US men are in 1st on points ratio and will face 2nd place Gavira/Herrera of Spain on Tuesday.

Boxing

In lightweight boxing, Jose Ramirez had a strong bout against Rachid Azzedine of France and hung on in the last round to win 21-20 and advance to a round of 16 bout with Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan on Thursday.

Errol Spence messed around a little less and was dominant against Myke Ribeiro de Carvalho of Brazil, winning 16-10 and advancing to a round of 16 bout with Krishan Vikas of India on Friday.

The US is now 4-0 in boxing and has just two men left in the round of 32. Ten boxers are in the round of 16 for the US in the various competitions.

Canoeing

In the men’s C1 Casey Eichfeld put up a run of 97.04 in his 1st run but saw that time slide back as run 2 went on. He needed to improve on it but couldn’t and that run ended up being the 14th best, so he missed out on the semifinals by 2 spots.

In the men’s K1 Scott Parsons saw a similar fate develop. A good first run was getting passed and a mistake on the 2nd kept him from improving it. He finished 16th in the end and only the top 15 moved to the semifinals.

Cycling

The women’s road race saw the US nearly get a medal again with Shelley Olds falling a bit short in 7th place. Evelyn Stevens finished 24th, Kristin Armstrong 35th and Amber Neben 36th.

Diving

Diving was an amazing event for the US today as Kelci Bryant/Abigail Johnston had a great afternoon and exceeded expectations with a score of 321.9 and picked up the silver medal, the first US medal in diving since 2000.

Equestrian

In the equestrian the US wrapped up the dressage portion of the eventing competition on Sunday. Will Coleman scored a 46.3 to finish in 26th while Phillip Dutton led the way with a 44.3 to finish 19th. Of the competitors from Saturday Karen O’Connor’s was best with her 48.2 placing 29th. Those three combined to score 138.8 placing the US in 7th as a team. The other two competitors were Boyd Martin who is in 36th with a 50.7 and Tiana Coudray who is 42nd with a 52.

All competitors will take part in the cross country portion tomorrow.

Fencing

The US had three men going in the individual sabre competition today. James Williams lost to Nikolay Kovalev of Russia 15-12 in the round of 32. Daryl Homer won his round of 32 bout 15-11 over Tiberiu Dolniceanu of Romania and won his round of 16 bout 15-14 over Aleksey Yakimenko of Russia. In the quarterfinals Homer lost 15-13 to Rares Dumitrescu of Romania.

Tim Morehouse won his round of 32 bout 15-6 over Veniamin Reshetnikov of Russia before beating Dmitry Lapkes of Belarus 15-13 in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals Morehouse was beaten 15-9 by Diego Occhiuzzi of Italy.

These three will be back in the team sabre competition on Friday.

Field Hockey

In field hockey the US had a tough evening but still played pretty valiantly losing 2-1 to Germany after being down 2-0 21 minutes in. The US now finds themselves 4th in their group heading into a match with group leader Argentina on Tuesday.

Gymnastics

The US was superb in the women’s qualification round and placed 1st overall with a score of 181.863. The Russians came in second just over 1.4 points behind, China a distant 5th. The ramification of this was a extraordinarily tight race between the three main gymnasts for the two indvidual all around spots. The first spot went to Alexandra Raisman (60.391) who finished 2nd overall behind Victoria Komova (60.632). The 2nd spot went to Gabby Douglas who is 3rd overall (60.265). That meant that despite finishing 4th overall Jordyn Wieber (60.032) will not be in the individual all around final. The defending world champion is OUT!

In the vault McKayla Maroney, in her only event, blew the field away with a score of 15.8 she’ll be in the vault final and looks the heavy favorite to win gold. On the uneven bars Gabrielle Douglas scored a 15.333 and was the 6th qualifier for the uneven bars final. Douglas also qualified for the balance beam final with a score of 15.266, good for 3rd place. Alexandra Raisman will join her after finishing 5th and posting a score of 15.1. Kyla Ross lost out to her teammate despite finishing 6th with a score of 15.075. On the floor routine Alexandra Raisman led the way with a score of 15.325 while Jordyn Wieber finished 6th with a 14.666 mark. Both of them will be in the final.

Rowing

The men’s lightweight four crew had a great Sunday as they improved upon their time from yesterday and smoked the field to qualify for Tuesday’s semifinals out of their repechage.

The women’s lightweight double sculls got underway with the US finishing 3rd in their heat. Unfortunately only the top two go straight to the finals so they will face a repechage on Tuesday.

Finally the women’s eight crew had a great race and finished 1st in their heat to qualify directly for Wednesday’s final.

Sailing

Zach Railey finished 10th and 15th in the first two finn races. That combined score of 25 leaves him in 15th at this point. He will have races three and four on Monday.

Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih finished 5th and 14th in their two star races. Their combined score of 19 ranks them 10th. Races three and four will be on Monday.

The US women’s elliott 6m crew beat Denmark by 5 seconds before losing to Spain by a minute and five seconds. The US is one of five crews tied for 4th at 1-1 after the first day. The US will face Portugal (0-1) and Australia (2-0) on Monday.

Shooting

The women’s 10m air pistol for Sandra Uptagrafft saw her finish 28th in the qualification round with a score of 378. She was only seven points out of qualification despite a 91 in her 2nd set of 10 shots.

On the other hand was Kimberly Rhode. She set an Olympic record hitting 74 of 75 in the skeet qualification round. The final was never really in doubt and she hit all 25 shots to win the gold with a Olympic record score of 99. That tied the world record. She has now won a medal in her 5th straight Olympics and has three golds over two different events. When they took away the double trap after 2004, where she won gold, she turned her attention towards skeet. She moved from 5th (91) in 2004 to 2nd (93) in 2008 and then to gold this year (99). Amazing athlete.

Swimming

The swimming competition will be busy on Sunday with eight events going, four of them ending in medals.

First at 5 AM the women’s 100m backstroke will get us underway with Rachel Bootsma in heat 5 and Missy Franklin in heat 6. They will be looking to be in the top 16 to advance to the afternoon semifinals.

Next at 5:20 AM the men’s 200m freestyle will feature Ricky Berens and Ryan Lochte head-to-heat in heat 5 both just needing a top 16 spot to move on to the afternoon semifinals.

Then at 5:43 AM the women’s 100m breaststroke will start. American Breeja Larson is in heat 5, and American Rebecca Soni is in heat 6. Again in this competition all that is necessary is a top 16 for a spot in the afternoon semifinals.

A similar story is true at 6:03 AM when Nick Thoman in heat 4 and Matthew Grevers in heat 6 will look for the top 16 spots to advance to the afternoon semifinals in the men’s 100m backstroke.

Finally a more urgent race will take place at 6:23 AM when the women’s 400m freestyle heats take place. Chloe Sutton is in heat 3 and Allison Schmitt is in heat 5. Only the top eight move on to the afternoon final.

The morning session will end with the dazzling men’s 4x100m freestyle relays. The US is in heat 2 and will be looking to finish in the top eight to lock up a spot in the afternoon final.

In the afternoon at 2:30 PM the women’s 100m butterfly final will take place with Claire Donahue and Dana Vollmer both in the final. Vollmer has been dominant so far and is the gold medal favorite.

