Category Archives: Tennis

Tennis, WTA Tour

Four Americans in the Field at the WTA’s Qatar Total Open

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This week is the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Qatar. This event is part of the Premier 5 on the WTA tour and the winner will get 900 ranking points.

Sloane Stephens is the only American in the field who is seeded (#14). The other Americans are Venus Williams (same half as Stephens), Varvara Lepchenko (other half of the draw) and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (same quarter as Lepchenko).

The Draws

This is the route for each American to the final if the higher seeds hold out. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Click to expand.
Qatar Total Open - Singles - 2-9-14

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Fed Cup, Recaps, Tennis

Inexperienced US Team Loses to Italy 3-1 in Fed Cup

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We knew that inexperience would be an issue for the US against Italy but the hope was that the higher ranked American players would at least be able to hold their own on home soil. Well the inexperience won out as the Americans struggled to a 3-1 home loss to World #1 Italy.

Italy’s Karin Knapp dispatched Christina McHale 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the first rubber on Saturday. That wasn’t a huge surprise as Knapp is the higher ranked player. What was a surprise was how soundly Madison Keys was beaten by Camila Giorgi: 6-2, 6-1. That resounding thumping meant the US had to win all three rubbers on Sunday. Keys has struggled at times in big moments, we saw it a few times at the Australian Open, and the 18-year old may have just been in over her head a bit in this one. Plenty of time for her to mature and become a major part of the US team.

Continue reading Inexperienced US Team Loses to Italy 3-1 in Fed Cup →

Fed Cup, Tennis

Inexperience Galore as the US Prepares to Face World #1 Italy in Fed Cup

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It’s the beginning of the 2014 Fed Cup this weekend with the World Group first round and the US begins by hosting the current World #1 Italy in Cleveland. The Fed Cup is a little different than the Davis Cup that the men participated in last weekend in that the World Group in the Fed Cup is split into two halves…  The World Group (the top eight teams) and World Group II (the next eight teams).

This does mean that the process to fall out of the world groups is a bit harder. For the US it would require losing this weekend, losing a playoff in April to fall into the world group II, losing in the first round of World Group II next year, and losing another playoff after that to fall into the Americas Zone. It’s a hard scenario to see unfolding anytime soon, but it also puts some pressure on teams as if you fall out of the top eight you can’t win the Fed Cup the next year. No chance of seeing a team get hot (Great Britain in the Davis Cup?) and come streaking to a title after being out of the top 16 the year before.

For the US the task this weekend is not quite what it appears to be on paper. Yes this is a matchup of the US and Italy who is #1 in the Fed Cup standings right now. But the top players for both teams will not be a part of the tie and so a lot of the luster is gone. World #1 Serena Williams is not playing due to her back injury suffered in the Australian Open. Italy is missing #7 Sara Errani and #14 Roberta Vinci due to concerns about the busy schedule right now. It’s understandable, one of the biggest 10 non-grand slam events on the WTA starts Monday in Qatar. American Sloane Stephens (18th in the world) is still recovering from the wrist injury she suffered a month ago. #22 in the world, Italian Flavia Pennetta also decided not to participate for the travel concerns. And finally American Jamie Hampton (#31) had hip surgery after an injury that forced her to withdraw from the Australian Open before it began.

The US will be without Serena Williams and their next two highest ranked players for their Fed Cup match vs. Italy.
The US will be without Serena Williams and their next two highest ranked players for their Fed Cup match vs. Italy.

Photo Credit: Doha Stadium Plus via Compfight cc

So we have none of the top three players for either country. That actually makes 18-year-old Madison Keys the highest ranked player for either country. She’s currently 37th in the world. The other Americans are Allison Riske (#46), Lauren Davis (#59) and Christina McHale (#62). That’s not so bad when you look at the Italian backups: Karin Knapp (#40), Camila Giorgi (#84), Nastassja Burnett (#161), and Alice Matteucci (#704).

I think the fact that the Fed Cup is being held immediately in advance of a WTA Premier 5 tournament is ridiculous. If you want to make this event mean something, schedule it at better times when the players won’t be so concerned with the following week’s tournament. However this has created a great opportunity for the US and for fans of the young US women’s talent (all four players are 23 or younger) this will be an exciting opportunity to see them play in the Fed Cup.

As of now the schedule… all of this is going to be carried live by Tennis Channel.

