Category Archives: Shooting

Olympic Trials, Rio 2016 Olympic Trials, Shooting

Early Favorites Emerge After Day 1 of Competition at US Olympic Shooting Trials

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Day one of competition in Ft. Benning saw early favorites emerge in the second group of events to be contested. In the men’s rapid fire pistol where there are only three competitors, lowest of any event, 2012 Olympian Emil Milev used a strong 585 in qualifying to open up a 6 point lead on Alexander Chichkov. Milev furthered his lead by winning the final and now leads by 8 with 591 points. Chichkov is a 21-year old former Junior World Champion and even if this is not his year you would expect him to be a favorite to make the Olympics in the future. He is two points ahead of third place Brad Balsley.

In the women’s sport pistol event Enkelejda Shehaj, an Olympian for Albania in 1992 and 1996, has the early lead after posting a 582 in qualifying and coming in second in the final. She had the only 100 of the day in the event and sits at 589 points. 2008 Olympian Brenda Silva won the final to pull within just five points. It’s another former Olympian in third, Sandra Uptagrafft who was the US competitor in this event in 2012, trailing Silva by eight points.

There is also a contest for the 50m three position rifle event though the US is not sure if they will have a spot for the winner. Dempster Christenson, who was second in the prone rifle after day one, is your first day leader having the top qualifying score by a full ten points and coming in third in the final to sit at 1179. George Norton won the final to cut the deficit to eight points between first and second while Lucas Kozeniesky is in third with 1166.

Shooting continues on Thursday with qualifying rounds at 9 AM ET and finals at 3 PM ET.

Olympic Trials, Rio 2016 Olympic Trials, Shooting

David Higgins Surges on Final Day to Claim Olympic Spot in 50m Prone Rifle

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The question we were left with yesterday was how much drama would the final day of competition bring in the first three events at the USA Shooting Olympic Trials in Ft. Benning, Georgia. The answer came quickly as before the qualification round was over one of the favorites had been knocked out. In the men’s 50m prone rifle event Matt Emmons looked to be in great shape heading into the final day of competition. The 34-year old who won gold in the event 12 years ago held a lead of 11.3 points over David Higgins. Higgins needed the round of his life and probably some help from Emmons. He got just that as he shot a 629.5 in qualification, the second best round of the weekend behind Emmons’ 629.7 on the first day. He also needed some help and that came in the form of a rough day for Emmons where he scored just 616.8, 11th out of the 14 shooters. Emmons round was bad enough that Higgins passed him for the lead outright at that point by 1.4 points. Emmons was not in the final due to finishing outside the top eight and was eliminated from contention. Higgins went on to win the final for good measure and finish with a cumulative score of 1896.9, a winning margin of 9.4 points over Emmons. Higgins is a 21-year old senior at the Air Force Academy where he competed for the rifle team. This is by far the biggest moment of his young career and it will be exciting to see if he can keep rising as he heads to Rio in August. Henry Gray wound up in third 2.4 points behind Emmons.

Things were slightly less dramatic in the men’s 50m free pistol competition. Jay Shi led by nine points entering the final day and then shot his best qualification round of the event, a competition high 565, to easily lock up the spot before the final. He wound up with a cumulative score of 1698 besting second place Will Brown by a whopping 26 points. Nick Mowrer wound up four points back of Brown in third. Shi is a 37-year old web developer who was born in Beijing and came to America at age 11 after an eye injury. Peaking at the right time Shi will be a great story going to Rio.

Finally in the women’s three-position rifle Ginny Thrasher held a seven-point lead entering the final day. She shot a 586 in the qualifying round, highest score of the day, and expanded her lead and clinched the Olympic spot before the final as well. Sarah Scherer posted a solid 583 in the qualification round and finished in second, nine points behind Thrasher’s total of 1781. Sarah Beard, the leader after day one, wound up third ten points behind Scherer. Thrasher, the reigning NCAA champion and just a freshman at West Virginia, is a rising star who has a promising future ahead of her.

Competition is not wrapped up at Ft. Benning and two more Olympic spots need to be determined. Competition will begin Wednesday and continue until Friday for the women’s sport pistol spot and the men’s rapid fire pistol spot. There will not be as many people in the running for these spots as the women’s sport pistol event features just six competitors while the men’s rapid fire pistol event has just four.

Olympic Trials, Rio 2016 Olympic Trials, Shooting

Virginia Thrasher Shoots Her Way to the Front at US Shooting Olympic Trials

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Day two of competition at the US Shooting Olympic Trails saw Virginia Thrasher post a qualification score of 589, five points better than anyone else in the field, and add to it a win in the final to shoot to first place in the women’s three position rifle competition with a cumulative score of 1189. Sarah Beard, who led after day one, shot only a 578 in qualification and missed out on the final round and a chance at bonus points. She finds herself 17 off the pace going into the final day and even with a great final day probably needs Thrasher to struggle to get back in front. Sarah Scherer remained in second though she is now a full seven points back of Thrasher. Thrasher, who shoots for West Virginia University, where she is a freshman and won the national title last month,will be facing the pressure tomorrow.

In the men’s prone rifle event Matt Emmons widened his lead from 4.6 points to 11.3 as Dempster Christenson, much like Beard, failed to qualify for the final and scored just 617 for the day. Emmons’ 625 in qualification was fourth best in the field and by winning the final he actually had the top score of the day with 633 points. David Higgins moved up from third to second but with such a talented veteran shooter in front of him he’ll be hard pressed to overtake him on the final day.

Finally in the men’s free pistol competition Jay Shi was five points better than anyone else in the field in qualification and despite coming in fifth in the final still leads by nine points with 1127 going into the final day. Will Brown struggled to just 545 in qualification so despite winning the final he dropped from one point back to 13 points back in third place. Jason Turner went from third to second by posting the second best qualification score and then finishing third in the final.

With the closest competition being the seven point gap in the women’s three pistol rifle it will be interesting to see if anyone can make a run at the leaders to steal an Olympic spot on the final day. Qualification shooting begins at 9 AM ET with the finals at 1 PM ET. There is no live scoring so the best place to get quick results may be the USA Shooting Facebook page or their twitter account, @USAShooting.

