Category Archives: Cycling

Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Cycling, Daily Previews, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Gymnastics, London 2012, Olympics, Sailing, Shooting, Tennis, Track and Field, Volleyball, Water Polo, Weightlifting, Wrestling

Olympic Preview – August 5th

August 5, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

The day will get started at 4 AM when the men’s 50m pistol qualification beings. It ends at 4:50 PM with the men’s 100m final.

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.

Athletics

There’s only one session of athletics today at the Olympics, that coming in the afternoon. In the morning the women’s marathon will be held on the streets of London.

Starting off the afternoon is the 1st round of women’s 400m hurdles, American T’Erea Brown (2 PM), Lashinda Demus (2:16 PM) and Georganne Moline (2:24 PM) will run in different heats and a top 3 finishes in their heat moves them on to the semifinals on Monday.

At 2:05 PM the qualification period will begin for the men’s high jump. Erik Kynard, Jamie Nieto, and Jesse Williams are the competitors for the US with Williams holding the highest jump this season amongst the three at 2.36m. A top 12 finish or hitting the automatic qualifying score will qualify an athlete for the final. Each athlete gets three tries at a height to clear it.

Next on the track is the men’s 100m semifinals. Justin Gatlin (2:45 PM), Ryan Bailey (2:53 PM), and Tyson Gay (3:01 PM) will be in separate heats and need top 2 finishes to reach the final. The next two fastest times will also qualify.

Then in the men’s 1500m Andrew Wheating and Leonel Manzano will run first at 3:15 PM followed by Matthew Centrowitz at 3:25 PM. If they finish top four in their heat they’ll be in the final. I believe after that it’ll be the next four fastest overall.

At 3:20 PM the men’s hammer throw final will being with Kibwe Johnson hoping to move up from his 5th place mark in qualification to grab a medal. Each athlete will get three throws to start and then the top eight will get three more. The longest throw in the entire six-throw final is the winner.

The next track event is the men’s 400m semifinals. Tony McQuay (3:48 PM) and Bryshon Nellum (3:56 PM) will race with a top two finish in their heat or next two fastest overall giving them a spot in Monday’s final.

After that the women’s 400m final will take place at 4:10 PM with DeeDee Trotter, Sanya Richards-Ross, and Francena McCorory all in the final for the US.

Next is the men’s 3000m steeplechase final at 4:25 PM with Evan Jager and Donald Cabral in the final for the US.

The final event of the day is the spectacular men’s 100m final. If Justin Gatlin, Ryan Bailey, and Tyson Gay can qualify for the final they will be racing at 4:50 PM.

6 AM – Women’s Athletics – Marathon
2 PM – Women’s Athletics – 400m Hurdles – T’Erea Brown – Round 1 – Heat 1
2:05 PM – Men’s Athletics – High Jump – Qualification
2:16 PM – Women’s Athletics – 400m Hurdles – Lashinda Demus – Round 1 – Heat 3
2:24 PM – Women’s Athletics – 400m Hurdles – Georganne Moline – Round 1 – Heat 4
2:45 PM – Men’s Athletics – 100m – Justin Gatlin – Semifinals – Heat 1
2:53 PM – Men’s Athletics – 100m – Ryan Bailey – Semifinals – Heat 2
3:01 PM – Men’s Athletics – 100m – Tyson Gay – Semifinals – Heat 3
3:15 PM – Men’s Athletics – 1500m – Andrew Wheating and Loeonel Manzano – Semifinals – Heat 1
3:20 PM – Men’s Athletics – Hammer Throw – Final
3:25 PM – Men’s Athletics – 1500m – Matthew Centrowitz – Semifinals – Heat 2
3:48 PM – Men’s Athletics – 400m – Tony McQuay – Semifinals – Heat 2
3:56 PM – Men’s Athletics – 400m – Bryshon Nellum – Semifinals – Heat 3
4:10 PM – Women’s Athletics – 400m – Final
4:25 PM – Men’s Athletics – 3000m Steeplechase – Final
4:50 PM – Men’s Athletics – 100m – Final

Basketball

The US women take on China in their final group stage game at 11:45 AM. It would seem the US can be expected to cruise once again, but let’s play the what if game. IF the US loses to China they would finish level with the Chinese on points with 9 (2 per win, 1 per loss). If Turkey wins their game over Croatia they would also have 9 points. If all three tie then the US would win on point differential as long as something crazy doesn’t happen, like losing by 20. If Turkey lost the US would lose the tiebreaker on head-to-head result with China and finish 2nd. Either way the US will advance to the quarterfinals.

11:45 AM – Women’s Basketball – China – Group Stage

Beach Volleyball

The beach volleyball competitions are down to the quarterfinals, and all the women will play on the same day from here on out. In the quarterfinals on Sunday Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh Jennings will take on Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti of Italy at 2 PM. Right after that, at 3 PM, April Ross/Jennifer Kessy face Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic. If the women win they will move on to the semifinals on Tuesday.