Next at 2:37 PM we’ll see the men’s 200m freestyle semifinals, likely featuring Ricky Berens and Ryan Lochte. The top eight will move on to the final on Monday.

Then at 2:50 PM we’ll see the women’s 100m breaststroke semifinals with Breeja Larson and Rebecca Soni the Americans in competition. The top eight will move on to the final on Monday.

At 3:11 PM we’ll see another final as the men’s 100m breaststroke will take place with American Brendan Hansen just squeaking into the field.

Next at 3:18 PM the women’s 400m freestyle final will start possibly featuring Americans Chloe Sutton and Allison Schmitt.

The first of 2 more semifinal events will start at 3:28 PM with the men’s 100m backstroke, Nick Thoman and Matthew Grevers the Americans vying for a top eight spot and a trip to Monday’s final.

The second is the women’s 100m backstroke held at 3:49 PM. This is where Missy Franklin might shine and Rachel Bootsma should also be in the field. The top eight will move on to Monday’s final.

The afternoon will end with the 4 PM final of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. It should be an incredibly fast race and will be very entertaining.

Swimming will be covered on tape delay from 11-11:45 AM and 1:30-2 PM (heats) and the afternoon session will be shown during primetime 7 PM-12 AM. All of it will be tape delayed.

Women’s 100m Backstroke – Rachel Bootsma finished 11th and Missy Franklin 2nd in both the heats and the semifinals. Bootsma did not move on to the final but Missy Franklin did advance to Monday’s final.
Men’s 200m Freestyle – Ricky Berens qualified 8th and Ryan Lochte 2nd for the semifinal. In the semifinals Lochte advanced in 5th position but Ricky Berens finished 9th, just missing Monday’s final.
Women’s 100m Breaststroke – Rebecca Soni and Breeja Larson went 2-4 in both the heats and the semifinals to advance easily to Monday’s final.
Men’s 100m Backstroke – Matt Grevers and Nick Thoman went 1-3 in the heats and 1-5 in the semifinals to qualify for Monday’s final.
Women’s 400m Freestyle – Chloe Sutton missed out on the final finishing 10th in the morning but Allison Schmitt qualified in 2nd. In the final Schimtt lost out on the gold but set an American record while grabbing the silver.
Men’s 4x100m Freestyle – After qualifying in 2nd the men’s team had the lead most of the way during the final but gave it up in the final 50m to lose the gold to the French. US settles for silver.
Women’s 100m Butterfly – In the final it was Claire Donahue in 7th, but the headlines belong to Dana Vollmer who finally smashed the world record and took home the gold medal.
Men’s 100m Breaststroke – After qualifying for the final in 8th Brendan Hansen swam an amazing race in what might be his final individual race to win the bronze and improving his time by .29 seconds over the semifinals.

Table Tennis

Ariel Hsing was able to advance in her first match of the day in the 2nd round, beating Ni Xialian of Luxembourg 11-9, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10. In the 3rd round she faced #2 Li Xiaoxia of China and really gave it a great fight before losing 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9.

All the singles are out for the US but the women’s team will start play against Japan on Friday.

Tennis

Only one match actually started for the US. Varvara Lepchenko took on Veronica Cepede Royg and won set 1 7-5 before losing set 2 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker). She will have to finish the match on Monday, the time unclear but probably sometime around 6:30 AM. All the other matches were rained out without beginning.

Volleyball

The US men won their first match against Serbia 25-17, 25-22, 25-21 but are only in 3rd in their group because Russia and Brazil had more dominant wins (point ratio). The US will next take on 5th place Germany on Tuesday.

Water Polo

The US water polo team won 8-7 over Montenegro on Sunday. They took a 4-2 lead to the half and hung on late to get the win. They are currently 3rd in their group by goal differential. They next face Romania on Tuesday. Romania currently leads the group.

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Olympic Review – July 28th

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Archery

The men’s team competition was a huge success for the US on Saturday. In the quarterfinals they fell behind Japan but rallied to win 220-219. Then in the semifinals they pulled off a huge upset as the Koreans faltered and the US took advantage to win 224-219. The clutch shooting down the stretch in the semifinal was amazing to watch.

In the final the US fell behind to Italy and rallied late to have a chance at winning. It came down to the final arrow and Italy hit a ten to win the gold medal 219-218. It was tough to lose the gold after knocking off Korea, but the silver was a good result for the US still.

Badminton

In badminton the US team of Howard Bach/Tony Gunawan lost their doubles match to Jae-sung/Yong-dae of Korea 21-14, 21-19. The result leaves the US team in 3rd in their group of four (top two advance).

The next badminton match is against Koo/Tan of Malaysia on Sunday.

Basketball

The US women’s basketball team won their first game against Croatia 81-56 and now is sitting atop the group thanks to the 25 point margin of victory.

The next basketball game is against Angola on Monday. Angola lost 72-50 to Turkey on Saturday and is 2nd to last in the group.

Beach Volleyball

In beach volleyball the pair of Josh Gibb/Sean Rosenthal defeated Chiya/Goldschmidt 21-10, 21-11 to start off their group stage. The pair of Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh had a much closer match but defeated Cook/Hinchley 21-18, 21-19 to start their group stage.

Gibb/Rosenthall next face Fijalek/Prudel of Poland while May-Treanor/Walsh face Kolocova/Slukova of the Czech Republic, both matches on Monday.

Boxing

In boxing Joseph Diaz Jr. started off his bout with Pavlo Ishchenko with an early lead and dominated throughout to win 19-9.  Later in the day the middleweight contender, Terrell Gausha took on Andranik Hakobyan. After a couple of rounds where Gausha was just behind Hakobyan he came out firing in the 3rd and with 10 seconds left took complete control knocking Hakobyan down twice and leading to the bout being stopped. Diaz Jr. advances to face Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba on Wednesday while Terrell Gausha will face Vijender Singh of India on Wednesday.

Cycling

In the men’s road race Taylor Phinney nearly got a medal as he finished in 4th. The rest of the competitors were back in the field. Timmy Duggan-88th, Tyler Farrar-33rd, Chris Horner-93rd, and Tejay van Garderen-104th.

Equestrian

In the 1st day of Equestrian Eventing Karen O’Connor was the top US competitor with a score or 48.2. Boyd Martin was next with a score of 50.7, and Tiana Courdray was after that with a score of 52. Those scores are on the better half of scores so far.

Fencing

In women’s individual foil the US saw Nzingha Prescod fall 15-10 to Aida Mohamed and Nicole Ross fall 15-8 to Ines Boubakri, both in the round of 32. Lee Kiefer knocked off Monica Patterson of Canada 15-10 in the round of 32 and Gil Ok Jung of Korea 15-13 in the round of 16. Kiefer lost to Arianna Errigo 15-10 in the quarterfinals.

Gymnastics

The US men had a great afternoon in gymnastics and qualified 1st for the team finals with a score of 275.342. Danell Leyva qualified for the individual all-around in 1st with a score of 91.265 while John Orozco was 4th with a score of 90.597. Four Americans made individual apparatus finals: Jake Dalton in floor, Jonathan Horton in horizontal bar, Danell Leyva in horizontal bar and Sam Mikulak in vault.