Olympic Trials, Rio 2016 Olympic Trials, Shooting

Jay Shi, Matt Emmons, Sarah Beard Lead in Race for Olympic Spots After 1st Day of Shooting Trials

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The first of three days of competition in the Olympic Trials for the women’s three-position rifle, the men’s prone rifle, and the men’s free pistol is complete and the leaders have been established.

Scoring is extremely tight in the women’s three-position rifle competition with Sarah Beard leading with 594 points, to 592 for Sarah Scherer and Virginia Thrasher. Beard is the reigning US National Champion while Scherer represented the US in the air rifle competition at the London Olympics. Amanda Furrer, who represented the US in this event in London is in 5th with 581 points. Amy Sowash, who earned the Olympic quota in the event for the US, had a disappointing 573 on day.

In the men’s prone rifle event Matt Emmons, the 2004 gold medalist and 2008 silver medalist, got off to a great start scoring 637.7 on day one. Dempster Christenson sits in second having scored 633.1 and David Higgins is in 3rd with 628. Eric Uptagrafft’s bid for back-to-back Olympic appearances in the event is in trouble as he finds himself in 6th with 624.1.

Finally in the men’s free pistol competition the leader by a single point is Jay Shi with 562 points. Will Brown sits just a point behind at 561 while Jason Turner finds himself in 3rd at 556. 2012 Olympian in this event Nick Mowrer is in 4th with 555. James Henderson, who earned the quota spot for the US, is in 5th with 550.

Competition will continue on Sunday before wrapping up with the nominations secured on Monday.

Shooting

Five Olympic Shooting Spots to be Determined Over Next Week in Ft. Benning, Georgia

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While a few athletes having clinched spots during the last year of international competition, most the USA Shooting team is still yet to be selected. Starting Saturday in Ft. Benning, Georgia five more spots on the USA Shooting Oympic team will be determined. Competitions to determine the Olympian in the women’s three-position rifle, the men’s prone rifle, and the men’s free pistol will run from Saturday through Monday while competitions in the women’s sport pistol and the men’s rapid fire pistol run Wednesday through Friday. Each competition consists of three days of qualifying followed by daily finals competition with cumulative scores being used to decide the representative. Qualifying is at 9 AM ET daily with finals beginning at 1 PM ET.

The women’s three-position rifle competition is the most crowded with 16 competitors taking part. The men’s prone rifle follows closely with 15 competitors while the men’s free pistol competition has just nine.

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Olympic Review – August 6th

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Athletics

None of the Americans were able to make the discus throw final as Jason Young (62.18m – 18th), Jarred Rome (59.57m – 31st), and Lance Brooks (61.17m – 21st) were not able to reach the top 12 (63.55m).

In the women’s 100m hurdles 1st round Kellie Wells (12.69-1st), Dawn Harper (12.75-2nd), and Lolo Jones (12.68-1st) all advanced from their heats to the semifinals on Tuesday.

In the women’s shot put qualification round Michelle Carter advanced to the evening final as her 18.63m throw was 8th best. Jillian Camarena-Williams finished 16th (18.22m) and Tia Brooks finished 20th (17.72m).

Next in the men’s 800m 1st round Khadevis Robinson failed to advance (4th-1:47.17), while Nick Symmonds (1st-1:45.91) and Duane Solomon (1st-1:46.05) both advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals.

Then the women’s 1500m 1st round,where Shannon Rowbury (7th – 4:06.03), Jennifer Simpson (6th – 4:13.81) and Morgan Uceny (2nd – 4:06.87) all advanced to Wednesday’s semifinals.

In the women’s pole vault final next week Becky Holliday only made it to 4.45m and was eliminated there. Jennifer Suhr was excellent as the competition progressed and only missed one jump before missing all there at 4.8m. She won the gold as she and Yarisley Silva both cleared 4.75m but Silva had more misses overall.

In the women’s shot put final Michelle Carter was able to make the top eight and earn three more throws but only finished 6th with 19.42m.

In the women’s 200m 1st round heats. Allyson Felix (1st – 22.71), Carmelita Jeter (1st – 22.65), and Sanya Richards-Ross (1st – 22.48) all won their heats to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal.

Then in the semifinals of the women’s 400m hurdles. T’Erea Brown (3rd – 54.21), Lashinda Demus (1st – 54.08), and Georganne Moline (2nd – 54.74) all advanced to the final on Wednesday.

Next in the men’s 400m hurdles the US earned a medal as Michael Tinsley ran a personal best 47.91 to earn the silver. Angelo Taylor finished 5th in 48.25 and Kerron Clement finished in 8th at 49.15.

Finally in the women’s 3000m steeplechase Emma Coburn finished 9th with a a personal best 9:23.54 and Bridget Franek finished 14th in 9:45.51.

Basketball

the US finished 1st in their group and continued their mostly strong play by dominating Argentina en route to a 126-97 victory. The US now faces Australia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Beach Volleyball

The US will not medal in beach volleyball as their final team of Jacob Gibb/Sean Rosenthal lost to Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins of Lativa in the quarterfinals 19-21, 21-18, 15-11. They nearly had the 2nd set but a late run by the Latvians tied it at one set a piece for the Latvians stormed out to an early lead in the 3rd set and never looked back.

Boxing

The Americans finally had some more success in boxing on Monday as Marlen Esparza beat Karlha Magliocco of Venezuela 24-16 in the flyweight quarterfinals while Claressa Shields beat Anna Laurell of Sweden 18-14 in the middleweight quarterfinals.

Both are now guaranteed medals as both semifinalist losers will get a bronze medal. Esparza will be in a semifinal against Cancan Ren of China while Shields will face Marina Volnova of Kazakhstan. Bout bout will be on Wednesday.

Cycling

Sarah Hammer had a fantastic first day of the omnium and finds herself in a tie for 1st place with Laura Trott of Great Britain with 12 points each as they head to the 2nd day and the final three events.  Hammer came in 5th place in the 250m “Flying Lap” time trial with a time of 14.369. She scored 25 points in the points race to finish 5th as well. Finally in the elimination race she was 2nd only to Laura Trott. Tomorrow she’ll be in the individual pursuit, scratch race, and time trial.

