Category Archives: Olympic Previews

London 2012, Olympic Previews, Olympics, Table Tennis

Table Tennis Preview

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Table Tennis is not a sport that is dominated by Americans, in fact no American has ever medaled in Table Tennis. The field is stacked with great players from Asia. Only one medal has left the Far East, the Men’s Team Silver in 2008 which went to Germany.

The Team:

This year’s team is made up of four athletes. Timothy Wang will compete in Men’s Singles while Ariel Hsing and Lily Zhang will compete in Women’s Singles. Hsing and Zhang will team with Erica Wu to compete in Women’s Team. All are first time Olympians.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

USA Table Tennis
Men:
Timothy Wang

Women:
Ariel Hsing
Lily Zhang
Erica Wu

Schedule:

Information is a bit hard to find but it appears the Individual competition is a best-of-7 competition. The team competition appears to consist of four singles matches and a doubles match. The team that wins three of the five matches advances. Both competitions are a purely knockout tournament.

All Times ET
Saturday July 28th
4 AM – Women’s Singles – Preliminary Round
4:45 AM – Men’s Singles – Preliminary Round
6:15 AM – 9:30 AM – Women’s Singles – 1st Round
11 AM – 2 PM – Men’s Singles – 1st Round
3:30 PM – Women’s Singles – 2nd Round

Sunday July 29th
4 AM – Women’s Singles – 2nd Round
6 AM – 8:30 AM – Men’s Singles – 2nd Round
1 PM – Women’s Singles – 3rd Round

Monday July 30th
5 AM – Men’s Singles – 3rd Round
10:30 AM – Women’s Singles – 4th Round
2 PM – Men’s Singles – 4th Round

Tuesday July 31st
5 AM – Women’s Singles – Quarterfinals
11 AM – Women’s Singles – Semifinals
3 PM – Men’s Singles – Quarterfinals

Wednesday August 1st
5 AM – Men’s Singles – Quarterfinals
9:30 AM – Women’s Singles – Bronze Medal Match
10:30 AM – Women’s Singles – Gold Medal Match

Thursday August 2nd
5 AM – Men’s Singles – Semifinals
9:30 AM – Men’s Singles – Bronze Medal Match
10:30 AM – Men’s Singles – Gold Medal Match

Friday August 3rd
5 AM – 9:30 AM – Women’s Team – 1st Round

Saturday August 4th
9:30 AM – 2 PM – Women’s Team – Quarterfinals

Sunday August 5th
2 PM – Women’s Team – Semifinals

Monday August 6th
5 AM – Women’s Team – Semifinals

Tuesday August 7th
6 AM – Women’s Team – Bronze Medal Match
10:30 AM – Women’s Team – Gold Medal Match

Past Results:

In 2008 the US’s Men’s Singles player lost in the Preliminary Round while in 2004 the US had an athlete in the 2nd Round. The women had a lot more success in Beijing as Wang Chen, a former Chinese Table Tennis player, made it to the quarterfinals. Additionally the women’s team was able to get into the playoff round for the bronze medal, though they didn’t medal. In 2004 the women had one competitor into the 3rd Round.

It would be surprising to see the US advance far in any of the competitions, but their best chance might come with the Women’s Team.

Badminton, London 2012, Olympic Previews, Olympics

Badminton Preview

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First of all… who knew that badminton had an n before the t?!!? I sure didn’t… surprise surprise. Hopefully I can spell it right from now on. The US does not have a glorious history in badminton, never having medaled.

The Team:

This year’s team is made up of three athletes. Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan will compete in men’s doubles and Rena Wang will compete in women’s singles.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

USA Badminton
Men:
Howard Bach**
Tony Gunawan

Women:
Rena Wang
** – Was on team in 2004 & 2008

Schedule:

Badminton in the Olympics is played best of three games, each game to 21 points (must win by two). If a game reaches 30 points it is automatically over.

The tournament will begin with a round robin group stage for both Men’s Doubles and Women’s Singles play. In Doubles play there will be four groups of four with the top two teams moving on to the quarterfinals. In singles play there will be 16 groups of four with the four group winners moving on to the Round of 16.