Rowing

In rowing the US had mixed success.
Men’s Single Sculls – Ken Jurkowski qualified for the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Men’s Pair – Tom Peszek/Silas Stafford failed to qualify for the semifinals and are in the repechage on Monday.
Men’s Lightweight Four – The crew failed to qualify for the semifinals and are in the repechage on Sunday.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls – The crew failed to qualify for the semifinals and are in the repechage on Monday.
Men’s Eight – The crew won their heat and qualified for the final on Wednesday.
Women’s Single Sculls – Generva Stone qualified for the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Women’s Pair – Sara Hendershot/Sarah Zelenka qualified for the final on Wednesday.
Women’s Quadruple Sculls – The crew failed to qualify for the final and are in the repechage on Monday.

Shooting

In the men’s 10m air pistol competition neither competitor made the final. Daryl Szarenski finished 23rd with 575 points and Jason Turner finished 34th with 569 points.

In the women’s 10m air rifle position both competitors finished with 397 points and qualified for the final. In the final Jamie Gray performed slightly better and finished 5th with a score of 499.7. Sarah Scherer finished 7th with a score of 499.

Soccer

The US dominated Colombia and won 3-0 behind goals by Rapinoe, Wambach, and Lloyd. This puts the US atop the group with six points and a goal differential of +5. The US has locked up a spot in the quarterfinals, but could still finish 2nd or 3rd in the group if North Korea beats them and France wins. Then it would come down to goal differential to rank the teams.

Next up is North Korea on Tuesday.

Swimming

Men’s 400m Individual Medley – Ryan Lochte grabbed the gold while Michael Phelps missed out on a medal in 4th.
Women’s 100m Butterfly – Dana Vollmer set an Olympic record in the heats and qualified first for the final. Claire Donahue qualified for the final in 5th.
Men’s 400m Freestyle – Peter Vanderkaay finished with the bronze medal while Conor Dwyer finished 5th.
Women’s 400m Individual Medley – Elizabeth Beisel set an American record while grabbing the silver, Caitlin Leverenz finished 6th.
Men’s 100m Breaststroke – Brendan Hansen grabbed the 8th qualifying spot for the final, Eric Shanteau didn’t advance to the final.
Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay – The US finished with the bronze medal.

Table Tennis

In table tennis Timothy Wang’s tournament ended in the preliminary round with a loss to Kim Song-Nam 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, 11-4. Lily Zhang lost her match in the 1st round to Cornelia Molnar 11-6, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5.

Ariel Hsing won her 1st round match over Yadira Silva 11-5, 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 and will face Ni Xialian of Luxembourg on Sunday in the 2nd round.

Tennis

Ryan Harrison – lost 7-5, 6-3 to Santiago Giraldo
John Isner – won 7-6, 6-4 over Olivier Rochus, will face Malek Jaziri next in round of 32
Donald Young – lost 6-4, 6-4 to Andreas Seppi
Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan – won 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 over Bellucci/Sa
Andy Roddick/John Isner – lost 6-2, 6-4 to Melo/Soares
Christina McHale – lost 6-4, 7-5 to Ana Ivanovic
Serena Williams – won 6-3, 6-1 over Jelena Jankovic, will face Urszula Radwanska next in round of 32

Volleyball

The US beat Korea 25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21. They are 2nd in the group behind China based off of points won ratio (1.338 to 1.159). They next face Brazil on Monday.

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Olympic Preview – July 29th

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Sunday’s competitions will start at 4 AM ET with the qualification rounds for the women’s skeet shooting and the women’s 10m air pistol shooting. It won’t wrap up until Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers wrap up their beach volleyball match that won’t start until 5 PM ET.

As always follow me on twitter for the most current information and coverage.  If you have any questions feel free to shoot them my way and I will attempt to help you!

It appears almost everything is available online at nbcolympics.com with the exception of the qualifying rounds for shooting.

All times mentioned from now on are ET.

Archery

The wommen’s team competition will take place on Sunday, and the US is in great position as the 2nd seeded team. The US won’t begin competition until the quarterfinals begin at 10 AM. In the quarterfinals the US will either take on #7 China or #10 Italy, depending on who wins the round of 16 matchup. If the US wins they will move on to the semifinals at 11:40 AM, likely against #3 Taipei. If the US were to lose in the semifinals they would play in the bronze medal match at 12:33 PM. If they were to win the semifinal they would play for gold at 1:01 PM.

The format will involve each team of three athletes shooting four sets of six arrows (two per person). Highest total over 24 arrows wins. The tiebreaker is a three-arrow sudden death shoot-off. If that is tied the closest arrow to the middle is the winner.

NBC Sports Network will show archery from 3:45 PM – 4:15 PM.

10 AM – Women’s Team Archery – Quarterfinals
11:40 AM – Women’s Team Archery – Semifinals
12:33 PM – Women’s Team Archery – Bronze Medal Match
1:01 PM – Women’s Team Archery – Gold Medal Match

Badminton

The US will see their badminton men’s doubles pair continue their tournament at 9:15 AM when Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan take on Koo/Tan of Malyasia. Koo/Tan won their match on Saturday so they are tied for first in the group while Bach/Gunawan are in 3rd. If they want to advance from the group this is probably a must-win match.

NBC Sports Network should have coverage from 1:50 to 2:15 PM.

9:15 AM – Men’s Badminton – Howard Bach/Tony Gunawan vs. Koo/Tan – Group Stage

Basketball

The US men’s basketball team will be starting their group stage on Sunday when they take on France in the first of five group stage games. France is a team with some NBA talent including Tony Parker. Unfortunately the 2nd group of “stars” is Boris Diaw and Ronny Turiaf. France just doesn’t seem to have the talent to hang with the US, so expect a pretty good US exhibition.

The match will be on NBC Sports Network and the special basketball channel from 9:30-11:45 AM. It will be replayed on the specialty channel from 1:30 to 3 PM.

9:30 AM – USA Men’s Basketball vs. France

Beach Volleyball

The 2nd day of beach volleyball will see April Ross/Jennifer Kessy get things going at 4 PM when they face Zonta/Galay of Argentina and Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers start their gold medal defense at 5 PM when they fave Asahi/Shiatroi of Japan. The US will hope to have a day as strong as Saturday when their pairs both won in two sets.

The beach volleyball matches are available on NBC, live, from 4 to 6 PM.

4 PM – Women’s Beach Volleyball – April Ross/Jennifer Kessy vs. Zonta/Gallay – Group Stage
5 PM – Men’s Beach Volleyball – Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers vs. Asahi/Shiratori – Group Stage

Boxing

In Lightweight boxing, US-boxer Jose Ramirez will start things off with a bout against Rachid Azzedine of France in the round of 32 at 4:30 PM. Then at 5 PM the welterweight fighter, Errol Spence, takes on Myke Ribeiro de Carvalho of Brazil in the round of 32. After a great day of boxing for the US on Saturday they will be looking to move two more boxers into the round of 16 on Sunday.

Boxing will be taking center stage on CNBC from 8:30 til 11:30 AM and from 3:30 to 6:30 PM. So both US matches will be available live on there.

4:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Lightweight – Jose Ramirez vs. Rachid Azzedine – Round of 32
5 PM – Men’s Boxing – Welterweight – Errol Spence vs. Myke Ribeiro de Carvalho – Round of 32

Canoeing

Canoeing will get started on Sunday with some slalom competition and the US has competitors in both of the events. In these events the 12 best combined times from the two heats advance. At 8:30 AM the C-1 heats will begin with Casey Eichfeld in the mix. He’ll have his first run at 8:42 AM and his 2nd run at 10:59 AM. At 9:30 AM the K-1 heats begin with Scott Parsons the US competitor. His first run is at 10:01 AM and his 2nd run will be at 12:18 PM.

Canoeing will be featured on NBC’s late night coverage from 12:35 PM to 1:35 AM Sunday night.

8:42 AM – Men’s Canoeing – Slalom – C-1 – Heats – Casey Eichfeld – Run 1
10:01 AM – Men’s Canoeing – Slalom – K-1 – Heats – Scott Parsons – Run 1
10:59 AM – Men’s Canoeing – Slalom – C-1 – Heats – Casey Eichfeld – Run 2
12:18 PM – Men’s Canoeing – Slalom – K-1 – Heats – Scott Parsons – Run 2

Cycling

The women’s road race will start at 5 AM in The Mall in London. Kristin Armstrong, Amber Neben, Shelley Olds, and Evelyn Stevens will be the competitors for the US. The race will be 140km (87 miles) long.

Cycling will be part of NBC’s coverage starting at 7 AM and finishing at 11 AM.

7 AM – Women’s Cycling – Road – Road Race

Diving

The diving competition gets underway with the women’s synchronized 3m springboard competition at 10 AM. With only eight competitors they will head straight to the final. Kelci Bryant/Abigail Johnston is the team for the US. There will be five rounds of diving with the highest total score being the winner.

NBC will be covering the diving tape-delayed during their primetime coverage from 7 PM to 12 PM.

10 AM – Women’s Diving – Synchronized 3m Springboard – Final

Equestrian

The equestrian competition continues on Saturday with the second day of the dressage portion of the eventing competition. The US will have Will Coleman going at 6:20 AM and Phillip Dutton going at 9:38 AM.

The dressage portion will involve scores between zero and ten for ten required elements. An average of the judges will be taken to give a score between zero and a hundred. The number of penalties is equal to 1.5 times the gap between the score and a perfect 100. The three best riders during the eventing competition will be combined to form the team score so we will begin to see how that comes together as well.

Equestrian coverage will be available on NBC Sports Network from 2:15-3 PM.

6:20 AM – Equestrian – Eventing – Dressage Day 2 – Will Coleman
9:38 AM – Equestrian – Eventing – Dressage Day 2 – Phillip Dutton

Fencing

The individual sabre competition is tomorrow and the US will start things off at 7:10 when James Williams faces Nikolay Kovalev and Daryl Homer faces Tiberiu Dolniceanu in the round of 32. Twenty minutes later Tim Morehouse gets his competition underway in a matchup with Veniamin Reshetnikov. The men will be hoping to advance through the competition which takes place in its entirety tomorrow. The starting times for the various rounds can be found below.

There is no scheduled fencing coverage on TV.

7:10 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – James Williams vs. Nikolay Kovalev – Round of 32
7:10 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Daryl Homer vs. Tiberiu Dolniceanu – Round of 32
7:30 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Tim Morehouse vs. Veniamin Reshetnikov – Round of 32
8:10 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Round of 16
9:10 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Quarterfinals
1 PM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Semifinals
1:50 PM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Bronze Medal Match
2:10 PM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Gold Medal Match

Field Hockey

The women’s field hockey competition starts tomorrow when the Americans face off in a tough starting match with the Germans tomorrow at 4:15 PM. The Americans have continued to grow their field hockey team, but a challenge like Germany will be a tough way to start the games.

This game will be live on NBC Sports Network from 4:15-5:45 PM.

4:15 PM – Women’s Field Hockey vs. Germany – Group Stage

Gymnastics

The US women have been placed into Subdivision 3 and will begin their round at 9:45 AM. Four of the five athletes will compete on each of the four apparatus. The top eight total team scores advance to the team final, the top 24 individual total scores advance to the individual all-around final (maximum of two per country), and the top eight on each apparatus advance to the individual apparatus final (maximum of two per country). The US will have no problem qualifying for the team final and Gabrielle Douglas and Jordyn Wieber should be the two in the individual-all around final. The apparatus final spots will be the most hotly contested.

The US gymnastics round will be part of NBC’s primetime coverage from 7 PM – 12 AM on tape delay.

9:45 AM – Women’s Artistic Gymnastics – Qualification – Subdivision 3

Rowing

Their will be only three events for the US in rowing on Sunday. First up at 4:40 AM the men’s lightweight four crew will face a repechage to try and grab one of three spots left in the semifinals. Their competitors will be Italy, Czech Republic, and Poland. Based off of the times from the heats, the US would not qualify as they were a full six seconds behind the 2nd-worst time. Expect a much much better performance tomorrow.

At 5:40 AM the women’s lightweight double sculls heats will begin with Kristin Hedstrom/Julie Nichols in heat 2. It appears only the top two will advance to the semifinals while the repechages will take the rest.

Finally at 6:50 AM the women’s eight heats will begin. The US is in heat 1 and should be a strong competitor. They will need to win their heat to advance directly to the final.

The rowing heats will be covered on tape delay from 3:40-4 PM on NBC.

4:40 AM – Men’s Rowing – Lightweight Four – Repechage
5:40 AM – Women’s Rowing – Lightweight Double Sculls – Heats
6:50 AM – Women’s Rowing – Eight – Heats

Sailing

Sailing will start on Sunday and the US has several teams who will begin. First at 7 AM Zach Railey will begin his quest in the finn competition with race 1 and will continue with race 2 at 8:40 AM. Next at 8:30 AM we will see Brian Faith and Mark Mendelblatt begin the star competition with race 1, followed by race 2 at 10:10 AM.

The final event of the day will be the first round robin race for Debbie Capozzi, Anna Tunnicliffe and Molly Vandemoer in the elliot 6m event. They will face off against a crew from Denmark at 10:35 AM.

NBC will not be covering any of the sailing on TV.

7 AM – Men’s Sailing – Finn – Race 1
8:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – Star – Race 1
8:40 AM – Men’s Sailing – Finn – Race 2
10:10 AM – Men’s Sailing – Star – Race 2
10:35 AM – Women’s Sailing – Elliott 6m – Denmark – Round Robin

Shooting

Two competitions will start and two champions will be crowned on Saturday when the women’s 10m air pistol and the women’s skeet competitions take place. Kimberly Rhode will be in the skeet competition while Sandra Uptagrafft is the competitor in the 10m air pistol.

The qualification round will involve 40 shots in the air pistol. Each shot is scored to a maximum of 10 and the top eight shooters move on to the final. In the final there are only 10 additional shots (these scored to a maximum of 10.9) and the score is added to the qualification score to provide the final score.

In the skeet competition the qualifier is three rounds of 25 shots with the top six moving on. The final will be another 25 shots with the top combined score being the winner. In skeet you either hit the target or you don’t.

The shooting will be covered from 1:30-1:50 on NBC Sports Network.

This is one event where the qualification rounds will not be shown online at all, just the final rounds.