Saturday at 1 PM ET.
Rubber 1 – Christina McHale vs. Karin Knapp – McHale leads 1-0 all-time
Rubber 2 – Madison Keys vs. Camila Giorgi – Keys leads 1-0 all-time

Sunday at 12 PM ET.
Rubber 3 – (Likely) – Madison Keys vs. Karin Knapp – Have never played
Rubber 4 – (Likely) – Christina McHale vs. Camila Giorgi – McHale leads 1-0 all-time
Rubber 5 – (Likely) – Allison Riske/Lauren Davis vs. Nastassja Burnett/Alice Matteucci – These pairs have never played together or against any of their opponents.

I put likely on those matchups because the captains (Mary Jo Fernandez for the US) can make changes for that second day still… In fact the doubles players could be changed after the 4th rubber if they wanted.

I think the US will be a favorite with the slightly higher ranked players and the home-court advantage in Cleveland. Hopefully the young Americans (only McHale has played Fed Cup before) can shake off any nerves about playing for the US for the first time.

Davis Cup, Recaps, Tennis

USA Upset by Great Britain in First Round of Davis Cup World Group

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The US entered their first round matchup with Great Britain riding a winning streak of four ties against the Brits and not having lost to them since 1935. Additionally the British hadn’t won a World Group first round tie since 1986. We knew that Andy Murray was a heavy favorite to beat both Americans and with the Bryan brothers as big favorites on Saturday in the doubles rubber it seemed likely this would come down to James Ward’s play as the #2 singles player for the Brits. Could Ward steal a rubber and take the tie for Great Britain?

Well we were right… it did come down to Ward, and amazingly it came down to his first matchup. It wasn’t his Sunday rubber with the #2 US singles player where he made his mark, it was his Friday rubber against #1 US singles player Sam Querrey where Ward stole a match and basically gave Great Britain the tie. 

James Ward was the difference maker for Great Britain with his upset of Sam Querrey on Friday.
James Ward was the difference maker for Great Britain with his upset of Sam Querrey on Friday.

f1lou via Compfight cc

Querrey started off his match with Ward in great fashion taking set one quickly with a 6-1 win. Set two was much more competitive and came down to a tiebreak where Ward was able to even things with a 7-3 tiebreak win, the first sign of trouble for Querrey. Querrey came back to win set three 6-3 and even held a 4-2 lead in set four before the wheels came off. Ward went on to win 10 of the final 11 games, winning four straight to take set four 6-4 and then winning set five 6-1. It was a distasteful turn of events for Querrey and the US.

Sam Querrey's loss to James Ward on Friday ultimately doomed the US vs. Great Britain
Sam Querrey’s loss to James Ward on Friday ultimately doomed the US vs. Great Britain

karlnorling via Compfight cc

Querrey did give a strong effort on Sunday against Murray as he forced a tiebreaker in both of the first two sets. He lost the first 7-5 before winning the second 7-3 to even things at one set each. Murray then shut the door dominating the rest of the way en route to a 6-1 and 6-3 wins in the final two sets to clinch things for Great Britain.

What does this mean for the US?

It means that instead of trying to reach the final for the first time since 2007 the US now is focused on not falling out of the World Group. Its’ been 26 years since the US was not playing in the World Group and they don’t want to end that streak anytime soon. The US will play in one of the World Group playoffs in September against a country still to be determined. Potential opponents will be determined after the next round of play in early April. The US will be one of the eight seeded teams in the draw and so we know the US won’t face any of the top eight ranked teams that are involved with the playoffs. If the favorites win in April the eight teams in the un-seeded pool should be Austria, Croatia, Brazil, Ukraine, Israel, Uzbekistan, India and the Dominican Republic. The US could have to travel for the tie, and depending on the matchup it could be a bit tricky, but the US will likely be favored no matter what.

The US right now is not a great men’s tennis country and anytime they face off against an opponent with one of the best players in the world the margin is going to be thin. The US had some bad luck in drawing one of the few countries that aren’t among the top eight in the world and still have one of the very top players. The US also were without their best player in John Isner who might have had a better chance to upset Andy Murray. Hopefully Isner is healthy for the US come September and the US can keep their place in the World Group for 2015.

Davis Cup, Tennis

Davis Cup 2014 – The USA must deal with Great Britain and Andy Murray in Round 1

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The US will face Great Britain (And ANDY MURRAY!) in the First Round of the Davis Cup this weekend. The matchup is being played on the famous clay court of Petco Park. Yes, Petco Park, the home of the San Diego Padres. The US decided to host this match there and built a clay court and grandstands in leftfield of Petco Park to play on.