All Times ET
Saturday July 28th
3:30 AM – 1:30 PM – Men’s Doubles Group Stage, Women’s Singles Group Stage

Sunday July 29th
3:30 AM – 1:30 PM – Men’s Doubles Group Stage, Women’s Singles Group Stage

Monday July 30th
3:30 AM – 1:30 PM – Men’s Doubles Group Stage, Women’s Singles Group Stage

Tuesday July 31st
3:30 AM – 1:30 PM – Men’s Doubles Group Stage, Women’s Singles Group Stage

Wednesday August 1st
4 AM – 12 PM – Women’s Singles Round of 16

Thursday August 2nd
4 AM – Men’s Doubles Quarterfinals
7:30 AM – Women’s Singles Quarterfinals

Friday August 3rd
4 AM – Women’s Singles Semifinals

Saturday August 4th
4 AM – Men’s Doubles Semifinals
8:30 AM – Women’s Singles Bronze Medal Match and Gold Medal Match

Sunday August 5th
4 AM – Men’s Doubles Bronze Medal Match
8 AM – Men’s Doubles Gold Medal Match

Past Results:

Howard Bach is the only competitor to return to the Olympics for the US, having been to Athens and Beijing. In 2008 he reached the quarterfinals with Bob Malaythong before losing to Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China. In 2004, paired with Kevin Qi Han, Bach reached the round of 16 before losing to Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard-Hansen of Denmark.

In 2008 the Women’s Singles athlete from the US failed to advance out of the Round of 64, while no Women’s Singles athlete made the Olympics in 2004. It appears no woman has ever even won a set in the singles competition at the Olympics for the US. The best finish ever by a Men’s Doubles team was in 2008 with the quarterfinal appearance.

There might be some hope for the Bach-Gunawan combination as the two won the 2005 World Badminton Championship. Additionally Gunawan in his younger days competed for Indonesia and won the 2000 Men’s Doubles gold medal. Rena Wang is only 20 so she will be getting a good experience to build on at such a young age, and if she could even win a set for the US it would be a historic accomplishment.

Archery, London 2012, Olympic Previews, Olympics

Archery Preview

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The United States has a somewhat rich history in archery, but has struggled in the last few years. Three men and three women will attempt to turn that around in London.

The Team:

The team is made up of three men and three women who will compete both individually and as a team. Brady Ellison took part in the 2008 Olympics and Jennifer Nichols is in her 3rd Olympics having taken part in the 2008 and 2004 Olympics. Khatuna Lorig competed in 3 Olympics (92, 96, and 2000) before becoming a US Citizen and took part in the Beijing games, making this her 5th Olympics!

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

USA Archery
Men:
Brady Ellison*
Jake Kaminski
Jacob Wukie

Women:
Miranda Leek
Khatuna Lorig*
Jennifer Nichols**
* – Was on team in 2008 – Beijing
** – Was on team in 2004 & 2008

Schedule:

The individual competitions will begin with a Ranking Round to set the seeds for the knockout portion of the tournament. After the knockout bracket is set (1v64, 2v63 and so on) the competitors will face off in five-set matches. Each set consists of three arrows. Win three sets and you are through.

The team competitions will be seeded using the combined scores of the team members from the Ranking Round, the top 4 teams on each side getting a bye with teams 5-12 matching up. In the team competition it is only total points that matters, not sets.

July 27
4 AM ET – Men’s Ranking Round
8 AM ET – Women’s Ranking Round

July 28
4 AM ET – Men’s Team – Round of 16
10 AM ET – Men’s Team – Quarterfinals
11:40 AM ET – Men’s Team – Semifinals
12:33 PM ET – Men’s Team – Bronze Medal Match
1:01 PM ET – Men’s Team – Gold Medal Match

July 29
4 AM ET – Women’s Team – Round of 16
10 AM ET – Women’s Team – Quarterfinals
11:40 AM ET – Women’s Team – Semifinals
12:33 PM ET – Women’s Team – Bronze Medal Match
1:01 PM ET – Women’s Team – Gold Medal Match

July 30-August 1
4 AM ET – 11:05 ET – Rounds of 64 for both genders followed by rounds of 32, some men and some women will go on each day.

August 2
4 AM ET – Women’s Individual – Round of 16
9 AM ET – Women’s Individual – Quarterfinals
9:52 AM ET – Women’s Individual – Semifinals
10:21 AM ET – Women’s Individual – Bronze Medal Match
10:37 AM ET – Women’s Individual – Gold Medal Match

August 3
4 AM ET – Men’s Individual – Round of 16
9 AM ET – Men’s Individual – Quarterfinals
9:52 AM ET – Men’s Individual – Semifinals
10:21 AM ET – Men’s Individual – Bronze Medal Match
10:37 AM ET – Men’s Individual – Gold Medal Match

Past Results:

Men:
Brady Ellison: In 2008 he had a great Ranking Round and ended up seeded 15th. Despite the high seed he was knocked out in the Round of 32 by 47th-seed Jay Lyon of Canada.

As a team in 2008 the US ended up seeded 10th after the Ranking Round and lost in the Round of 16 to 7th seeded Chinese Taipei.

The US won five of the first seven medals in men’s individual archery, but haven’t won gold since Justin Huish in Atlanta. Vic Wunderle was the last American to medal, winning silver in 2000.