4 AM – Women’s Shooting – Skeet – Qualification
4 AM – Women’s Shooting – 10m Air Pistol – Qualification
6:45 AM – Women’s Shooting – 10m Air Pistol – Final
9 AM – Women’s Shooting – Skeet – Final

Swimming

The swimming competition will be busy on Sunday with eight events going, four of them ending in medals.

First at 5 AM the women’s 100m backstroke will get us underway with Rachel Bootsma in heat 5 and Missy Franklin in heat 6. They will be looking to be in the top 16 to advance to the afternoon semifinals.

Next at 5:20 AM the men’s 200m freestyle will feature Ricky Berens and Ryan Lochte head-to-heat in heat 5 both just needing a top 16 spot to move on to the afternoon semifinals.

Then at 5:43 AM the women’s 100m breaststroke will start. American Breeja Larson is in heat 5, and American Rebecca Soni is in heat 6. Again in this competition all that is necessary is a top 16 for a spot in the afternoon semifinals.

A similar story is true at 6:03 AM when Nick Thoman in heat 4 and Matthew Grevers in heat 6 will look for the top 16 spots to advance to the afternoon semifinals in the men’s 100m backstroke.

Finally a more urgent race will take place at 6:23 AM when the women’s 400m freestyle heats take place. Chloe Sutton is in heat 3 and Allison Schmitt is in heat 5. Only the top eight move on to the afternoon final.

The morning session will end with the dazzling men’s 4x100m freestyle relays. The US is in heat 2 and will be looking to finish in the top eight to lock up a spot in the afternoon final.

In the afternoon at 2:30 PM the women’s 100m butterfly final will take place with Claire Donahue and Dana Vollmer both in the final. Vollmer has been dominant so far and is the gold medal favorite.

Next at 2:37 PM we’ll see the men’s 200m freestyle semifinals, likely featuring Ricky Berens and Ryan Lochte. The top eight will move on to the final on Monday.

Then at 2:50 PM we’ll see the women’s 100m breaststroke semifinals with Breeja Larson and Rebecca Soni the Americans in competition. The top eight will move on to the final on Monday.

At 3:11 PM we’ll see another final as the men’s 100m breaststroke will take place with American Brendan Hansen just squeaking into the field.

Next at 3:18 PM the women’s 400m freestyle final will start possibly featuring Americans Chloe Sutton and Allison Schmitt.

The first of 2 more semifinal events will start at 3:28 PM with the men’s 100m backstroke, Nick Thoman and Matthew Grevers the Americans vying for a top eight spot and a trip to Monday’s final.

The second is the women’s 100m backstroke held at 3:49 PM. This is where Missy Franklin might shine and Rachel Bootsma should also be in the field. The top eight will move on to Monday’s final.

The afternoon will end with the 4 PM final of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. It should be an incredibly fast race and will be very entertaining.

Swimming will be covered on tape delay from 11-11:45 AM and 1:30-2 PM (heats) and the afternoon session will be shown during primetime 7 PM-12 AM. All of it will be tape delayed.

5 AM – Women’s Swimming – 100m Backstroke – Heats
5:20 AM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Freestyle – Heats
5:43 AM – Women’s Swimming – 100m Breaststroke – Heats
6:03 AM – Men’s Swimming – 100m Backstroke – Heats
6:23 AM – Women’s Swimming – 400m Freestyle – Heats
6:56 AM – Men’s Swimming – 4x100m Freestyle – Heats
2:30 PM – Women’s Swimming – 100m Butterfly – Final
2:37 PM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Freestyle – Semifinals
2:50 PM – Women’s Swimming – 100m Breaststroke – Semifinals
3:11 PM – Men’s Swimming – 100m Breaststroke – Final
3:18 PM – Women’s Swimming – 400m Freestyle – Final
3:28 PM – Men’s Swimming – 100m Backstroke – Semifinals
3:49 PM – Women’s Swimming – 100m Backstroke – Semifinals
4 PM – Men’s Swimming – 4x100m Freestyle – Final

Table Tennis

The table tennis competition for the US is down to one individual, Ariel Hsing. She will have her 2nd round match against Xia Lian Ni of Luxembourg at 5 AM. If she wins that match she will face Li Xiaoxia of China in the 3rd round at 4 PM.

There will be no table tennis on TV on Sunday.

5 AM – Women’s Table Tennis – Singles – Ariel Hsing vs. Xia Lian Ni – 2nd Round
4 PM – Women’s Table Tennis – Singles – 3rd Round

Tennis

The first match of the day will feature Varvara Lepchenko taking on Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay in the round of 64 at 6:30 AM. Next up the final men’s singles player, Andy Roddick, will take on Martin Klizan of Slovakia in the round of 64 at 8:30 AM.

Then at 9 AM the women’s singles competition will feature Venus Williams taking on Sara Errani of Italy in the round of 64. Finally at 12:30 PM Venus Williams will be back on the court with Serena Williams in the doubles competition taking on Cristea/Halep of Romania in the round of 32.

Bravo is the home for tennis coverage and will be on live from 7 AM to 3 PM.

6:30 AM – Women’s Tennis – Singles – Varvara Lepchenko vs. Veronica Cepede Royg – Round of 64
8:30 AM – Men’s Tennis – Singles – Andy Roddick vs. Martin Klizan – Round of 64
9 AM – Women’s Tennis – Singles – Venus Williams vs. Sara Errani – Round of 64
12:30 PM – Women’s Tennis – Doubles – Venus and Serena Williams vs. Cirstea/Halep – Round of 32

Volleyball

The men’s US Volleyball team will start their group stage when they take on Serbia in their first game of the group stage. The US men are looking to defend their gold medal from Beijing.

The Volleyball match will be available live on NBC from 11:45 AM – 1:30 PM.

11:45 AM – USA Men’s Volleyball vs. Serbia

Water Polo

The US men will start their group stage with a match against Montenegro at 2:40 PM.

The game will be televised on NBC from 2:40-3:40 PM.

2:40 PM – USA Men’s Water Polo vs. Montenegro – Group Stage

Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Cycling, Daily Previews, Equestrian, Fencing, Gymnastics, London 2012, Olympics, Rowing, Shooting, Soccer, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball

Olympic Preview – July 28th

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As the first full day of the Olympics gets going there will be American athletes competing in events all over London.  The first athletes to start will be competing in women’s shooting at 3:15 AM ET and the last to start will be beach volleyball that won’t start until 6 PM ET, almost 15 hours later. We’ll go event by event to talk about what they will be doing.

As always follow me on twitter for the most current information and coverage.  If you have any questions feel free to shoot them my way and I will attempt to help you!

It appears almost everything is available online at nbcolympics.com with the exception of the qualifying rounds for shooting.

All times mentioned from now on are ET.

Archery

The men’s team competition will take place on Saturday. As the 4th seeded team the US won’t begin competition until the quarterfinals begin at 10 AM. In the quarterfinals the US will either take on #5 Japan or #12 India, depending on who wins the round of 16 matchup. If the US wins they will move on to the semifinals at 11:40 AM, likely against #1 South Korea. If the US were to lose in the semifinals they would play in the bronze medal match at 12:33 PM. If they were to win the semifinal they would play for gold at 1:01 PM.