The US will take on a Great Britain team featuring world #6 Andy Murray this weekend in San Diego
The US will take on a Great Britain team featuring world #6 Andy Murray this weekend in San Diego

Photo Credit: simonw92 via Compfight cc

Interesting… but what the heck is the Davis Cup?

For those who don’t know, the Davis Cup is the yearly men’s tennis tournament that pits nation against nation. It began in 1900 with a matchup between… the US and Great Britain. It’s grown by leaps and bounds and now has 130 countries competing in it. The US is the most successful country having won 32 title and finishing as runner-up another 29 times, but only twice since 1997 has the US reached the final.

Obviously the US isn’t the strongest men’s tennis country anymore. The top 12 players in the world include two Spaniards, two Swiss, two French, a Serbian, an Argentinian, a Brit, a Czechoslovakian, a Canadian, a German… but no Americans. But the Americans are still a decent country in men’s tennis and are certainly capable of beating Great Britain.

Now for a word on quick word on how the Davis Cup works. All matches between countries are in a best of five format with each match being a best of five with no tiebreaker in the 5th set. One match (the 3rd held of the five) will be a doubles match while the other four are singles matches featuring two singles players from each country with the players switching opponents for their second match. Whichever country can win three of the five matches wins the matchup.

The best 16 countries in the world compete in the World Group. The countries will face off in the first round this weekend with the winners moving into the quarterfinals in early April. The losers? Well the result is a little less fun for them. They will be forced to play another country in September that is challenging to get into the World Group. If you lose that match you fall from the World Group for next year and are forced to play in your Zonal Region for a chance to challenge back into the World Group again.

Last year Great Britain was stuck in the European Zonal Regional before a 3-2 win over Russia got them into the World Group Playoffs where they defeated Croatia 4-1 to qualify for the 2014 World Group. As for the US, they have been part of the World Group for every tournament since 1989, a record for the most straight years in the World Group. In 2013 they won in the first round 3-2 over Brazil before losing 3-1 to Serbia in the quarterfinals.

So the first round match is pretty important for the US. Getting a win here guarantees World Group play in 2015 while a loss would see the US have to play a World Group Playoff in September. The US has only had to play in the playoffs four times since they rejoined the World Group in 1989. The most recent playoff was against Colombia in 2010 where the US won 3-1.

USA vs. Great Britain – Who’s playing who?

So now that you know what’s at stake for the US we can get down to talking about who will be taking part in this matchup. The US wanted to go with their two top singles players, 13th ranked John Isner and 49th ranked Sam Querrey, and that was the plan, at least publicly, up until Thursday. That’s when the US announced that Isner, who suffered an ankle injury earlier in the month that forced him to withdraw from the Australian Open, would be replaced in the team by Donald Young. Young had a fairly good Australian Open where he reached the 3rd round and is the third highest ranked American at #79 right now. He’s certainly a very capable player, but he’s not John Isner. For the doubles match the US doesn’t have any issues as they can turn to the world #1 duo of brothers Bob and Mike Bryan.

The American #1 will be Sam Querrey, currently the second highest ranked American in the world.
The American #1 will be Sam Querrey, currently the second highest ranked American in the world.

Photo Credit: angela n. via Compfight cc

For Great Britain the first singles choice is really really easy. It’s Andy Murray, currently the world #6 in that spot. Murray might be ranked even higher but he had back surgery in the fall and missed some tournaments where he would have accumulated ranking points. Their second player was a tougher choice and they went with James Ward who is currently ranked #175. He’s just slightly the third ranked Brit right now behind Daniel Evans (146th). For the doubles match they chose to pair Andy Murray (who doesn’t play a lot of doubles but is #97 in the world) with Colin Fleming (33rd). Murray and Fleming have teamed up twice in the last year in doubles play. They played in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada event in May (a big tournament) and reached the final defeating four different top-twenty doubles along the way. They also played in the Davis Cup playoff against Croatia where they defeated Ivan Dodig/Mate Pavic. So they are certainly not to be taken lightly.

World #175 James Ward might have to pull an upset if the British have any chance of knocking off the US.
World #175 James Ward might have to pull an upset if the British have any chance of knocking off the US.

Photo Credit: f1lou via Compfight cc

So your schedule for this weekend is as follows. All the matches will be on the Tennis Channel, so if you get that you’ll be able to watch!

Friday starting at 2 PM ET:
Match 1 – Donald Young vs. Andy Murray
Match 2 – Sam Querrey vs. James Ward

Saturday starting at 3 PM ET:
Match 3 – Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan vs. Andy Murray/Colin Fleming

Sunday starting at 2 PM ET:
Match 4 – Sam Querrey vs. Andy Murray
Match 5 – Donald Young vs. James Ward

The USA does hold an 11-7 advantage over Great Britain in Davis Cup play, but only three of those matchups were after 1937 and Great Britain has not won since 1935.

