The US nearly matched their five gold medals from the first three days of the Olympics on Tuesday as some of the biggest names on the team – Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps, and Ryan Lochte all added a gold medal to their resumes. There was the first silver medalist in men’s just since 1992 and the oldest member of the US team won a bronze medal in equestrian at the young age of 52.
August 9th Recap:
Archery
The US had two men’s archers headed for a round of 32 matchup on Tuesday and that’s exactly what we got. Jake Kaminski defeated Marcus D’almeida in the round of 64 by a 6-2 score (28-23, 26-28, 29-28, 29-26) while teammate Brady Ellison swept Ali Elghrari 6-0 (29-27, 30-26, 30-23) setting up a round of 32 showdown. Ellison continued to fire well in in the round of 32 beating his teammate 6-2 (27-26, 27-29, 30-25, 29-28) to move into the round of 16. His opponent is not yet known but it’ll be 9:31 AM on Friday for the round of 16.
Beach Volleyball
Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena went to 2-0 in Rio after defeating Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen 21-14, 21-17. They still haven’t locked up a round of 16 spot but they look great going into their final pool match at 3:30 PM on Thursday. It’s not going as well for Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat who lost 16-21, 13-21 to Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca. The good news is they face the other 0-2 team in the group at 2:30 PM Thursday to wrap things up so a win there and they will be in the lucky losers round at worst.
Boxing
Mixed day for the US boxers as they suffered their first lost in Rio but also had their second boxer make the quarterfinals. On the good side Carlos Balderas defeated Daisuke Narimatsu 3-0 in the lightweight round of 16. Balderas now takes on a talented Cuban in Lazaro Alvarez in the quarterfinals on Friday at 11:30 AM. The first US boxer to lose in Rio was Charles Conwell who was knocked out of the middleweight division 3-0 by Vikas Yadav.
Canoe
Casey Eichfeld was able to reach the C1 slalom final after posting the tenth fastest time in the semifinals Tuesday afternoon, in by just 0.09 seconds. He went faster in the final but finished seventh as four penalty points cost him a medal. He still has the C2 slalom semifinals on Thursday with Devin McEwan at 11:30 AM.
Diving
The US women’s synchronized 10m platform diving duo of Amy Cozad and Jessica Parratto weren’t able to contend for a medal on Tuesday. Most of their dives were in the bottom two of each round until posting the fourth best in the final round but it was too late as they finished seventh.
Equestrian
Phillip Dutton and Boyd Martin were the only riders left for the US on the final day of eventing after the team was eliminated on Monday. Dutton took just one penalty point to sit in fourth going into the jumping final while Martin took eight and was out of medal contention in seventh. In the jumping final Martin took 12 more penalty points and finished 16th. Dutton thought he might have cost himself a shot at a medal with four more penalty points but the third place rider entering the final ended up eight and Dutton slid up to bronze!
Fencing
It was a quick fencing day on Tuesday as Jason Pryor lost his epee opener in the round of 32 to Benjamin Steffen 14-15.
Gymnastics
The US women just dominated in the team final on Tuesday blowing away their competition to easily win gold. The US scored 184.897 points. Russia scored 176.688. The margin was a remarkable 0.684 points per routine. The US was not perfect but they never needed to be, all that was required was decent routines and they far exceeded that.
Judo
Travis Stevens started the day a bit slow in the men’s 81kg competition before picking up speed as the match went on. Robin Pacek nearly took out Stevens in the opener but managed to get a yuko to provide some separation and win the match in the round of 32. In the round of 16 against Shakhzodbek Sabirov he started a streak of winning by ippon that carried over to his quarterfinal against Ivaylo Ivanov and the semifinals against Avtandil Tchrikishvili. Stevens was countered in the gold medal match and before you knew it Khasan Khalmurzaev had won gold with an ippon over Stevens. Still a great day for the American who takes home a silver.