Diving

Chris Colwill and Tony Dumais were in the preliminary round of men’s 3m springboard diving on Monday and both advanced easily. Dumais finished in 3rd with 486.60 points and Chris Colwill finished 7th with 461.35 points. They are in the semifinals on Tuesday now.

Equestrian

On the 3rd day of equestrian jumping the US had both of their individual competitors slip up but still qualify for the individual jumping final. Rich Fellers on Flexible picked up 8 penalties and now is in 11th overall while McLain Ward on Antares had 8 penalties to reach 12 total and is in 26th.  Others on the team were Beezie Madden on Via Volo who had 4 more penalties to reach 8 and Reed Kessler on Cylana who had 12 penalties to finish with 20 total. The US thus ended up with 28 total penalties through the 2 days and finished 6th.

Field Hockey

The US won’t be advancing to the women’s field hockey knockout round and they finished the group stage in horrible fashion losing 7-0 to South Africa. The US ended up last in the group despite being the only team to beat 1st place Argentina they will face Belgium in the 11-12 match on Friday.

Gymnastics

In the women’s gymnastics uneven bars final Gabby Douglas had an off day and Gabby Douglas finished 8th with a score of 14.900. In the men’s gymnastics vault final Samuel Mikulak finished 5th with a score of 16.050.

Sailing

In the men’s 470 Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl finished 6th in race #7 and 18th in race #8. They are now in 17th with 97 points, 31 points behind 10th with two races left on Tuesday.

In the 49er Erik Storck/Trevor Moore finished 8th in race #14 and 17th in race #15. They finished in 15th overall with 157 points, 22 behind 10th.

Finally Paige Railey finished 6th in the laser radial medal race and ended up in 8th overall.

Shooting

In the men’s 50m rifle 3 position qualification round Matthew Emmons finished 2nd with 1172 points to make the final while Jason Parker finished 30th with 1159 points.  In the final Emmons was in silver position with one shot left when he shot a 7.6 to finish 3rd. It was another disappointment for Emmons but he does at least get a medal in the event finally.

Women’s Soccer

In the women’s soccer semifinals the US engaged in an epic semifinal with Canada. Christine Sinclair got the Canadians off to a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute. The US would be behind for quite a while but got the 2nd half off to a good start when Megan Rapinoe scored directly from a corner kick in the 54th minute. Canada answered with a Christine Sinclair header in the 67th minute. The US struck right back when Rapinoe scored AGAIN with a great shot rifled from just inside the box. The Canadians scored a 3rd time when Sinclair completed a hat trick in the 73rd minute on another header. In the 79th minute the US got a controversial indirect free kick inside the box and drew a penalty for hand ball after they shot. Abby Wambach converted the penalty and we went to extra time tied at three. In the extra time both teams traded attacks but Alex Morgan provided the winning goal in the 3rd additional minute of the 2nd half of extra time when she headed in a cross to send the US to the gold medal final against Japan on Thursday.

Synchronized Swimming

The US duo of Mary Killman/Mariya Koroleva managed to finish in 10th and make the final, just 2 points ahead of the Brazilian duo.

Volleyball

The men’s volleyball team easily defeated Tunisia 25-15, 25-19, 25-19 to win their group in the group stage. They will now face Italy in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Water Polo

In the men’s water polo group stage the US ended their round with another disappointing performance as they lost to Hungary 11-6. They finished 4th in the group and will face undefeated Croatia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Wrestling

The US had three wrestlers going on Monday. Edward Charles Betts took on Keitani Graham of Micronesia in the 84kg division qualification round and won 6-0, 1-0 to move on to the round of 16.  In the round of 16 he faced Pablo Enrique Shorey Hernandez 1-0, 1-0 to end his Olympics.

Ellis E Coleman took on Ivo Serafimov Angelov of Bulgaria in the 60kg division qualification round and lost 1-0, 7-1 to end his Olympics.

Dremiel Deshon Byers took on Muminjon Abdullaev of Uzbekistan in the 120kg round of 16 and won 1-0, 2-0 to move into the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals he lost to Riza Kayaalp of Turkey to end his Olympics.

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Olympic Preview – August 6th

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The day will get started at 4 AM when the men’s 50m riffle three position qualification beings. It ends at 5:15 PM with the men’s basketball game vs. Argentina.

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

Athletics will start off at 5 AM with the men’s discus throw qualification. Jason Young, Jarred Rome, and Lance Brooks will compete for the US trying to reach the top 12 and make the finals. Each gets three throws.

Next is the women’s 100m hurdles with Kellie Wells (5:19 AM), Dawn Harper (5:26 AM), and Lolo Jones (5:40 AM) in separate heats in round 1. Top three finishes in their heats will give them semifinal berths.

Next at 5:45 AM the women’s shot put qualification will begin. Jillian Camarena-Williams, Michelle Carter, and Tia Brooks are in the field for the US.  Top 12 move on the finals in the afternoon. Each gets three throws.

Then on the track the men’s 800m 1st round will take place with Khadevis Robinson (5:50 AM), Nick Symmonds (6:14 AM) and Duane Solomon (6:38 PM).  Top 3 spots in the heats earn berths in the semifinals.

After that will be the women’s 1500m, again the 1st round, where Shannon Rowbury (6:50 AM), Jennifer Simpson (7:01 AM) and Morgan Uceny (7:12 AM) will all be in different heats. If they finish in the top 3 they will advance to the semifinals.

At 2 PM the women’s pole vault final will be held with Jennifer Suhr and Becky Holliday competing for the US.  Each gets three attempts at the given height as they increase the height throughout the final.

Next at 2:15 PM the women’s shot put final will be held, hopefully with a US competitor or two or three. Each competitor will get three throws. After that the top eight will get three more throws.

Then the women’s 200m begins with the round 1 heats. Allyson Felix (2:28 PM), Carmelita Jeter (2:36 PM), and Sanya Richards-Ross (2:44 PM) will all be in different heat. Top three finishes will move them into the semifinals.

After that will be the semifinals of the women’s 400m hurdles. T’Erea Brown (3:15 PM), Lashinda Demus (3:23 PM), and Georganne Moline (3:31 PM) will be competing in seperate heats with the top two moving to the finals.