USA vs. Great Britain – How do they matchup?

Andy Murray has taken on Donald Young three times, all in 2011. Murray did beat Young in the second two matchups but the first one went to Young in straight sets in the Indian Wells Masters tournament. Murray was going through a somewhat rough stretch though as he lost to another player outside the top 100 in his next match as well.

Sam Querrey has faced James Ward just once in his career. That matchup, in June 2011, was a major upset of the 28th ranked Querrey by Ward who was ranked 216th at the time. Querrey was struggling with injuries at the time and didn’t play another match for three months after that.

Murray has faced the Bryan brothers four times, though never with Colin Fleming, and never won with only a single set won. Their last matchup came in April 2012. Fleming has faced the Bryan brothers seven times, most recently in August 2013 in the quarterfinals of the US Open. The Bryans won in straight sets on that date and have beaten Fleming six straight times with the only loss in June 2009 at the Aegon Championship.

Querrey has battled Murray on six occasions, most recently in August 2012 in the Cincinnati Masters 2nd round where Murray won in straight sets. Querrey’s only victory over Murray came in Los Angeles in July 2010 in a final. It was the only time that Querrey has taken a set off of Murray.

Ward and Young have never met before on the ATP tour.

The Bryan brothers (Mike and Bob) are the best doubles team in the world. They'll look to win the doubles match for the US on Saturday afternoon.
The Bryan brothers (Mike and Bob) are the best doubles team in the world. They’ll look to win the doubles match for the US on Saturday afternoon.

Photo Credit: Francisco Carbajal via Compfight cc

USA vs. Great Britain – What do we expect?

Well it would seem to be pretty easy to call favorites in three of these five matches. Andy Murray is certainly going to be favored in both of his matches while the US doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan would seem to be better. That leaves the matches between Sam Querrey/Donald Young and James Ward. The US has the higher ranked players in each matchup, but if Murray can take care of his two singles matches Great Britain would need Ward to upset only one of the two to win the match. I don’t expect it to happen though, a home crowd for the USA should help push their players and both Young and Querrey played well in the Australian Open.

I’ll be tweeting updates on whatever matches I’m able to watch live on @WeSupportTheUS and I’ll post recaps as well over the weekend.

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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

Archery, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Daily Olympic Reviews, Equestrian, Field Hockey, Gymnastics, Judo, London 2012, Olympics, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo

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.

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Olympic Preview – August 2nd

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The day will get started at 4 AM when Khatuna Lorig will face Ming Cheng in her round of 16 archery match and Eller Watson starts the double trap shooting qualification.

It ends at 5:15 PM when the US takes on Nigeria in men’s basketball.

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

Khatuna Lorig is the last competitor for the US in archery at these Olympics. She’ll start her final day of competition by taking on Ming Cheng of China in the round of 16 at 4 AM. If she wins she’ll progress to the quarterfinals and the times the remaining rounds start is shown below.

Archery coverage is available from 2:20-3 PM on NBC Sports Network.

4 AM – Women’s Archery – Individual – Khatuna Lorig vs. Ming Cheng – Round of 16
9 AM – Women’s Archery – Individual – Quarterfinals
9:52 AM – Women’s Archery – Individual – Semifinals
10:21 AM – Women’s Archery – Individual – Bronze Medal Match
10:37 AM – Women’s Archery – Individual – Gold Medal Match

Basketball

Already 2-0 and on top of the group by a superior point differential (+74) the US will look to stay on top when they face Nigeria on Thursday. Nigeria is 1-1 having beaten Tunisia by 4. The US beat Tunisia by 47. You decide if this one will be close.

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

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

Beach Volleyball

The first match of the day involving the US features April Ross/Jennifer Kessy taking on Baquerizo McMillan/Fernandez Steinerl of Spain at 11:30 AM. Both groups have locked up the top two spots in the group so both will be in the knockout round. The winner if this match will have the top spot from the group.

At 4 PM Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers will take on Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala. The US is in 1st place with 4 points from the first two matches so they are guaranteed 5 at a minimum (if they lose). That means assuming that the Spaniards win their match against the Japanese Dalhausser/Rogers will be in a 3-way tie if they lose. If that’s the case the top two teams by point ratio would advance. Based on my analysis if there is a sweep by Benes/Kubala the US would have to win 37 points between the two sets to stay have the same point ratio. 38 would keep them ahead. If the US takes a single set their totals from the two other sets would have to be 17 more than Benes/Kubala’s from the set they lost to stay ahead. This is serious statistical analysis! So the US could advance losing something like 21-19, 21-19, or 21-17, 16-21, 21-16.