Rowing
Five American boats were in the water on Tuesday and the two men’s boats fell into the final B while the three women’s boats advanced to the final A. Gevvie Stone won her quarterfinals heat in the women’s single sculls and moved into the semifinals on Thursday at 8:30/8:40 AM. It was also smooth rowing for Kate Bertko and Devery Karz in the women’s lightweight double sculls repechage as they won that race to grab one of the two final spots in the semifinals at 8 AM on Wednesday. Meghan O’Leary and Ellen Tomek were in probably the closest race of their lives in the women’s doubles sculls semifinals as they grabbed the last spot in Thursday’s 9:04 AM final by 0.05 seconds as they finished third in their heat. The finish was so close the production crew for the international video feed initially showed New Zealand in ahead of them until the official times were released.
Falling into the final B in the men’s pair were Nareg Guregian and Anders Weiss. The duo was fifth in their heat and will now row for seventh place on Thursday at 7:50 AM. Anthony Fahden, Edward King, Tyler Nase, and Robin Prendes were closer to advancing in the men’s lightweight four but finished fourth in their heat and will be in the final B on Thursday at 8 AM in that event.
Rugby Sevens
Much like the US women the men came out and didn’t do what they needed to in the opening match in Rio. The US fell behind Argentina 12-0 before making a comeback as Argentina picked up multiple yellow cards resulting in a 7-on-5 for a bit for the US. The first try came on a penalty try with the second from Danny Barrett. Converting both the US led 14-12 until a try from Argentina with time expired gave them a 17-14 win and put the US in a tough position to try and finish higher than third.
In the second US match against easier Brazilian opposition the US looked better and defeated the host country 26-0. Tries from Folau Niua, Nate Ebner, Carlin Isles, and Maka Unufe. With the final group match against Fiji on Wednesday at 12:30 PM the US really is up against it. They need to defeat the always tough Fijians or their medal hopes will depend on results in the other groups going the way of the US.
Sailing
Caleb Paine started his Olympics on Tuesday with two races in the men’s finn class. Paine went seventh and tenth and sits eighth after the first two races. Races three and four scheduled for 12:05 PM Wednesday. Paige Railey had a ninth place finish in the third women’s laser before her worst result so far, a 21st place finish in the fourth. Railey dropped from sixth to tenth overall with the fifth and sixth races schedule for 12:15 PM on Wednesday. Charlie Buckingham had a decent day finishing tenth and then 22nd in the third and fourth men’s laser races. Buckingham dropped four spots though to 16th ahead of the fifth and sixth races scheduled for 12:05 PM on Wednesday.
In the women’s RS:X races Marion Lepert went 13, 11.8, and her worst result so far in 23rd. Lepert dropped a spot to tenth overall with races seven, eight, and nine Thursday at 12:15 PM. Pedro Pascual has been pretty consistent in the men’s RS:X as he went 28-DNF-28 on Tuesday and dropped two spots to 30th overall. Races seven, eight, and nine will be Thursday at 12:05 PM.
Shooting
Enkelejda Shehu competed in the women’s 25m pistol on Tuesday. She posted scores of 285 in the precision stage and a 282 in the rapid fire stage. Her total of 567 in the qualifying event was 33rd best and 15 behind the final qualifiers.
Soccer
The US women were unable to win an Olympic game for the first time in 14 tries as Colombia scored right at the end of regulation to draw the US 2-2. It was two of the youngest members of the US team that scored, Crystal Dunn and Mallory Pugh. The draw was enough for the US to win their group and they are matched up with Sweden in the quarterfinals. The US and Sweden haven’t met in the Olympics since 1996’s group stage but will reunite for a knockout round opener at 12 PM on Friday.
Swimming
It was another phenomenal day in the pool for the US as they won three golds, four medals in total, and all six of their swimmers advanced from Tuesday heats to Wednesday night’s final. It’s 14 straight events now that the US had medaled in at the pool in Rio.