Next will be the final of the men’s 400m hurdles at 3:45 PM with Kerron Clement, Angelo Taylor, and Michael Tinsley in the final for the US.

Finally the women’s 3000m steeplechase will be at 4:05 PM. Emma Coburn and Bridget Franek will be in the final for the US.

Athletics will be on NBC from 10-10:30 AM, 12:15-12:45 PM, 1:30-1:50 PM, 4:15-4:30 PM, and on NBC in primetime from 8-12 PM.

5 AM – Men’s Athletics – Discus Throw – Qualification
5:19 AM – Women’s Athletics – 100m Hurdles – Kellie Wells – Round 1 – Heat 3
5:26 AM – Women’s Athletics – 100m Hurdles – Dawn Harper – Round 1 – Heat 4
5:40 AM – Women’s Athletics – 100m Hurdles – Lolo Jones – Round 1 – Heat 6
5:45 AM – Women’s Athletics – Shot Put – Qualification
5:50 AM – Men’s Athletics – 800m – Khadevis Robinson – Round 1 – Heat 1
6:14 AM – Men’s Athletics – 800m – Nick Symmonds – Round 1 – Heat 4
6:38 AM – Men’s Athletics – 800m – Duane Solomon – Round 1 – Heat 7
6:50 AM – Women’s Athletics – 1500m – Shannon Rowbury – Round 1 – Heat 1
7:01 AM – Women’s Athletics – 1500m – Jennifer Simpson – Round 1 – Heat 2
7:12 AM – Women’s Athletics – 1500m – Morgan Uceny – Round 1 – Heat 3
2 PM – Women’s Athletics – Pole Vault – Final
2:15 PM – Women’s Athletics – Shot Put – Final
2:28 PM – Women’s Athletics – 200m – Allyson Felix – Round 1 – Heat 2
2:36 PM – Women’s Athletics – 200m – Carmelita Jeter – Round 1 – Heat 3
2:44 PM – Women’s Athletics – 200m – Sanya Richards-Ross – Round 1 – Heat 4
3:15 PM – Women’s Athletics – 400m Hurdles – T’Erea Brown – Semifinals – Heat 1
3:23 PM – Women’s Athletics – 400m Hurdles – Lashinda Demus – Semifinals – Heat 2
3:31 PM – Women’s Athletics – 400m Hurdles – Georganne Moline – Semifinals – Heat 3
3:45 PM – Men’s Athletics – 400m Hurdles – Final
4:05 PM – Women’s Athletics – 3000m Steeplechase – Final

Basketball

The US would be first in their group with a victory over Argentina at 5:15 PM. With a loss they could find themselves tied and in 2nd or 3rd with France and Argentina.

Basketball will be LIVE on NBC Sports Network and the Special Basketball channel from 5:15-7:15 PM.

5:15 PM – USA Men’s Basketball vs. Argentina

Beach Volleyball

At 2 PM the men’s beach volleyball quarterfinals will be contested between Jacob Gibb/Sean Rosenthal and Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins of Lativa. The Latvians won Group G.

The men’s beach volleyball match will be shown on NBC in primetime from 8-12 PM.

2 PM – Men’s Beach Volleyball – Jacob Gibb/Sean Rosenthal vs. Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins – Quarterfinals

Boxing

The Americans have two more boxing bouts on Monday as Marlen Esparza takes on Karlha Magliocco of Venezuela at 8:45 AM in the flyweight quarterfinals while Claressa Shields takes on Anna Laurell of Sweden in the middleweight quarterfinals at 10:45 AM.

The Marlen Esparza match will be shown LIVE on NBC Sports Network during coverage from 8:30-9:45 AM. There will be tape delayed coverage on NBC Sports Network from 2-2:30 PM and CNBC from 5-8 PM.

8:45 AM – Women’s Boxing – Flyweight – Marlen Esparza vs. Karlha Magliocco – Quarterfinals
10:45 AM – Women’s Boxing – Middleweight – Claressa Shields vs. Anna Laurell – Quarterfinals

Cycling

Sarah Hammer will be competing in the women’s omnium starting on Monday. She’ll take part in the 250km time trial at 11:08 AM, the 20km points race at 12:06 PM, and the elimination race at 1:18 PM.

There will be coverage from 2:10-2:30 PM on NBC.

11:08 AM – Women’s Cycling – Track – Omnium – 250m Time Trial (Flying Lap)
12:06 PM – Women’s Cycling – Track – Omnium – 20km Points Race
1:18 PM – Women’s Cycling – Track – Omnium – Elimination Race

Diving

Chris Colwill and Tony Dumais will be competing in the men’s diving 3m springboard preliminaries on Monday at 2 PM. If they finish in the top 18 they will move on to the semifinals on Tuesday.

Diving coverage will be on NBC in primetime from 8-12 PM.

2 PM – Men’s Diving – 3m Springboard – Preliminary Round

Equestrian

Entering Monday Rich Fellers on Flexible is in 1st with 0 penalties and McLain Ward on Antares is in 17th with 4 penalties as they enter the 3rd round of individual qualifying. The team is in 7th with 8 penalties as they enter the 2nd team round. Beezie Madden on Via Volo and Reed Kessler on Cylana will compete for the team as well. The team will have it’s final place by adding its day 2 score to the 8 from day 1. If Fellers and Ward are in the top 35 still after the 3rd round they will advance to the individual qualifying 4th round. Everything gets underway at 9 AM.

Equestrian coverage will be from 2:30-3 PM and 4:30-5 PM on NBC.

9 AM – Equestrian – Jumping – 3rd Qualifying Round/2nd Team Qualifying Round

Field Hockey

The US won’t be advancing to the women’s field hockey knockout round but they will be finishing up their group stage with a 5:45 AM match against South Africa.

The field hockey match is on NBC Sports Network LIVE from 5:45-6:15 AM.

5:45 AM – Women’s Field Hockey vs. South Africa – Group Stage

Gymnastics

The US will see Gabrielle Douglas go for the women’s uneven bars final at 9:50 AM. They will also have Samuel Mikulak in the men’s vault final at 10:41 AM.

The gymnastics will be covered on NBC in primetime from 8-12 PM.