The most likely outcome on Saturday for the US is winning in the quarterfinals, losing to an amazing Korean team in the semifinals, and then playing for the bronze against France or China.

The format will involve each team of three athletes shooting four sets of six arrows (two per person). Highest total over 24 arrows wins. The tiebreaker is a three-arrow sudden death shoot-off. If that is tied the closest arrow to the middle is the winner.

NBC Sports Network will show archery from 11:15 AM – 12 PM and then some more at 5:45 until 7 PM.

10 AM – Men’s Team – Quarterfinals
11:40 AM – Men’s Team – Semifinals
12:33 PM – Men’s Team – Bronze Medal Match
1:01 PM – Men’s Team – Gold Medal Match

Badminton

The US will see their badminton competitors get underway at 3:50 PM when Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan take on Jung Jage-sung and Lee Yong-dae of South Korea. Jae-sung/Yong-dae are the 2nd seed in the badminton tournament. The competition does begin with a group stage where the top two move on, so Bach/Gunawan will continue to have a chance even if they do suffer defeat.

MSNBC should have coverage from 4 to 4:30 PM.

3:50 PM – Howard Bach/Tony Gunawan vs. Jae-sung/Yong-dae – Group Stage

Basketball

The US women’s basketball team will be starting their group stage on Saturday as well when they take on Croatia in the first of five group stage games. Croatia is playing in their first Olympics after they finished 5th at the 2011 EuroBasket, their best ever finish. They should be an easy first win for the US as Croatia is ranked 31st in the world currently.

The match will be on NBC and the special basketball channel.

11:45 AM – Women’s Group Stage vs. Croatia

Beach Volleyball

The first competitors to get underway for the US will be Josh Gibb and Sean Rosenthal at 5 PM when they take on Chiya/Goldschmidt of South Africa. At 6 PM Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh will begin their quest for a 3rd straight gold medal when they take on Cook/Hinchley of Australia. The US teams are expected to win both of these matches.

The beach volleyball matches are available on NBC live (men’s match) and on tape delay in the evening (women’s match).

5 PM – Men’s Beach Volleyball – Josh Gibb/Sean Rosenthal vs. Chiya/Goldschmidt – Group Stage
6 PM – Women’s Beach Volleyball – Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh vs. Cook/Hinchley – Group Stage

Boxing

The draw is in for boxing. The US competitor in bantamweight, Joseph Diaz Jr., will start things off right away at 8:30 AM when he faces Pavlo Ishchenko of Ukraine.  Later in the day the middleweight contender, Terrell Gausha will take on Andranik Hakobyan of Armenia at 5:15 PM. Both competitors will be looking to move on to the round of 16 on next week.

Boxing will be taking center stage on CNBC from 8:30 til 11:30 and from 3:30 to 6:30.

8:30 AM – Men’s Bantamweight – Joseph Diaz Jr. vs. Pavlo Ishchenko – Round of 32
5:15 PM – Men’s Middleweight – Terrell Gausha vs. Andranik Hakobyan – Round of 32

Cycling

The men’s road race will start at 5 AM in The Mall in London. Timmy Duggan, Tyler Farrar. Chris Horner, Taylor Phinney and Tejay van Garderen will be the competitors for the US. Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins will be a part of the field and is expected to help push 2011 World Road Race Champion Mark Cavendish to a Great Britain gold. The race will be 250km (155.3 miles) long.

Cycling will be part of NBC’s coverage starting at 5 AM and finishing at 11 AM.

5 AM – Men’s Road Race

Equestrian

The equestrian competition gets started on Saturday at 5 AM when the first day of the dressage portion of the eventing competition begins. I don’t have any information on the order of riders, but the US will have Will Coleman, Riana Coudray, Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin, and Karen O’Connor participating. The dressage portion will involve scores between zero and ten for ten required elements. An average of the judges will be taken to give a score between zero and a hundred. The number of penalties is equal to 1.5 times the gap between the score and a perfect 100. The three best riders during the eventing competition will be combined to form the team score so we will begin to see how that comes together as well.

Equestrian coverage will be available on NBC Sports Network at 1:45 for an hour til 2:45.

5 AM – Eventing – Dressage Day 1

Fencing

Three fencers will see their Olympics begin on Saturday at 5:30 AM with the women’s individual foil competition taking place. Those three are Lee Kiefer, Nzingha Prescod, and Nicole Ross.  Their are only six matches in the round of 64, none of which will involve US competitors, so the US won’t see their day begin until 6:50 AM with the round of 32. We know that the Nzingha Prescod will be facing Aida Mohamed in the round of 32 at 7:20 AM and Nicole Ross will be facing Ines Boubakri at the same time. Lee Kiefer will take on the winner of Anna Bentley and Monica Peterson, the time is unclear at this point. The schedule for the further rounds are below. None of the US competitors would meet until the semifinals.  The earliest the the US competitors would face a medalists from last year’s World Fencing Championship is the quarterfinals (Nicole Ross and Nzingha Prescod) and the semifinals (Lee Kiefer).

Fencing will be covered from 9-9:30 and from 4:30-5 on MSNBC.

6:50 AM – Women’s Individual Foil – Round of 32
9:10 AM – Women’s Individual Foil – Round of 16
10:30 AM – Women’s Individual Foil – Quarterfinals
1 PM – Women’s Individual Foil – Semifinals
2:10 PM – Women’s Individual Foil – Bronze Medal Match
2:40 PM – Women’s Individual Foil – Gold Medal Match

Gymnastics

The US men have been placed into Subdivision 2 and will thus begin their round at 10:30 AM. Each of the five athletes will compete on each of the five apparatus. The top eight total team scores advance to the team final, the top 24 individual total scores advance to the individual all-around final (maximum of two per country), and the top eight on each apparatus advance to the individual apparatus final (maximum of two per country). The US will see fierce competition between the five gymnasts (Jake Dalton, Jonathan Horton, Danell Leyva, Sam Mikulak and John Orozco) for the two individual all-around final spots but should qualify for the team final with ease.

The US gymnastics round will be part of NBC’s primetime coverage on tape delay.

10:30 AM – Men’s Artistic – Qualification – Subdivision 2

Rowing

Eight of the US rowing teams will start their competition on Saturday when they compete in the heats for their events.

Things will get under way at 4:30 AM when the women’s pair competition begins. Sara Hendershot/Sarah Zelenka will be in heat 1. The best boats in that heat will qualify for the final on Wednesday while the rest will compete in a repechage on Monday.

At 4:50 AM the women’s quadruple sculls begins and the US will be in heat 1. The same scenario of only the best boats reaching the final automatically and the others competing on Monday is in play here.

In men’s eight, which starts at 5:10, the US is in heat 1 and will again face the same format as the other rowers on Saturday.

In men’s lightweight four we finally see more than two heats!  The US is once again in the first heat at 6 AM but the format is a little different. The top three boats qualify for the semifinals on Tuesday while the bottom two in the US heat will take part in the repechage on Sunday.

The men’s quadruple sculls teams will start at 6:30 AM and is in heat 1 facing the same scenario as the lightweight four team, with the repechage being on Monday and the semifinal on Wednesday.