The US started their finals evening with a gold from Katie Ledecky in the women’s 200m freestyle as she won a race to wall by a quarter second. With two golds already in Rio and the 800m freestyle to come Ledecky’s reign as the freestyle queen of the world looks to be continuing. Of course Ledecky’s dominance is still nothing compared to that of Michael Phelps. The most decorated swimmer of all-time added one more individual gold as he out touched his opposition by just four hundredths of a second to take gold medal #20 and become the oldest swimmer to ever win an Olympic medal. The US closed out the individual finals on Tuesday night with Maya DiRado taking home the bronze in the 200m individual medley. The top two pulled away in this one and DiRado actually found herself holding off teammate Mel Margalis for third. The US grabbed a third gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay as Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas, Ryan Lochte, and Michael Phelps delivered a dominating performance that saw no one come close to topping the Americans. Clark Smith, Jack Conger, and Gunnar Bentz went in the heats and also won gold medals in the event.
Advancing for the US to Wednesday night’s finals were Caeleb Dressel and Nathan Adrian in the men’s 100m freestyle final. It was quite the day for Adrian who was the last one to qualify for the semifinals placing 16th and only getting in by three hundredths of a second but then turned around and posted the top semifinal time. Dressel was more consistent going second in the heats but fifth in the semifinals. They’ll swim for gold at 10:03 PM Wednesday. Sweating it out in the evening was Cammille Adams in the women’s 200m butterfly as she was second in the heats in the afternoon but fourth in the first heat of the semifinals and ended up eighth overall, safe by 0.11 seconds. Hali Flickinger matched Adams to the second in the afternoon heats as they tied for second but was safer in the evening as she placed sixth. Adams and Flickinger will be in the final on Wednesday night at 9:54 PM. Not really sweating it out at all were Kevin Cordes and Josh Prenot in the men’s 200m breaststroke. Cordes went seventh in the heats, fifth in the semifinals while Prenot went tenth in the heats and third in the semifinals. Both easily into the 9:03 PM final that will kick off Wednesday night in the pool for the US.
Tennis
Other than Serena Williams losing her round of 16 singles match things went well for the US on Tuesday in tennis. Obviously Williams losing was a shocking development and as the gold medal favorite the US suffered a big loss with her elimination. Williams lost to Ekaterina Svitolina 4-6, 3-6 to cap off a disappointing time in Rio. The US still has a shot at medaling in women’s singles as Madison Keys dispatched Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in another fantastic match in Rio. Keys is now facing Daria Kasatkina on Wednesday in the quarterfinals and will be favored in that matchup.
On the men’s side Steve Johnson was strong again as he won 6-3, 6-4 over Gastao Elias in the round of 32. He’ll face sub-100 player Evgeny Donskoy in the round of 16 and be favored to reach the quarterfinals. He was actually 2-0 on the day and only played four sets as he teamed up with Jack Sock to sweep Roberto Bautista Agut/David Ferrer 6-4, 6-2. They face Florin Mergea/Horja Tecau in the quarterfinals on Wednesday and win or lose will have one more match in Rio.
Volleyball
The US men are in real trouble now at 0-2 in the group stage after losing to Italy 26-28, 25-20, 23-25, 23-25 on Tuesday. Four of the six group teams will advance so the US can still get there but the path is getting quite narrow. With Brazil next at 9:35 PM on Thursday the US will do this the hardway if they advance at all.
Water Polo
The US women opened pool play 1-0 after a dominant 11-4 win over Spain. These two had just met in the World League final so it was a big statement to win so easily in Rio. All four teams advance from the group but the US would still like to place first. China is up next on Thursday at 10:40 AM.
August 10th Preview:
All times ET!! All events should be available online via NBC’s Olympic website and apps (assuming a cable package that gives you access). What is live in ET/CT is often tape delayed in MT/PT. Yell at NBC for their ridiculous decision to tape delay an Olympics happening one hour east of ET, it’s insane. Schedules of competition and of course TV coverage subject to change, especially if the US competitors unexpectedly advance in a competition.
Archery
The last US archer to begin the individual round is Zach Garrett. Garrett opens with Haziq Kamaruddin at 3:18 PM and will go again at 4:10 PM if he wins. Two wins and he’ll get to face teammate Brady Ellison in the round of 16 on Friday.
It looks like the US matches should be shown LIVE on NBCSN.