9:50 AM – Women’s Gymnastics – Uneven Bars Final
10:41 AM – Men’s Gymnastics – Vault Final

Sailing

Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl are in 18th heading to the 7th (7 AM) and 8th (8:30 AM) races of the men’s 470 on Tuesday.

Erik Storck/Trevor Moore are still in contention for the men’s 49er as they head to race #14 (10 AM) and race #15 (11 AM). They are in  15th as they head to the final 2 races, 15 points behind the 10th spot.

Finally Paige Railey will be in 9th as she starts the laser radial medal race.

No sailing coverage on TV.

7 AM – Men’s Sailing – 470 – Race 7
8 AM – Women’s Sailing – Laser Radial – Medal Race
8:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – 470 – Race 8
10 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 14
11 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 15

Shooting

Matthew Emmons and Jason Parker will be in the men’s shooting 50m rifle three positions qualification starting at 4 AM. If they finish in the top 8 they will advance to the afternoon final.

There will be 50m rifle three position coverage on NBC Sports Network from 11:30AM-12 PM.

4 AM – Men’s Shooting – 50m Rifle Three Position – Qualification
8:45 AM – Men’s Shooting – 50m Rifle Three Position – Final

Women’s Soccer

The women’s soccer team will be in the semifinals on Monday when they take on Canada at 2:45 PM. The US hasn’t lost to Canada in ages and are heavy favorites to make the final.

The US Soccer game will be on NBC Sports Network LIVE from 2:45-4:45 PM.

2:45 PM – Women’s Soccer – Canada – Semifinals

Volleyball

The men’s volleyball team wraps up group stage when they play Tunisia on Monday at 3 PM. The US is a top their group right now and is looking to lock that up.

3 PM – Men’s Volleyball – Tunisia – Group Stage

Water Polo

In the men’s water polo group stage the US is currently in 2nd place behind Serbia and will wrap things up with a match against Hungary at 10:30 AM on Monday.

The men’s water polo match will be on NBC LIVE from 10:30-11:45 AM.

10:30 AM – Men’s Water Polo – Hungary – Group Stage

Wrestling

The US has three wrestlers going on Monday. Edward Charles Betts takes on Keitani Graham of Micronesia in the 84kg division qualification round at 8 AM.  Ellis E Coleman takes on Ivo Serafimov Angelov of Bulgaria in the 60kg division qualification round at 8:09 AM. Dremiel Deshon Byers takes on Muminjon Abdullaev of Uzbekistan in the 120kg round of 16.

Wrestling is on MSNBC from 11:15AM-12:15PM and LIVE on MSNBC from 2:30-3:30 PM.

8 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 84kg – Edward Charles Betts vs. Keitani Graham – Qualification
8:09 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 60kg – Ellis E Coleman vs. Ivo Serafimov Angelov – Qualification
8:27 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 60kg – Round of 16
8:36 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 84kg – Round of 16
8:54 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 120kg – Dremiel Deshon Byers vs. Muminjon Abdullaev – Round of 16
9:39 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 60kg – Quarterfinals
9:48 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 84kg – Quarterfinals
9:48 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 120kg – Quarterfinals
10:15 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 60kg – Semifinals
10:24 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 84kg – Semifinals
10:24 AM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 120kg – Semifinals
12:45 PM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 60kg – Repechage & Bronze Finals
12:45 PM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 84kg – Repechage & Bronze Finals
12:45 PM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 120kg – Repechage & Bronze Finals
1:46 PM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 60kg – Gold Final
2:21 PM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 84kg – Gold Final
2:56 PM – Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling – 120kg – Gold Final

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Olympic Review – August 5th

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Athletics

In the women’s marathon this morning the US saw Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher hang with the leaders for most of the race. As the marathon came down to it’s final miles though the leaders pulled away and left Flanagan and Goucher to finish 10th and 11th. American Desiree Davila really wanted to start and did, but she pulled out quickly after that with the injuries she’s been dealing with lately.

In the women’s 400m hurdles in the afternoon the US got all three of their athletes, T’Erea Brown, Lashinda Demus, and Georganne Moline into the semifinals scheduled for Monday.

All three Americans qualified for Tuesday’s men’s high jump final on Sunday. Erik Kynard and Jesse Williams jumped the highest height reached, 2.29m, while Jamie Nieto jumped 2.26m without missing to reach the final in a tiebreaker with the others that didn’t clear 2.29m.

Then in the men’s 1500m Andrew Wheating and Leonel Manzano were in the first heat and we saw Leonel Manzano come on late to finish 4th and qualify for the final. Andrew Wheating finished 9th and was eliminated. In the second heat Matthew Centrowitz pulled into position late and finished 5th to qualify for the final. Manzano and Centrowitz will be in the final on Tuesday.

In the men’s hammer throw final Kibwe Johnson’s best throw of 74.95m in the first three was just shy of the 8th place distance, 75.84, and saw him eliminated in 9th place.

The Americans only had two competitors in the men’s 400m semifinals. The men’s 400m is an event the US has dominated for years.  Today was not their day though… in the 1st round LaShawn Merritt had been injured and unable to complete his race. In the 2nd heat today Tony McQuay couldn’t keep up down the stretch and finished in 4th. Then in the 3rd heat Bryshon Nellum nearly went quick enough. However his 45.02 was .03 slower than necessary to get him into the final and the Americans were shutout. This is remarkable considering in Beijing and Athens the US swept the men’s 400m medals. Excluding the boycotted Moscow games in 1980 the last time the US didn’t have the gold medalist in the event was 1976. The last time the US didn’t have a medalist at all was 1920. And the last time the US didn’t have a finalist… well that had never happened until today.

The US did stack the field in the women’s 400m final with DeeDee Trotter, Sanya Richards-Ross, and Francena McCorory. In the end it was Sanya Richards-Ross that flew down the track the quickest and won the race in 49.55. DeeDee Trotter finished third in 49.72 to give the US two medals in the event.

After that in the 3000m final Evan Jager and Donald Cabral led a lot of the way but late on they faded and finished 6th (Jager) and 8th (Cabral) within 8 seconds of the leader.

