Olympic Preview – July 29th

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.

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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

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