Beach Volleyball
Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson face Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera in their final pool match at 10 AM. All the teams in the group are 1-1 so the winner is through to the round of 16 while the loser may still be alive but nothing is certain until the scores are in. The other pool match is immediately after this one so the loser might not know for another hour if they advance. On the women’s side April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings are 2-0 and take on 1-1 Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre in their final pool match. At worst the Americans would be in the lucky loser round with a loss so they’ll have at least one more in Rio. This match is earlier than their first two at 8 PM and comes after the other match in the pool so they will know if they can still win the pool with a loss when the match starts.
NBC plans to carry both matches LIVE but with Ross and Walsh Jennings playing at the start of the primetime window it’ll be interesting to see if they do carry it all should an American gymnast medal in the individual all-around.
Basketball
The two USA basketball teams only competition in Rio so far has been who can blow their opponent out by more. They’ll both play back-to-back on Wednesday with the women facing 0-2 Serbia at 2:30 PM and the men facing 2-0 Australia at 6 PM. Obviously the men would expect the stiffer test in those matchups but realistically no one expects a game under 20 points.
NBCSN will have both games LIVE.
Boxing
The first boxing match on Wednesday is Nico Hernandez fighting for a medal in the men’s light flyweight divison. 2-0 in Rio so far Hernandez would clinch a medal with a win as both semifinalists who lose are awarded bronze medals in boxing. Carlos Quipo is the opponent for Hernandez at 4:15 PM. Just getting started in Rio will be Gary Russell, no not *that* Gary Russell (the world champion professional who was on the Olympic team in 2008). This is Gary Antuanne Russell, the younger brother of the aforementioned Gary Russell Jr. He actually is one of five brothers and they are all named Gary. Russell will face Richardson Hitchins in the light welterweight round of 32 at 5:15 PM.
NBCSN will have tape delayed boxing coverage between 8 and 9 PM.
Canoe
Michal Smolen will compete in the K1 slalom semifinals on Wednesday as he is a serious medal threat. Smolen goes sixth in the semifinals at 12:45 PM and will make the final at 2:15 PM if he can finish in the top 10 of the semifinal.
NBC will have delayed coverage of the final on between 3:45 and 5 PM.
Cycling
We’ll see the cyclists back competing on Wednesday for the first time since the road races that started Rio as the road time trials are held. The women will go first with just 25 riders entered in the field that will travel the 18.5 mile course. Evelyn Stevens goes first for the US at 7:58 AM, the fifth to last rider to go, while Kristin Armstrong is the favorite and goes for gold at 8:06 AM to wrap up the event. The men face a 33.9 mile course and will go in two groups. Brent Bookwalter goes in the first group at 9:19 AM while Taylor Phinney is the sixth to last of 37 riders to go at 10:33 AM.
NBCSN will be your home for LIVE cycling coverage as both races are shown between 7:30 AM and 12 PM.
Diving
The US men’s synchronized 3m springboard diving duo of Sam Dorman and Michael Hixon will try to match their 10m teammates performance from Monday in the 3 PM final. There are six rounds of diving in this competition.
You’ll see the diving delayed in the late night on NBC between 12:35 and 1 AM on Thursday.
Equestrian
The individual and team dressage competitions begin on Wednesday with the Grand Prix Qualification round. Alison Brock competes for the US at 10:45 AM with Kasey Perry-Glass going at 2:24 PM.
Equestrian will be covered on delay on USA between 3 and 5 PM.
Fencing
Wednesday is the busiest day for individual fencers with the two disciplines that don’t have a team event in Rio taking place. Nzingha Prescod opens things at 8:10 AM against Nataly Michel in the round of 32 of women’s foil with Lee Kiefer following at 9:25 AM against Mona Shaito. The round of 16 and quarterfinals are completed in the morning before the semifinals pick back up in the early evening. In between will be the men’s sabre competition. Eli Dershwitz takes on Seppe Van Holsbeke while Daryl Homer faces Ilya Mokretcov. Both matches are at 12:05 PM. Like the women the men would complete the round of 16 and quarterfinals before taking a break until the semifinals in the early evening.
USA will have some LIVE coverage of the fencing between 9 AM and 12 PM, NBCSN has tape delayed coverage between 12 and 2:30 PM, CNBC will have live coverage of the finals on the women’s side with the men’s finals delayed on NBCSN between 8 and 9 PM.