The final event of the day was the men’s 100m final. Having qualified Tyson Gay, Justin Gatlin and Ryan Bailey it wasn’t clear who would challenge Usain Bolt, but the Americans had a few that could try. In the end they weren’t able to beat Bolt, but then again no human has ever ran as fast as he did, other than himself. His 9.63 was an Olympic Record and overshadowed great runs of 9.79 by Justin Gatlin (3rd and a personal best), 9.80 by Tyson Gay (4th and a season best), and 9.88 by Ryan Bailey (5th and a personal best).

Basketball

The US women take on China in their final group stage game and after being close early they blew the Chinese out of the gym, winning 114-66 to lock up 1st place in their group. They will face Canada in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Beach Volleyball

The beach volleyball competitions had the quarterfinals today and it was a great day for the Americans. First Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh Jennings solidly beat Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti of Italy 21-13, 21-13 to move into Tuesday’s semifinals. Their opponent on Tuesday will be Chen Xue/Xi Zhang of China. Later April Ross/Jennifer Kessy beat Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic 25-23, 21-18 in a really close match to move into the semifinals on Tuesday. At least one of these two will medal at this point.

Boxing

The US saw their first female boxer get underway on Sunday and saw her tournament come to an end as Queen Underwood was defeated 21-13 by Natasha Jonas of Great Britain in the lightweight round of 16.

Cycling

In men’s cycling Bobby Lea wrapped up the omnium by finishing 11th in the 4km individual pursuit, 7th in the 15km scratch race, and 13th in the 1km time trial. This left him in 12th at the end of the omnium with 61 points.

In the men’s sprint Jimmy Watkins lost twice to Shane Perkins of Australia in the quarterfinals, ending his chance at a medal. Instead he was in the 5th-8th place race and finished to end the individual sprint competition in 6th place.

Diving

There were high hopes today that Christina Loukas or Cassidy Krug could add another medal to the US’s already successful diving haul in London, both those hopes were dashed as both women has some disappointing dives and ended up finishing 7th (Krug) and 8th (Loukas).

Equestrian

In the equestrian competition the 2nd day of jumping took place. McLain Ward on Antares and Beezie Madden on Via Volo both finished with 4 penalties. Ward now has 4 overall and is 17th in the individual competition while Madden was eliminated from the individual competition on Saturday in the first round. Reed Kessler on Cylana had a few problems and finished with 9 penalties, placing her in 47th and eliminating her from the individual competition. That meant Rich Fellers on Flexible needed a great ride to keep the US in the team competition by placing them in the top eight. He had a perfect ride and it was just enough as the US ended up in 8th, 2 points clear of 9th place Mexico. All four riders will ride tomorrow in the team jumping final while Fellers and Ward will hope their scores keep them in the top 35 in the individual competition to make the individual 4th round.

Fencing

In men’s team foil the US started off slow against France falling behind 20-13 after four matches. They steadily came back and were down 30-24 when Gerek Meinhardt turned things around with an 11-1 bout win to give the US a 35-31 which they never relinquished en route to a 45-39 victory in the quarterfinals. Things didn’t go as well after that as the US lost 45-24 to Italy in the semifinals and 45-27 to Germany in the bronze medal match and finished 4th overall.

Gymnastics

Two Americans were involved in individual apparatus competitions on Sunday. Jacob Dalton finished 5th overall in the men’s floor final with a score of 15.333 while McKayla Maroney finished 2nd in the women’s vault final with a score of 15.083 after she fell on her 2nd vault attempt’s landing. It was a disappointing finish for Maroney who was a heavy favorite in the event.

Sailing

In the women’s RS-X competition Farrah Hall finished her event by finishing in 16th in both the 9th and 10th races. She ended up with 173 points and finished in 20th place.

Her counterpart, Robert Willis, finished in 11th and 30th in the 9th and 10th races and finished in 22nd overall with 179 points.

In 49er racing Erik Storck/Trevor Moore were 10th entering Sunday’s race but placed 20th and 17th in the 12th and 13th races to really hurt their chances of making the medal race. They are in 15th with 132 points and would need to climb to 10th (117 points) during the final two races on Monday.

In the women’s 470 Amanda Clark/Sarah Lihan were in 4th heading into Sunday’s races but finished 19th and 20th (out of 20) to fall to 8th place with a total of 41 points. Races 7 and 8 will be on Tuesday.

Mark Mendelblatt/Brian Fatih took part in the star’s medal race. They finished in 6th place and ended the competition in 7th overall.

Shooting

In the men’s 50m pistol qualifying round Sunday morning Nickolaus Mowrer finished 15th with 558 points and Daryl Szarenski finished 28th with 550 points. Mowrer had a great final round to end up within one point of being involved in the tiebreaker for the final spot in the final.

Tennis

The US went for three medals at Wimbledon on Sunday. First Serena Williams/Venus Williams took on Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic for the women’s doubles gold. The sister had a bit more trouble than Serena did in her single’s final, but still won the match 6-4, 6-4 to take home their 3rd doubles gold medal.

Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond faced Maria Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova of Russia for the women’s doubles bronze. After winning the first set 6-4 they lose the 2nd set 6-4 and lost the 3rd set 6-1 to miss out on medaling in London.

Finally the mixed doubles bronze medal final between Lisa Raymond/Mike Bryan and Sabine Lisicki/Christopher Kas of Germany took place and Lisa Raymond ended up with a medal after all as they beat the Germans 6-3, 4-6, [10]-[4].

Volleyball

The US women had already locked up the top spot in their group but they finished it in style beating Turkey in straight sets (27-25, 25-16, 25-19). The US will now face the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Water Polo

The US women won their quarterfinal matchup fairly easily against Italy, 9-6 and now they will face Australia in the semifinals on Tuesday.  Australia finished 3-0 atop their group but struggled to beat 0-3 China today in the quarterfinals.

Weightlifting

There were two women competing for the US in +75kg weightlifting today. Holley Mangold lifted 105kg in the snatch and 135kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 140kg, placing her 10th. Sarah Robles lifted 120 kg in the snatch and 145kg in the clean and jerk, placing her 7th overall with 265kg.