The women’s beach volleyball match will be on NBC LIVE (CT/ET) from 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM. the men’s match will be shown in primetime on NBC (8-12 PM).

11:30 AM – Women’s Beach Volleyball – April Ross/Jennifer Kessy vs. Baquerizo McMillan/Fernandez Steinerl – Group Stage
4 PM – Men’s Beach Volleyball – Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers vs. Benes/Kubala – Group Stage

Boxing

There are two boxing bouts involving US boxers on Thursday, and both of them are in the afternoon. First at 4 PM Jose Ramirez will take on Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan in a round of 16 lightweight bout. In the 2nd bout middleweight Terrell Gausha takes on Vijender of India at 4:45 PM.

NBC Sports Network is showing 3-4:45 PM and CNBC is showing boxing from 5-8 PM. Neither is listed as live, so don’t expect the US matches to necessarily be live on there.

4 PM – Men’s Boxing – Lightweight – Jose Ramirez vs. Fazliddin Gaibnazarov – Round of 16
4:45 PM – Men’s Boxing – Middleweight – Terrell Gausha vs. Vijender – Round of 16

Equestrian

Thursday is the first day of the dressage event in equestrian. The first part is the Grand Prix involving all individuals and teams. The top seven teams will move on from this phase and the top 11 individuals not on a team in the top 7. The US has four riders competing, the top 3 scores combine to form the team score. Only one rider is going on Thursday for the US, Jan Ebeling on Rafalca at 7:15 AM.

There will be equestrian coverage on MSNBC from 1:30-2:30 PM.

7:15 AM – Equestrian – Dressage – Grand Prix Day 1 – Jan Ebeling on Rafalca

Fencing

The women’s team foil event is on Thursday. The US starts off with a quarterfinal match against Korea at 5:30 AM. If they win they’ll move on to the semifinals at 7 AM. The starting times for the rounds are listed below.

Fencing team matches are very exciting. Let’s say the US has fencers A, B, and C. Korea 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.

There is no fencing on TV Thursday.

5:30 AM – Women’s Fencing – Team Foil vs. Korea – Quarterfinals
7 AM – Women’s Fencing – Team Foil – Semifinals
10 AM – Women’s Fencing – Team Foil – Placement 5-6
10 AM – Women’s Fencing – Team Foil – Placement 7-8
1 PM – Women’s Fencing – Team Foil – Bronze Medal Match
2:15 PM – Women’s Fencing – Team Foil – Gold Medal Match

Field Hockey

In a nice morning game the US women’s field hockey team takes on Australia at 4:45 AM. This battle in group B is between two of the four teams on 3 points a piece. The US has already beaten one of those teams and lost to another. Assuming they beat South Africa this game could place them on a solid 9 points even without beating New Zealand or leave them needing a win against New Zealand to get past 6 points. Only the top two move on. Safe to say this is close to a must win game.

The field hockey match is going to be LIVE on NBC Sports Network from 5:45-7:15 AM.

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

Gymnastics

The women’s gymnastics individual all-around is on Wednesday at 11:30 AM. Gabby Douglas and Alex Raisman are the two US gymnasts in the all-around. The other four competitors in their rotation are Victoria Komova of Russia, Vanessa Ferrari of Italy, Linlin Deng of China, and Aliya Mustafina of Russia. Komova was the top scorer from the qualifiers and will be a tough competitor to top for the US. Each competitor had one week routine in the qualifiers. Raisman on the uneven bars, Konova and Douglas on the floor.

They gymnastics will be shown on NBC as part of their primetime coverage, 8-12 PM.

11:30 AM – Women’s Gymnastics – Individual All-Around

Judo

Starting off the day at 5:12 AM Kyle Vashukulat will take on Ramziddin Sayidov or Uzbekistan in the 100kg round of 32. If Vashukulat wins he moves into the round of 16 at 5:33 AM. The times for the rest of the rounds is listed below.

Kayla Harrison is in the women’s 78kg event on Thursday. She’ll start off in the round of 16 against Vera Moskalyuk of Russia at 6:15 AM. If she wins she goes into the quarterfinals starting at 6:43 AM. The rest of the times for rounds are listed below.