Field Hockey
After starting the Olympics 2-0 the US can lock up a quarterfinal berth in just their third group stage match as they take on Japan at 4 PM. Japan drew their opener 2-2 with India and in their latest game lost 4-0 to the Argentina team the US beat 2-1 in the opener.
NBCSN will have LIVE coverage of the field hockey match after the women’s basketball game ends.
Gymnastics
After competing as a team the first four days it’s time for the US gymnasts to start competing individually on Wednesday. Sam Mikulak and Chris Brooks are up first as they compete in the men’s all-around. Mikulak’s rotation will be pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar, and floor while Brooks will go rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar, floor, and pommel horse.
The event starts at 3 PM but you won’t see it on TV until NBC’s tape delayed coverage between 8 PM and 12 AM.
Judo
The next US judoka to compete is Colton Brown in the men’s 90kg division. Brown will take on Iszlam Monier Suliman in the round of 32 to start the day. If Brown advances the round of 16 and the quarterfinals are both later in the morning. Not a medal favorite, if Brown does reach the quarterfinals he will be in the repechage or semifinal portion of the afternoon session which starts at 2:30 PM.
There is no planned judo coverage on Wednesday.
Rowing
Starting Wednesday off for the US will be Grace Luczak and Felice Mueller in the women’s pair semifinals at 7:30 AM. The duo will need a top three finish to advance to the final at 9:24 AM on Friday. It’s the same qualification scenario for the Americans who came through the repechage, Kate Bertko and Devery Karz in the women’s lightweight double sculls semifinals at 8 AM as they try to reach the 8:52 AM on Friday. The first American men in the lagoon on Wednesday will be Andrew Campbell and Joshua Konieczny at 8:10 AM as they row in the men’s lightweight double sculls semifinals and need a top three finish to reach the 9:04 AM final on Friday.
At 8:30 AM we’ll see the men’s four team of Charlie Cole, Henrik Rummel, Matt Miller, and Seth Weil in the semifinals hoping to finish in the top three and join the field for the 9:44 AM final on Friday. The men’s eight team of Mike DiSanto, Sam Dommer, Austin Hack, Alex Karwoski, Stephen Kasprzyk, Rob Munn, Glenn Ochal, Hans Struzyna, and Sam Ojserkis faces a repechage test on Wednesday at 9 AM but all they need to do is avoid finishing last in the five boat race to reach the 10:24 AM final on Saturday. The very first Americans to row for gold in Rio will be Tracy Eisser, Megan Kalmoe, Grace Latz, and Adrienne Martelli in the women’s quadruple sculls final at 9:34 AM.
NBC is scheduled to cover rowing on delay during their 3:45-5 PM coverage window.
Rugby Sevens
After going 1-1 on the opening day in Rio the US men could be in trouble in their quest for an Olympic medal. Facing dominant Fiji in their group closing match at 12:30 PM the US might be out if they can’t defeat the Fijians. There are scenarios though that see the US going through at 1-2, the most likely being Australia being defeated by South Africa and shockingly missing the quarterfinals at the expense of the US, France, and Japan.
The US will have a second game at some point on Wednesday but it’s way too early to figure out when exactly that will be. If it’s for a spot between 9th-12th it’ll be at 3 or 3:30 PM while if they make the quarterfinals it’ll be at 4 PM, 5 PM, or 5:30 PM.
USA will have LIVE coverage of the Fiji match while if the US makes the quarterfinals at 4 PM it’ll be on USA, if at 5 or later it’ll be LIVE on CNBC.
Sailing
Caleb Paine is eighth in the men’s finn class with races three and four scheduled for 12:05 PM. Charlie Buckingham finds himself in 16th in the men’s laser ahead of the fifth and sixth races scheduled for 12:05 PM on Wednesday. Also at that time the beginning of the men’s 470, with two races on Wednesday, is scheduled with David Hughes and Stuart McNay together for the US. The fourth event scheduled for 12:05 PM is the first of three races to kick off the Mixed Nacra 17 event. Bora Gulari and Louisa Chafee represent the US in that one.