Weightlifting

In men’s 55kg greco-roman wrestling Spenser Thomas Mango advanced from the qualification round by beating Abouhalima Abouhalima of Egypt 3PP-1.  Then in the round of 16 he lost to Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan 3PO-0.  Because Bayramov made the gold medal final Spenser Thomas Mango got into the repechage bracket and faced Mingiyan Semenov of Russia but lost 3PO-0.

In the men’s 74kg greco-roman wrestling Benjamin Provisor beat Cuba’s Bel Alexei 3PP-1 in the qualification round. He was then eliminated by Zurabi Datunashvili 3PO-0 in the round of 16.

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Olympic Preview – August 5th

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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

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Olympic Review – August 2nd

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Archery

Khatuna Lorig took part in the women’s individual competition on Thursday starting with the round of 16.  In the round of 16 she took on Ming Cheng of China. She got out to a 3-3 tie after three sets before winning the final two to advance 7-3 (29-26, 27-27, 26-28, 30-28, 26-25). She moved into the quarterfinals where she took on Berengere Schuh of France. After trading sets to start Khatuna Lorig seized control and won the match in sets three and four. She advanced 6-2 (27-25, 25-26, 26-29, 25-24). In the semifinals Lorig took on Bo Bae Ki of Korea. Lorig gave it a great try and only lost the total score 107-105 but lost the match 6-2 (28-28, 29-28, 23-23, 27-26). Relegated to trying to win a bronze medal Lorig took on Mariana Avitia of Mexico. Avitia was up 4-0 quickly but Lorig almost got a comeback going before being derailed by a 6 in set 4. She lost 6-2 (30-27, 24-22, 24-25, 26-24). It was a tough result for Lorig who came close to a medal in her 5th Olympics but ended up just short.

Basketball

It was a record setting night for the US in basketball. The US set records for 3 point field goals (29) and points by a US player (37 by Carmelo Anthony) in an Olympic record 156-73 victory over Nigeria. The 83 point win is not an Olympic record (100) but is astounding. The US has an incredible +157 point differential after 3 games. They next face 4th place Lithuania on Saturday.

Beach Volleyball

In the first match of the day April Ross/Jennifer Kessy took on Baquerizo McMillan/Fernandez Steinerl of Spain. The two teams were 1-2 in the group and guaranteed of advancing to the knockout round. They played an extremely competitive game that should prepare both teams for the knockout round. Ross/Kessy advanced after being tested, 21-19, 19-21, 19-17.

In the second match Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers took on Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala of the Czech Republic. The US needed a win or a high scoring loss to advance to the knockout round. They did just that winning 21-13, 21-15 to go 3-0 in the group stage and win group B.

Boxing

Jose Ramirez got things underway for the US on Thursday when he faced Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan in the lightweight round of 16. He fought a hard match and didn’t fold but was defeated 15-11.  Next in the middleweight round of 16 Terrell Gausha took on Vijender of India. Guasha fell behind by a point in the 1st round and drew the two remaining rounds to lose the match 16-15. He brought a lot of energy to the match and it’s sad to see him exit this quickly.

Equestrian

The only US rider to compete in the dressage competition on Thursday was Jan Ebeling on Rafalca. Ebeling had a good routine and scored a 70.243, good enough for 13th after day 1.

Fencing

In the women’s team foil event on Thursday the US didn’t really have many close matches. In their first match they took on Korea in the quarterfinals and were soundly beaten 45-31. That sent them into the classification bracket for 5th through 8th spots. The US beat Japan 44-22 in the first match before losing to Poland 45-39 in the 5-6 Placement match.  They finished 6th in the competition.

Field Hockey

In a crucial game in the group stage of field hockey the US gave up a first half goal to Australia and never could score despite several opportunities. The loss knocked the US to 1-2 and put them in a tight situation when it comes to qualifying from the group. The US is now in 5th with 3 points while Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and Germany all have 6 points.  Even with two wins from their remaining two games the US will probably come up just short unless some ties happen. They next play New Zealand on Saturday.

Gymnastics

The women’s gymnastics individual all-around was Wednesday and Gabby Douglas and Alex Raisman were the US gymnasts who took on the Russians. In a battle for the top Gabby Douglas and Victoria Komova made very few mistakes as they traded great routines. It all came down to the floor routine. Needing a score over 15.3 Victoria Komova put on what has to be the floor routine of her life, it was a beauty. It wasn’t quite enough though and she lost the gold medal to Gabby Douglas.  The other battle was between Alex Raisman and Aliya Mustafina. Raisman came out and put up decent scores on both the uneven bars and balance beam, dropping points for some mistakes on the balance beam. She seemed to be in position to win the bronze though, and was until the floor routine. On the floor routine, needing 15.133 to tie,  she hit a 15.133 after leaving a move out of her final pass. She did not get a bronze medal though as the tiebreaker is the total after dropping the worst score. Mustafina’s score was marred by falling off the balance beam so she won the tiebreaker for 3rd and got the bronze.

Judo

It was a historic day for the United States in judo. Early on Kyle Vashukulat faced Ramziddin Sayidov of Uzbekistan in the 100kg round of 32.  Vashukulat was beaten by an ippon for Sayidov to end the American’s day pretty early.

Attention then turned to Kayla Harrison is in the women’s 78kg event. She started things off in the round of 16 against Vera Moskalyuk of Russia getting an ippon in just 56 seconds. In the quarterfinals she took on Abigel Joo of Hungary. After falling behind when Joo got a Waza-ari, Harrison rallied when Joo seemed to be injured. Joo was limping around the ring but Harrison couldn’t afford to take mercy on her and didn’t, getting an ippon to end the match.

Next in the semifinals Harrison faced Mayra Aguiar of Brazil and sought to become the first American woman to ever appear in the women’s judo final. Harrison picked up a yuko and held on to that lead before getting an ippon late to advance to the gold medal final. In the gold medal final against Gemma Gibbons of Brazil Kayla won two yukos and held that score til the end, defeating the Brit to win the first ever gold medal in judo for the United States.

Rowing

The first boat in competition on Thursday was the US men’s lightweight four crew in Final B. The US game in 2nd among the six boats to finish in 8th place overall.

The second boat was the men’s four. The four boat was in semifinal A/B 2 on Thursday and rowed great,winning their heat, to advance to Final A on Saturday.