There will be some judo on TV, MSNBC with some coverage from 4:30-5 PM.

5:12 AM – Men’s Judo – 100kg – Kyle Vashukulat vs. Ramziddin Sayidov – Round of 32
5:33 AM – Men’s Judo – 100kg – Round of 16
6:15 AM – Women’s Judo – 78kg – Kayla Harrison vs. Vera Moskalyuk – Round of 16
6:29 AM – Men’s Judo – 100kg – Quarterfinals
6:43 AM – Women’s Judo – 78kg – Quarterfinals
9 AM – Women’s Judo – 78kg – Repechage & Bronze
9:14 AM – Women’s Judo – 78kg – Semifinals
9:28 AM – Men’s Judo – 100kg – Repechage & Bronze
9:42 AM – Men’s Judo – 100kg – Semifinals
11 AM – Women’s Judo – 78kg – Gold Medal Final
11:10 AM – Men’s Judo – 100kg – Gold Medal Final

Rowing

First up at 5 AM the men’s lightweight four crew will compete in final B. This final will determine positions 7-12 for the event. The US has the slowest best time of all the boats in the heat.

At 5:20 AM the men’s four is in semifinal A/B 2 and looking to get into final A. The US had the 5th fastest time in the previous rounds. They’ll need to finish in 3rd to reach final A, they were 3.04 seconds behind the 3rd fastest boat in the heat so far.

At 5:30 AM the women’s lightweight double sculls semifinal A/B 1 will take place. The US team of Kristin Hedstrom/Julie Nichols was 4th fastest of the boats in the previous round. They will need to finish 3rd or better to reach final A, they were 4.8 seconds behind the 3rd fastest boat in the heat so far.

At 6:20 AM the women’s single sculls semifinal A/B 2 happens. Generva Stone is the US competitor and has the 4th fastest time of the boats in her heat so far. She needs to finish 3rd or better to reach final A, she was 1.07 seconds slower than the 3rd fastest boat in the heat so far.

Finally at 7:30 AM the women’s eight final takes place. The US boat has been the 2nd fastest so far, just .77 seconds behind Canada.

There will be coverage of rowing from 2:20-3 PM on NBC and during primetime coverage from 8-12 PM.

5 AM – Men’s Rowing – Lightweight Four – Final B
5:20 AM – Men’s Rowing – Four – Semifinal A/B 2
5:30 AM – Women’s Rowing – Lightweight Double Sculls – Semifinal A/B 1
6:20 AM – Women’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Semifinal A/B 2
7:30 AM – Women’s Rowing – Eight – Final

Sailing

The first event to start on Thursday is the finn event. Zach Railey is in 12th with 48 points, 25 back of 3rd after six races. He’ll take part in race 7 (7 AM) and race 8 (8:30 AM).

Next up is the 470 event. The US team of Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl will take part in race 1 (7 AM) and race 2 (8:30 AM).

After that is the 49er event. The US team of Erick Strock/Trevor Moore is in 7th after six races with 37 points, seven behind 3rd place. They’ll take part in race 7 (7 AM) and race 8 (7:50 AM) on Thursday.

The star event features the US team of Mark Mendelblatt/Brian Faith. They are in 6th after six races with 30 points, 13 behind 3rd place. They’ll sail in race 7 (7:10 AM) and race 8 (8:50 AM) on Thursday.

In the women’s RS-X event Farrah Hall is in 18th after four races with 76 points. She’ll be in race 5 (9:15 AM) and race 6 (10:05 AM) on Thursday.

In the men’s RS-X event Robert Willis is in 13th overall after four races. He has 53 points and is 35 points behind 3rd. He’ll be in race 5 (10:40 AM) and race 6 (11:30 AM).

Finally in elliott 6m there is only one race on Thursday, against the Netherlands at 9:40 AM. The US is in 4th at 5-3 while the Netherlands are 9th at 3-5.

There is no sailing coverage on TV on Thursday.

7 AM – Men’s Sailing – Finn – Race 7
7 AM – Men’s Sailing – 470 – Race 1
7 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 7
7:10 AM – Men’s Sailing – Star – Race 7
7:50 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 8
8:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – 470 – Race 2
8:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – Finn – Race 8
8:50 AM – Men’s Sailing – Star – Race 8
9:15 AM – Women’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 5
9:40 AM – Women’s Sailing – Elliott 6m – Netherlands – Round Robin
10:05 AM – Women’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 6
10:40 AM – Men’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 5
11:30 AM – Men’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 6

Shooting

There are two shooting competitions starting Thursday and both involve multiple rounds in qualifying. The double trap has 3 rounds of 50 shots. Ellen Walton will have his at 4, 5:30, and 7 AM. Joshua Richmond will have his at 4:30, 6, and 7:30 AM. If either is in the top six they’ll move on to the final at 10 AM where they take 50 more shots.