The team won their first gold medal in 1996 and followed that up with a bronze in 2000, but haven’t been on the medal stand since then.

Brady Ellison is the two-time defending FITA Archery World Cup champion, though that competition is a weaker field than the Olympics.

Women:
Jennifer Nichols: In 2008 she ended up the 24th seed after the Ranking Round and was knocked out in the Round of 32 by 9th seeded Nami Hayakawa of Japan. In 2004 she was the 19th seed and advanced to the Round of 16 before losing to Yun Mi-Jin of South Korea.

Khatuna Lorig: In 2008 she was the 26-seed after the Ranking Round but pulled off upsets in the Round of 32 and the Round of 16 to advance all the way to the quarterfinals. She lost in the quarterfinals to Yun Ok-Hee of South Korea. Back in 1992 she won a bronze medal in archery as a member of the Unified Team.

There was no US women’s team in Beijing, but in 2004 the women’s team was seeded 9th and lost to Greece in the Round of 16.

The US women won the first two women’s individual archery gold medals, but none since Luann Ryon in Montreal (1976), the last medal for the US in the sport.

The women’s team did win bronze in 1988, the first year of that competition.

South Korea is the dominant country of archery having won every women’s team gold medal, four of the six men’s team gold medals, and six straight women’s individual gold medals (interrupted in 2008 by China).

London 2012, Olympic Previews, Olympics, Soccer

Women’s Soccer Preview

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The first sport that will kick-off for the US is Women’s Soccer. Women’s Soccer will actually get going BEFORE the Opening Ceremonies. The first game for the US will be on the 25th of July against France.

The Team:

The US Team is made up of 18 women, many of whom will be familiar to US fans from Beijing.

Ten of the 18 members were on the team in Beijing and five of the members of the team were on the team in Athens.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

US Women’s Soccer Team
GK – Nicole Barnhart*
GK – Hope Solo*
DF – Heather Mitts**
DF – Christie Rampone**
DF – Rachel Buehler*
DF – Becky Sauerbrunn
DF – Amy LePeilbet
DF – Kelley O’Hara
MF – Shannon Boxx**
MF – Heather O’Reilly**
MF – Amy Rodriguez
MF – Carli Lloyd*
MF – Tobin Heath*
MF – Megan Rapinoe
MF – Abby Wambach&
MF – Alex Morgan
FW – Lauren Cheney*
FW – Sydney Leroux
Coach – Pia Sundhage*
* – Was on team in 2008 – Beijing
& – Was on team in 2004 – Athens
** – Was on team in 2004 & 2008

Schedule:

In the Olympics the Women’s Soccer Tournament is made up of 12 teams divided into three groups. After round-robin play in each group all the teams that finish in 1st and 2nd and two of the 3rd place teams qualify for the Quarterfinals. At that point it is a regular knockout tournament.

The US’s group consists of France, Colombia and North Korea.  They will likely win the group and face a 3rd place team from Group E or F in the quarterfinals, followed by likely Brazil in a Semifinal.  The most likely team to meet in the Final would be Japan.

The US is ranked 1st in the world, Japan 3rd, Sweden 4th, and Brazil 5th.  France is ranked 6th, North Korea 8th, and Colombia 28th.

Wednesday July 25th – Noon ET – France
Saturday July 28th – Noon ET – Colombia
Tuesday July 31st – 12:15 PM ET – North Korea
Friday August 3rd – Quarterfinals
Monday August 6th – Semifinals
Thursday August 9th – Medal Matches

Past Results:

The US Women are the two-time defending champs, along with winning a silver in 2000 and a gold in the Inaugural tournament in 1996.  The only other team to win a gold medal is Norway.  The US has beaten Brazil in each of the last 2 Olympic Finals, but unless one of the teams finishes as runner-up in its group they would meet before the final this year. A new country will win a medal this year as the only other countries than the US and Brazil to have won medals before (China, Germany, and Norway) are all absent from the games.

The best finishes from teams in the tournament are:
Brazil – Silver (2004 & 2008)
Cameroon – 1st Olympics
Canada – 8th (2008)
Colombia – 1st Olympics
France – 1st Olympics
Great Britain – 1st Olympics
Japan – 4th (2008)
New Zealand – 10th (2008)
North Korea – 9th (2008)
South Africa – 1st Olympics
Sweeden – 4th (2004)
USA – 1st (1996, 2004, & 2008)

At the Women’s World Cup last year Japan beat the US in the final with Sweeden topping France in the 3rd place game.  England (who have many of the players on the Great Britain squad) and Brazil were knocked out in the Quarterfinals.  The US was actually in a group with North Korea and Colombia, winning 2-0 and 3-0 respectively. The Americans also defeated the French 3-1 in the semifinals.