Next the US team of Kristin Hedstrom/Julie Nichols in the women’s lightweight double sculls finished 4th in their heat by around 2.5 seconds to Germany. They will now be in Final B on Saturday.

Then Genevra Stone was in Semifinal A/B 2 of the women’s single sculls competition. Stone finished 4th in her heat by a little over 6 seconds and will be in Final B on Saturday.

Finally the women’s eight team went out and won themselves a gold medal with a great row in the final.  They held off a late challenge by Canada to win by over a second and become Olympic champions!

Sailing

Finn – Zach Railey finished 12th and 8th in races 7 and 8. Now in 12th with 68 points, 5 behind 10th and 34 behind 3rd. Races 9 and 10 are on Friday.

Men’s 470 – Stuart McNary/Graham Biehl finished 17th and 22nd in races 1 and 2. Now in 21st place with 39 points, 17 behind 10th. Races 3 and 4 are on Friday.

49er – Erick Storck/Trevor Moore finished 20th and 18th in races 7 and 8. They are now in 13th place with 71 points, 10 behind 10th and 30 behind 3rd. Races 9, 10, and 11 are on Friday.

Star – Mark Mendelblatt/Brian Fatih finished races 7 and 8 in 5th and 10th. They are now in 6th place with 45 points, 23 behind 3rd. Races 9 and 10 are on Friday.

Women’s RS-X – Farrah Hall finished races 5 and 6 in 20th and 22nd. She is now in 20th place with 96 points, 48 behind 10th. Races 7 and 8 are on Saturday.

Men’s RS-X – Robert Willis was black flagged in race 5 and finished race 6 in 28th. He is now in 18th place with 81 points, 22 behind 10th. Races 7 and 8 are on Saturday.

Elliott 6m – The US beat the Netherlands by 3 seconds in a race on Thursday. The US is now 6-3 and in 4th place. They next race last place Sweeden (0-9) and 5th place Great Britain (5-4) on Saturday.

Shooting

The two US in the double trap competition on Thursday came up short in their bid to reach the final. Joshua Richmond scored 131 and finished 16th while Walton Eller scored 126 and finished 22nd. The cutoff score was 137 to be in the top 6.

After day 1 of 25m rapid fire pistol qualification Emil Mielv finds himself in 7th with 292 points and Keith Sanderson is 14th with 288 points. 6th place is currently sitting at 293 points.

Swimming

In the men’s 50m freestyle Anthony Ervin and Cullen Jones had fantastic days. They both moved into the semifinals easily and then in the semifinal swam a great race to finish 1st (Jones) and 3rd (Ervin).  They will swim for gold tomorrow.

In the women’s 800m freestyle Katie Ledecky took an early heat and put up a great time and watched it stand. Her time of 8:23.84 was 3rd fastest on the day and got her into Friday’s final. Kate Ziegler has been fighting sickness since she got to London and finished 21st.

In the men’s 100m butterfly Tyler McGill and Michael Phelps made the semifinals and then Michael Phelps swam a statement race, winning the semifinals with a time of 50.86 and finishing .56 seconds ahead of 2nd. Tyler McGill ended up 3rd at 51.61. They will swim for gold on Friday night.

In the women’s 200m backstroke Elizabeth Beisel and Missy Franklin were dominant and moved on easily from the heats and went 1-2 in the semifinals where Elizabeth Beisel went 2:06.18 and Missy Franklin was only .66 seconds behind her. They race for gold on Friday night.

In the afternoon four medals were contested. First of all in the women’s 200m breaststroke final Rebecca Soni swam for history and wrote her name on the record books. She became the first woman ever to break 2:20 in the 200m breaststroke as she finished in 2:19.59. Her time was 1.13 seconds better than 2nd place as she dominated the field to win gold.  Micah Lawrence was no match for her teammates speed and finished 6th.

 

In the men’s 200m backstroke final Tyler Clary and Ryan Lochte went head-to-head for a medal. Lochte has been getting all the attention but Ryan Lochte backed up his 1st place time from the semifinals by swimming an Olympic record time of 1:53.41. He won the gold by .37 seconds and Lochte was another .16 seconds back with the bronze medal.

Next in the men’s 200m individual medley final Ryan Lochte dueled with Michael Phelps. Phelps showed why he is considered the greatest ever in this race. There was a lot of speculation that Phelps wasn’t ready for these games and that Lochte was the one to beat. Not so fast. Phelps led wire to wire and beat Lochte by .63 seconds to win the event for the 3rd straight Olympic games!

Finally in the women’s 100m freestyle final the US couldn’t reach the medal stand as Missy Franklin finished 5th, .2 seconds behind bronze, and Jessica Hardy finished 8th.

Tennis

The US was busy on Thursday with five matches across five events.  In men’s singles John Isner took on Roger Federer in the quarterfinals and lost 6-4, 7-6 in a game where he was broken for the first time in London.    In men’s doubles Mike Bryan/Bob Bryan won a quarterfinal match against Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram of Israel 7-6, 7-6 including a long 2nd set tiebreak that turned several times. They will now take on Julien Benneteau/Richard Gasquet of France in the semifinals on Friday.

In women’s singles Serena Williams crushed it against Caroline Wozniacki to win 6-0, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Serena advanced to the semifinals where she will face Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. In women’s doubles Venus Williams/Serena Williams beat Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-1, 6-1 to move into a semifinal on Friday against Maria Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova of Russia.

Finally in mixed doubles Liezel Huber/Bob Bryan were defeated 7-6, 6-7, 1-0 in a round of 16 match with Sabine Lisicki/Christopher Kas of Germany to end their run in the tournament.

Volleyball

In men’s volleyball the US came back from a dropped first set to defeated Brazil 3-1 (23-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-17). The win leaves the US alone on top of the group with a 3-0 record. On Saturday they will take on 3rd place Russia who are 2-1.

Water Polo

In water polo the US men emerged from Thursday alone in first place thanks to Serbia tying Montenegro 11-11. The US did their part too of course,  winning 13-7 over Great Britain. Now alone a top the group at 3-0 the US will take on Serbia on Saturday with the US remaining on top with a win or a draw.