The men’s pair team of Thomas Peszek/Silas Stafford will start at 7 AM and feature the same format as the previous event. The difference is that the pair’s team is in heat 2 which only has four competitors, so only one will be sent to the repechage instead of two.

In men’s single sculls, at 7:30 AM, Ken Jurkowski will be one of 33 competitors, so the event is quite different! Jurkowski is in heat 6 of the event and will need to finish in the top four of five to move on to the quarterfinals on Tuesday. If he finishes 5th he would head to either semifinals E/F which are used to seed finals E and F for determining placement way down the line or a repechage for a 2nd chance at the quarterfinals. The Olympic site indicates the later, but the numbers don’t make any sense for how it would work so I’m leaning towards the former. Hopefully it doesn’t matter!

Finally in women’s single sculls at 8:30 AM heat 5 will feature Gevvie Stone. In this event it seems the top four will move on to the quarterfinals on Tuesday while a couple repechages will be held on Sunday for the eight boats who don’t qualify from the heats directly.

The rowing heats will be covered on tape delay from 2:30 to 3 on NBC.

4:30 AM – Women’s Pair – Heats
4:50 AM – Women’s Quadruple Sculls – Heats
5:10 AM – Men’s Eight – Heats
6 AM – Men’s Lightweight Four – Heats
6:30 AM – Men’s Quadruple Sculls – Heats
7 AM – Men’s Pair – Heats
7:30 AM – Men’s Single Sculls – Heats
8:30 AM – Women’s Single Sculls – Heats

Shooting

Two competitions will start and two champions will be crowned on Saturday when the women’s 10m air rifle and the men’s 10m air pistol competitions take place. Daryl Szarenski and Jason Turner will take part in the 10m air pistol competition while Jamie Gray and Sarah Scherer take part in the 10m air rifle event. The qualification round will involved 60 shots in the air pistol and 40 in the air rifle. Each shot is scored to a maximum of 10 and the top 8 shooters move on to the final.

In the final there are only 10 additional shots (these scored to a maximum of 10.9) and the score is added to the qualification score to provide the final score.

The shooting will be covered from 6-6:45 on NBC Sports Network.

I don’t think the qualification rounds will be shown online at all, just the final rounds.

3:15 AM – Women’s 10m Air Rifle – Qualification
6 AM – Women’s 10m Air Rifle – Final
7 AM – Men’s 10m Air Pistol – Qualification
10:30 AM – Men’s 10m Air Pistol – Final

Soccer

After a successful start to their Olympic campaign, the US women will look to solidify their position atop Group G when they take on Colombia Saturday. A win by the US, which is expected, would likely lock them into the quarterfinals and move them one step closer to winning Group G and avoiding a potential matchup with Japan in the quarterfinals.

The soccer game will be available at noon on both the NBC Sports Network and the special soccer channel.

12 PM – Women’s Group Stage vs. Colombia

Swimming

The swimming competition gets off to a quick start on Saturday as six events get underway and four medals are awarded.

Starting at 5 AM, we will see the 400m Individual Medley heats. Michael Phelps will be in heat 4, Ryan Lochte in heat 5. The top eight swimmers by time from the heats will move on to the final later in the day.

Next at 5:26 AM the women’s 100m butterfly heats get going with both Claire Donahue and Dana Vollmer in heat 6. The top 16 qualify for the semifinals later in the day.

At 5:47 AM the men’s 400m freestyle begins with Conor Dwyer and Peter Vanderkaay both in heat 4. In this even the top eight will move on to the final held later in the day.

Then at 6:17 AM the women’s 400m individual medley begins and Caitlin Leverenz will hit the pool first in heat 4 followed by Elizabeth Beisel in heat 5.  Once again the top eight move on to the final later in the day.

Next at 6:52 AM the men’s 100m breaststroke gets underway with Brendan Hansen in heat 4 and Eric Shanteau in heat 5. The top 16 will move on to the semifinals held later in the day.

The morning session ends at 7:16 AM when the 4x100m freestyle relay team will take the pool featuring a combination of Natalie Coughlin, Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal, Allison Schmitt, and Amanda Weir. The US will be in heat 1 and once again the top eight move on to the final later in the day.

At 2:30 PM, we will see our first medal awarded with the 400m Individual Medley final. Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are expected to go head-to-head for the gold.

Next at 2:40 PM the women’s 100m butterfly semifinals get going with both Claire Donahue and Dana Vollmer likely involved. The top eight will move on to Sunday’s final.

At 2:49 PM the men’s 400m freestyle final begins with Conor Dwyer and Peter Vanderkaay both in contention.

Then at 3:09 PM the women’s 400m individual medley final begins. Caitlin Leverenz and Elizabeth Beisel are the two US competitors going for the gold in this event

Next at 3:30 PM the men’s 100m breaststroke semifinals gets underway with Brendan Hansen and Eric Shanteau likely competing. The top eight times qualify for Sunday’s final.

The first day will end at 3:50 PM when the 4x100m freestyle relay team will hope to swim for gold featuring a combination of Natalie Coughlin, Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal, Allison Schmitt, and Amanda Weir. The US will be in heat 1 and once again the top eight move on to the final later in the day.

Swimming will be covered on tape delay from 1:30 to 2:30 (heats) and the afternoon session will be shown during primetime. All of it will be tape delayed.

5 AM – Men’s 400m Individual Medley – Heats
5:26 AM – Women’s 100m Butterfly – Heats
5:47 AM – Men’s 400m Freestyle – Heats
6:17 AM – Women’s 400m Individual Medley – Heats
6:52 AM – Men’s 100m Breaststroke – Heats
7:16 AM – Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay – Heats
2:30 PM – Men’s 400m Individual Medley – Final
2:40 PM – Women’s 100m Butterfly – Semifinals
2:49 PM – Men’s 400m Freestyle – Final
3:09 PM – Women’s 400m Individual Medley – Final
3:30 PM – Men’s 100m Breaststroke – Semifinals
3:50 PM – Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay – Final

Table Tennis

The table tennis competition will start early for the US as Timothy Wang has to play a preliminary round match at 5:30 AM to stay in the competition. Wang will be facing Kim Song Nam of North Korea. If Timothy Wang wins his preliminary round match he will play Lin Ju of the Dominican Republic in the 1st round. Lily Zhang will star her run in the women’s singles competition when she faces Molnar Cornelia of Croatia at 6:15 AM. Finally Ariel Hsing will start her competition at 10:15 AM against Silva Yadira of Mexico. It appears if Zhang wins she would face #25 Kim John Jing of North Korea. If Hsing wins she would face #19 Ni Xialian of Luxembourg in the 2nd round.

NBC Sports Network should have the Wang match live during their coverage from 5 AM to 6 AM.

5:30 AM – Timothy Wang vs. Kim Song Nam – Preliminary Round
6:15 AM – Lily Zhang vs. Molnar Cornelia – 1st Round
10:15 AM – Ariel Hsing vs. Silva Yadira – 1st Round
1:45 PM – Timothy Wang vs. Lin Ju – 1st Round (ONLY IF WINS FIRST MATCH OF DAY)
3:30 PM – Women’s Singles – 2nd Round

Tennis

The US will see three of their four men’s singles competitors get underway on Saturday. Ryan Harrison will be the first at 6:30 AM when he starts against Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo.  Next up will be John Isner at 8:30 AM when he takes on Belarus’ Olivier Rochus. Finally Donald Young will start at 10:30 AM against Italy’s Andreas Seppi.