Paige Railey is tenth in the women’s laser with the fifth and sixth races scheduled for 12:15 PM on Wednesday. The other event scheduled for that start time is the beginning of the women’s 470, which will have two races on Wednesday, and Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha are in the event for the US.
CNBC will have some sailing coverage on delay in their coverage from 5-8 PM.
Shooting
The second event of Rio for Jay Shi and Will Brown will be the men’s 50m pistol on Wednesday. They’ll compete in the six-round sixty-shot qualifying event at 8 AM with the top eight advancing into the 11 AM final. Also at 8 AM will be Glenn Eller and Joshua Richmond in the men’s double trap qualifying event. After three rounds of shooting for all of the competitors the top six will be in the semifinals at 2 PM with the top two advancing into the final and the next two going into the bronze medal final, both held right after the semifinals.
MSNBC is planning to show the final LIVE during their 12-3 PM coverage segment.
Swimming
The afternoon session is a busy one with four individual events and a relay. Simone Manuel at 12:11 PM and Abbey Weitzeil at 12:17 PM will get the women’s 100m freestyle underway with the heats. Top 16 will advance to the semifinals at 9:12/9:20 PM in the evening. Ryan Murphy and Jacob Pebley will swim together in the men’s 200m backstroke heats at 12:35 PM and hope to reach the semifinals at 9:28/9:37 PM Wednesday night. Newly crowned Olympic gold medalist Lilly King swims the 200m breaststroke heats at 12:52 PM with Molly Hannis taking her turn in the heat at 1:02 PM. King and Hannis have their eyes set on the 10:11/10:20 PM semifinals in the evening.
The final individual heats are in the men’s 200m individual medley. Now you’d think a top 16 spot and advancing to the 10:29/10:38 PM wouldn’t be much to ask for Ryan Lochte at 1:14 PM and Michael Phelps at 1:24 PM, but both swam 400m yesterday including a final in the evening (or two in the case of Phelps) so bouncing back today at their age is probably no small task. The final afternoon event is the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay. The US will go in the heats at 1:43 PM with a top eight spot and advancing to the 10:55 PM final all but certain.
In addition to the 4x200m freestyle relay final at 10:55 PM we’ll see three individual finals on Wednesday night. Kevin Cordes and Josh Prenot lead the night off in the men’s 200m breaststroke final at 9:03 PM. The second final isn’t for a while but finally at 9:54 PM we’ll see Cammille Adams and Hali Flickinger in the women’s 200m butterfly final. The last individual final of the evening will be one of the most thrilling, Caeleb Dressel and Nathan Adrian in the men’s 100m freestyle final at 10:03 PM.
NBC will have full LIVE coverage of the swimming both during the day session and during the evening session.
Tennis
The docket got a little more full for the US as they added two mixed doubles teams to their roster going for medals still in Rio. There are two individuals left in singles play for the US. Madison Keys is now facing Daria Kasatkina on Wednesday in the quarterfinals and will be favored in that matchup. On the men’s side Steve Johnson will face sub-100 player Evgeny Donskoy in the round of 16 and be favored to reach the quarterfinals. Johnson is also still alive in men’s doubles with Jack Sock and they are in good shape to grab a medal as they face Florin Mergea/Horja Tecau in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The new two teams for the US are Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sock who take on Johanna Konta/Jamie Murray and Rajeev Ram and Venus Williams facing Kiki Bertens/Jean-Julien Rojer. The mixed doubles is a 16 team tournament so those matches on Wednesday are in the round of 16.
Bravo has full LIVE coverage on TV for tennis while streams of individual matches are available online.
Volleyball
The US women have started their Olympics a lot better than the men as they are already 2-0 and with a win against group leader Serbia on Wednesday they’ll lock up their quarterfinal spot. The Serbians are also 2-0 so this is a battle for first place at 2 PM.
You can catch this one LIVE on NBC.
Water Polo
The US men are 0-2 in Rio and as they face France today at 10:40 AM this one seems to carry the must-win title. With four of the six group members advancing the US could theoretically go through at 2-3 still but you don’t want to have to start worrying about tiebreakers and needing help from opponents.
The matchup will be LIVE on NBC.