In the 25m rapid fire pistol there are 60 shots in qualifying. There appears to be some qualifying on Thursday and it finishes on Friday. That might mean 30 shots per day, but it isn’t made clear online. Either way Emil Milev is in the group at 6:20 AM while Keith Sanderson is in the group at 7:10 AM.

There will be shooting coverage from 4:45-5:15 PM on NBC Sports Network.

4 AM – Men’s Shooting – Double Trap – Eller Walton – Qualification – Round 1
4:30 AM – Men’s Shooting – Double Trap – Joshua Richmond – Qualification – Round 1
5:30 AM – Men’s Shooting – Double Trap – Eller Walton – Qualification – Round 2
6 AM – Men’s Shooting – Double Trap – Joshua Richmond – Qualification – Round 2
6:20 AM – Men’s Shooting – 25m Rapid Fire Pistol – Emil Milev – Qualification
7 AM – Men’s Shooting – Double Trap – Eller Walton – Qualification – Round 3
7:10 AM – Men’s Shooting – 25m Rapid Fire Pistol – Keith Sanderson – Qualification
7:30 AM – Men’s Shooting – Double Trap – Joshua Richmond – Qualification – Round 3
10 AM – Men’s Shooting – Double Trap – Final

Swimming

In the men’s 50m freestyle Anthony Ervin and Cullen Jones will take place in the heats, Anthony Ervin in heat 6 (5:11 AM) and Cullen Jones (5:13 AM). A top 16 score will send them to the semifinals Thursday afternoon.

In the women’s 800m freestyle Katie Ledecky in heat 3 (5:41 AM) and Kate Ziegler in heat 5 (6:02 AM) will seek to finish in the top 8 and advance to Friday final.

In the men’s 100m butterfly Tyler McGill will be in heat 4 (6:22 AM) and Michael Phelps will be in heat 6 (6:27 AM). If they make the top 16 they will be in the afternoon semifinals.

In the women’s 200m backstroke Elizabeth Beisel in heat 3 (6:40 AM) and Missy Franklin in heat 5 (6:48 AM) will look to finish in the top 16 and advance to the Thursday afternoon semifinals.

In the afternoon session at 2:30 PM hopefully Anthony Ervin and Cullen Jones will both be in the semifinals as they swim for a top 8 spot in the 50m freestyle and berth in Friday’s final.

Then at 2:40 PM Rebecca Soni will swim for gold in the 200m breaststroke after setting a world record of 2:20 in the semifinals on Wednesday. Micah Lawrence will also be in the final having finished 3.39 seconds behind Soni in 6th place.

Next at 2:48 PM the men’s 200m backstroke final will take place. Tyler Clary was tops in the semifinals and Ryan Lochte was just .69 seconds behind him.

At 2:56 PM we’ll go back to the women’s 200m backstroke where Elizabeth Beisel and Missy Franklin hope to be in the semifinals and swimming for the top eight spots and a spot in the final on Friday.

Then at 3:19 PM the men’s 200m individual medley final gets going. Ryan Lochte will be back in the pool as he was first in the semifinals with a time of 1:56.13. Michael Phelps will also be in this race as he finished 3rd in the semifinals, .98 seconds behind Lochte.

At 3:37 PM the women’s 100m freestyle gets underway with Jessica Hardy and Missy Franklin in the final. Franklin was the 3rd fastest in the semifinals, .54 seconds behind the leader, while Jessica Hardy finished 8th, .81 seconds behind the leader.

The last event of the day will be the men’s 100m butterfly semifinals at 3:54 PM where Tyler McGill and Michael Phelps hope to be going for a top eight spot and a trip to Friday’s final.

There will be swimming coverage from 10-10:15 AM, 10:40-11:30 AM and 12:30-12:45 PM on NBC. Then of course in primetime there will be more coverage from 8-12 PM.