2 PM – Women’s Beach Volleyball – Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh Jennings vs. Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti – Quarterfinals
3 PM – Women’s Beach Volleyball – April Ross/Jennifer Kessy vs. Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova – Quarterfinals

Boxing

The US finally sees their women’s boxing athletes get underway as Queen Underwood takes on Great Britain’s Natasha Jones in the lightweight round of 16 at 9:30 AM.

9:30 AM – Women’s Boxing – Lightweight – Queen Underwood vs. Natasha Jones – Round of 16

Cycling

The US is competing in two events on Sunday. Bobby Lea continues the men’s omnium with the final three events. He enters the day in 11th position. In the first event, the individual pursuit at 5 AM, the competitors will race 4km as quick as possible. The competitors will be ranked by their time for the standings. After that there will be a 15km scratch race at 12:01 PM, essentially just a race with the first competitors to cross the finish line being the winner. It ends with the 1km time trial at 1:16 PM, the competitors ranked by time. In each event the winner gets 1 point, 2nd 2 points, and so on. The winner of the omnium is the person with the least total points at the end.

In the other event for the US on Sunday, the men’s sprint, there are two riders who race three laps. The first rider to cross the finish line wins. Jimmy Watkins is the US competitor and faces Shane Perkins of Australia in the quarterfinals at 11:34 AM. If he wins he’ll move into the semifinals tomorrow, if he loses he’ll be in the 5-8 final this afternoon at 1:47 PM.

5 AM – Men’s Cycling – Track – Omnium – Individual Pursuit
11:34 AM – Men’s Cycling – Track – Sprint – Quarterfinals
12:01 PM – Men’s Cycling – Track – Omnium – 15km Scratch Race
1:16 PM – Men’s Cycling – Track – Omnium – 1km Time Trial
1:47 PM – Men’s Cycling – Track – Sprint – Final 5-8

Diving

Christina Loukas (7th in the preliminary round, 6th in semifinal) and Cassidy Krug (11th in preliminary round, 5th in semifinal) will try to medal this afternoon in the women’s 3m springboard final at 2 PM. Both girls will dive five times as one of the 12 finalists, and the highest total score is the winner.

2 PM – Women’s Diving – 3m Springboard – Final

Equestrian

In the equestrian competition we have come to the 2nd day of jumping. This is the 2nd round for individuals and the 1st round for teams. Being one of the top eight teams, the US will have all their riders go in the 2nd half of the competition. The four US riders are Mclain Ward on Antares, Beezie Madden on Via Volo, Reed Kessler on Cylana, and Rich Fellers on Flexible. As long as the US finishes in the top eight as a team they will advance to the 3rd round. In the individual portion Mclain Ward and Rich Fellers are in 1st with 0 penalties, (32 riders did that on day 1) and Reed Kessler is tied for 33rd with 1 penalty. Beezie Madden was eliminated after having 2 refusals but will be taking part in the team portion still.

6 AM – Equestrian – Jumping – 2nd Qualifier

Fencing

In men’s team foil the US has their final chance to add to their medal count in London. They take on France to start at 5:30 AM. Other rounds would start as shown below.

Fencing team matches are very interesting. Let’s say the US has fencers A, B, and C. France has D, E, and F. In a series of three minute matches we would have the following matchups in some order: AD, BE, CF, AE, BF, CD, AF, BD, CE. The 1st match goes until one team has 5 points or the three minutes are up. The 2nd match goes until one team has 10 points or the three minutes are up, and so on. If either team reaches 45 they are the winner. Otherwise, whoever has the most points after the 9 matches is the winner.

5:30 AM – Men’s Fencing – Team Foil – France – Quarterfinals
7 AM – Men’s Fencing – Team Foil – Classification 5-8
8:30 AM – Men’s Fencing – Team Foil – Semifinals
10 AM – Men’s Fencing – Team Foil – Placement 5-6/7-8
1 PM – Men’s Fencing – Team Foil – Bronze Medal Match
2:15 PM – Men’s Fencing – Team Foil – Gold Medal Match

Gymnastics

There are two individual apparatus events the US will be taking part it on Sunday. First at 9 AM is the men’s floor final where Jacob Dalton will be competing for the US. Dalton was 4th in the qualification round on the floor. Next at 9:50 AM, McKayla Maroney will be in the women’s vault final. She dominated the field in the qualification round and is expected to win gold easily in the vault final.

9 AM – Men’s Gymnastics – Floor Final
9:50 AM – Women’s Gymnastics – Vault Final

Sailing

Farrah Hall enters Sunday’s final two Women’s RS-X races in 22nd and will finish her Olympics with race 9 (7 AM) and race 10 (7:50 AM).