Two of the four women’s singles competitors will play on Saturday starting with Christina McHale at 6:30 AM against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. The other woman to start will be Serena Williams who will also take on a competitor from Serbia, Jelena Jankovic, at 9 AM

None of the US women’s doubles teams will take part in the competition on Saturday, but both of the US men’s teams will. Bob and Mike Bryan will get things underway at 12:30 PM when they start things off with a match against Bellucci/Sa of Brazil. John Isner and Andy Roddick will continue things at 2:30 PM when they face off against another Brazilian duo, Melo/Soares.

Bravo is the home for tennis coverage and will be on live from 7 AM to 3 PM.

6:30 AM – Ryan Harrison vs. Santiago Giraldo – Round of 64
6:30 AM – Christina McHale vs. Ana Ivanovic – Round of 64
8:30 AM – John Isner vs. Olivier Rochus – Round of 64
9 AM – Serena Williams vs. Jelena Jankovic – Round of 64
10:30 AM – Donald Young vs. Andreas Seppi – Round of 64
12:30 PM – Bob Bryan/Mike Brayn vs. Bellucci/Sa – Round of 32
2:30 PM – John Isner/Andy Roddick vs. Melo/Soares – Round of 32

Volleyball

Finally the US Volleyball team will start their group stage when they take on South Korea. South Korea is back at the Olympics after missing out on Beijing. They have finished outside of the top ten at the last two Volleyball World Championships, so the US should be expected to win.

The Volleyball match will be available live on NBC from 3 PM to 5 PM.

3 PM – Women’s Group Stage vs. South Korea

London 2012, Modern Pentathlon, Olympic Previews, Olympics

Modern Pentathlon Preview

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Modern Pentathlon is one of the more interesting sports in the Olympics. It combines shooting, fencing, swimming, horseback riding and running. The first time it was contested was 1912 and a women’s event was added in 2000.  The US has never won a gold in the modern pentathlon but has won nine medals. The last medal by the US was a women’s silver in Sydney. Before that you have to go back to 1960 to find the last time the US won a men’s medal.

The Team:

This year’s team is made up of three athletes, only one of whom is returning from Beijing.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

USA Modern Pentathlon
Men:
Dennis Bowsher

Women:
Margaux Isaksen*
Suzanne Stettinius
** – Was on team in 2004 & 2008

Schedule:

The format has changed slightly for this year which will make the finish a little more confusing. After fencing, swimming and riding (a horse which is not your own) the shooting and running will be combined into one event. There is now no score on the shooting, just a requirement to hit five targets in a 70s period. The start of the running is staggered so that the scores are such that the first runner to finish the race will win the competition.

All Times ET
Saturday August 11th
3:45 AM – Men’s Modern Pentathlon – Fencing
8:20 AM – Men’s Modern Pentathlon – Swimming
10:20 AM – Men’s Modern Pentathlon – Riding
1:45 PM – Men’s Modern Pentathlon – Combined (Run/Shoot)

Sunday August 12th
3 AM – Women’s Modern Pentathlon – Fencing
7:35 AM – Women’s Modern Pentathlon – Swimming
9:35 AM – Women’s Modern Pentathlon – Riding
1 PM – Women’s Modern Pentathlon – Combined (Run/Shoot)

Past Results:

Margaux Isaksen is the only returning competitor for the US from Beijing. In Beijing she started off slowly in the shooting and fencing competitions before improving as the competition went on to finish 21st. Isaksen did improve upon that performance by finishing 11th at the 2011 World Championships. The best finish by any American in Beijing was 18th and the best finish by any American in Athens was 9th.

Archery, Daily Olympic Reviews, London 2012, Olympics

Olympic Review – July 27th

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The only event today was the archery ranking rounds, where both the US men’s and women’s teams competed to seed themselves for the team competitions in addition to forming the individual seedings for those competitions.

The US men went first and posted a very solid score of 2019, good enough for a tie for 3rd. Unfortunately the US lost the tiebreaker on bullseyes and thus will be the 4th seed for the men’s team tournament tomorrow. On the positive side of things the US still gets a bye to the quarterfinals and will face the winner of #5 Japan/#12 India. On the negative side of things, the 4th spot means a semifinal matchup with #1 South Korea looks likely. South Korea was incredible today blowing away the world record of 2069 by scoring a 2087. It will take a big effort by the Americans tomorrow to have a chance to knock them off.  The US was really close to 2nd and 3rd (obviously) so a medal is a definite possibility.

Individually Brady Ellison led the way with 676 in 10th place. Jacob Wukie finished in 12th with 673 and Jake Kaminksi was 18th with 670.  All are very respectable scores and leaves most of them with real chances to reach the top 16. Kaminski will have to beat one of the Koreans if they advance (who finished 1-2-3) in the round of 16, but the other two will avoid them until the quarterfinals (Ellison) or the semifinals (Wukie). Wukie’s draw in particular is appealing.  He would only have to upset two competitors who finished 5 and 6 points ahead of him to get to the semifinals and earn a medal shot.

The round of 64 and 32 will be held on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Here are the round of 64 matchups and the likely round of 32 opponents.
Round of 64:
#10 Brady Ellison – #55 Mark Javier (Philippines)
#12 Jacob Wukie – #53 Jayanta Talukdar (India)
#18 Jake Kaminski – #47 Dan Olaru (Moldova)

Likely round of 32:
#10 Brady Ellison – #23 Taylor Worth (Australia)
#12 Jacob Wukie – #21 Bard Nesteng (Norway)
#18 Jake Kaminski – #15 Yu Ishizu (Japan)

As for the women, they actually had better results than the men! The women’s team came back late to finish 2nd with a score of 1979, giving them both the round of 16 bye and a path to the final that doesn’t involve facing Korea. The US will face the winner of #7 China/#10 Italy in the quarterfinals and then likely #3 Chinese Taipei in the semifinals.

As for the individuals the top score for the US belongs to Khatuna Lorig who put up a fantastic 669, just two points off of the lead and good for 4th place. Lorig can definitely shoot with the top competitors and is a big threat to medal. Miranda Leek and Jennifer Nichols went 14-15 with scores of 656 and 654 respectively. The only downside to their finish is those positions will force them to have likely round of 16 battles with the 2nd and 3rd place finishers instead of having those matchups in the quarterfinals. The good news is they are in different sections than each other and in a different section than Lorig. If they were going to medal they probably needed to defeat those competitors at some point, so why not in the round of 16!

The round of 64 and 32 will be held on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Here are the round of 64 matchups and the likely round of 32 opponents.
Round of 64:
#4 Khatuna Lorig – #61 Sherab Zam (Bhutan)
#14 Miranda Leek – #51 Kateryna Palekha (Ukraine)
#15 Jennifer Nichols – #50 Chekrovolu Swuro (India)

Likely round of 32:
#4 Khatuna Lorig – #29 Marie-Pier Beaudet (Canada)
#14 Miranda Leek – #19 Pia Lionetti (Italy)
#15 Jennifer Nichols – #18 Bishindee Urantungalag (Mongolia)