Her counterpart, Robert Willis, is 22nd in Men’s RS-X as well and will finish his Olympics with race 9 (8:30 AM) and race 10 (9:20 AM).

In 49er racing Erik Storck/Trevor Moore are 10th overall entering Sunday’s 12th race (7:30 AM) and 13th race (8:20 AM). If they can hold onto a top ten spot through the 15th race on Monday they will make the medal race.

In the women’s 470 Amanda Clark/Sarah Lihan are in 4th heading into Sunday’s 5th race (8 AM) and 6th race (10:30 AM). They are only 7 points behind 1st, 5 points behind 2nd, and 3 points behind 3rd.

Finally at 8 AM Mark Mendelblatt/Brian Fatih will take part in the star’s medal race. They are currently in 6th place with 3rd place 29 points ahead of them. So a medal is not possible but they could finish as high as 4th still.

7 AM – Women’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 9
7:50 AM – Women’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 10
8 AM – Men’s Sailing – Star – Medal Race
8 AM – Women’s Sailing – 470 – Race 5
8:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 9
9:20 AM – Men’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 10
9:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 12
10:20 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 13
10:30 AM – Women’s Sailing – 470 – Race 6

Shooting

The only shooting competition the US will be taking place on Sunday in is the men’s 50m pistol at 4 AM. The US has two competitors, Nickolaus Mowrer and Daryl Szarenski. The qualification round is 60 shots scored 1-10 by one. The top eight move on to the final where there are ten more shots scored to 10.9 by .1.

4 AM – Men’s Shooting – 50m Pistol – Qualification
7:30 AM – Men’s Shooting – 50m Pistol – Final

Tennis

The US will be going for three medals at Wimbledon today. First Serena Williams/Venus Williams take on Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic at 7 AM for the women’s doubles gold. Then around 9 AM Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond face Maria Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova of Russia for the women’s doubles bronze. Finally around 11 AM the mixed doubles bronze medal final between Lisa Raymond/Mike Bryan and Sabine Lisicki/Christopher Kas of Germany.

7 AM – Women’s Tennis – Doubles – Serena Williams/Venus Williams vs. Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka – Gold Medal Match
APPROX 9 AM – Women’s Tennis – Doubles – Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond vs. Maria Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova – Bronze Medal Match
APPROX 11 AM – Mixed Tennis – Doubles – Lisa Raymond/Mike Bryan vs. Sabine Lisicki/Christopher Kas – Bronze Medal Match

Volleyball

The USA has already locked up the top spot in their group but they’d like to finish 5-0 and will attempt to do that today when they face Turkey at 3 PM. Turkey is 2-2 so far and battling for a spot in the knockout round with Brazil, so they are highly motivated today.

3 PM – Women’s Volleyball – Turkey – Group Stage

Water Polo

The US finished 2nd in their group and now heads to the quarterfinals where they will face Italy at 2 PM. Italy was 1-2 in their group with the only win a 10-5 victory over Great Britain.

2 PM – Women’s Water Polo – Italy – Quarterfinals

Weightlifting

The only two women weightlifters for the US are both in the +75kg division. Sarah Robles and Holley Mangold will have three tries each at the snatch and the clean and jerk. The top weight lifted in each category is combined and the woman who has lifted the most total is the winner.

10:30 AM – Women’s Weightlifting – +75kg

Weightlifting

Mango Spenser Thomas and Benjamin Provisor have their wrestling competitions today at the Olympics. Mango Spenser Thomas starts at 8 AM in the qualification round, Benjamin Provisor at 8:09 AM in the qualification round too. If they advance the times listed below show when the rounds start. If they lose at some point and the competitor who beats them makes the final they will be in the repechage later in the day for a bronze medal.

8 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 55kg – Mango Spenser Thomas – Qualification
8:09 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 74kg – Benjamin Provisor – Qualification
8:18 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 55kg – Round of 16
8:36 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 74kg – Round of 16
9:12 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 55kg – Quarterfinals
9:48 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 74kg – Quarterfinals
10:24 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 55kg – Semifinals
10:42 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 74kg – Semifinals
12:45 PM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 55kg – Repechage & Bronze Finals
12:54 PM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 74kg – Repechage & Bronze Finals
2:03 PM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 55kg – Gold Final
2:48 PM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 74kg – Gold Final

Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Daily Olympic Reviews, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Field Hockey, Gymnastics, London 2012, Olympics, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball

Olympic Review – July 29th

July 29, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

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.

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

Olympic Review – July 28th

July 29, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

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.

Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Daily Previews, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Field Hockey, Gymnastics, London 2012, Olympics, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball

Olympic Preview – July 29th

July 29, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

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