5:11 AM – Men’s Swimming – 50m Freestyle – Anthony Ervin – Heat 6
5:13 AM – Men’s Swimming – 50m Freestyle – Cullen Jones – Heat 7
5:41 AM – Women’s Swimming – 800m Freestyle – Katie Ledecky – Heat 3
6:02 AM – Women’s Swimming – 800m Freestyle – Kate Ziegler – Heat 5
6:22 AM – Men’s Swimming – 100m Butterfly – Tyler McGill – Heat 4
6:27 AM – Men’s Swimming – 100m Butterfly – Michael Phelps – Heat 6
6:40 AM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Backstroke – Elizabeth Beisel – Heat 3
6:48 AM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Backstroke – Missy Franklin – Heat 5
2:30 PM – Men’s Swimming – 50m Freestyle – Semifinals
2:40 PM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Breaststroke – Final
2:48 PM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Backstroke – Final
2:56 PM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Backstroke – Semifinals
3:19 PM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Individual Medley – Final
3:37 PM – Women’s Swimming – 100m Freestyle – Final
3:54 PM – Men’s Swimming – 100m Butterfly – Semifinals

Tennis

The US is schedule to be involved in five matches across five different competitions on Thursday. First up is Mike Bryan/Bob Bryan vs. Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram of Israel in the men’s doubles quarterfinals at 6:30 AM. The next one scheduled to happen is around 9 AM when Serena Williams has a women’s singles quarterfinal match with Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Later on at around 10:30 AM Liezel Huber/Bob Bryan are to take on Sabine Lisicki/Christopher Kas of Germany in a mixed doubles round of 16 match.

Around 11 AM a men’s singles match between John Isner and Roger Federer is supposed to start in the quarterfinals. Finally at 12:30 PM the women’s doubles quarterfinal match between Serena Williams/Venus Williams and Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci of Italy is supposed to start.

All tennis is covered on Bravo from 7 AM – 3 PM

6:30 AM – Men’s Tennis – Doubles – Mike Bryan/Bob Bryan vs. Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram – Quarterfinals
APPROX 9 AM – Women’s Tennis – Singles – Serena Williams vs. Caroline Wozniacki – Quarterfinals
APPROX 10:30 AM – Mixed Tennis – Doubles – Liezel Huber/Bob Bryan vs. Sabine Lisicki/Christopher Kas – Round of 16
APPROX 11 AM – Men’s Tennis – Singles – John Isner vs. Roger Federer – Quarterfinals
APPROX 12:30 PM – Women’s Tennis – Doubles – Serena Williams/Venus Williams vs. Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci – Quarterfinals

Volleyball

In men’s volleyball group B the US and Brazil are tied atop the group after beating their first two opponents 3-0. Thursday they will meet at 3 PM and go along way towards deciding who finishes atop the group.

The game will be shown LIVE (ET/CT) on NBC from 3-5 PM.

3 PM – USA Men’s Volleyball vs. Brazil

Water Polo

In water polo the US men are tied at the top of the group with Serbia but massively behind on goal differential (+18 to +3). That should change on Thursday at 1:20 PM when the US takes on Great Britain, who has been beaten 13-4 and 21-7 so far. The US needs to push the score as high as possible to give themselves the best chance to finish atop the group.

The game will be shown LIVE (ET/CT) on NBC from 1:20-2:20 PM.

1:20 PM – USA Men’s Water Polo vs. Great Britain – Group Stage

Archery, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Daily Previews, Diving, Gymnastics, Judo, London 2012, Olympics, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo

Olympic Review – August 1st

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Archery

The US had three archers going in the individual competitions on Wednesday. First up was Khatuna Lorig in the women’s round of 64 against Sherab Zam of Bhutan. Lorig defeated Zam in three sets 6-0 (28-22, 26-21, 26-22). The victory moved Lorig into the round of 32 where she met Louis Laursen of Denmark. This match was much tougher and it took a full five sets for Lorig to win 6-4 (27-24, 22-28, 24-24, 29-26, 27-27).  She will now take part in the rest of the women’s competition on Thursday. Her day will start with Ming Cheng of China in the round of 16.

Next up for the US was Brady Ellison who started off against Mark Javier of the Philippines. Ellison started quickly and never looked back winning 7-1 (29-27, 28-25, 25-25, 29-22). That victory in the round of 64 moved him into a round of 32 match with Taylor Worth of Australia. Ellison never got into his groove as he dropped the match 7-1 (29-29, 27-25, 29-26, 27-26) and was eliminated from the tournament.

The final competitor for the US was their last hope in men’s individual archery, Jake Kaminski. In a round of 64 match with Dan Olaru of Molodova Kaminksi got out to an early 5-1 lead but then faltered and choked away the lead losing 6-5 (25-27, 26-29, 28-28, 28-24, 27-23, shootoff (9-7)). Why do I call it choked? He hit a 6 in set 4, a 4 in set 5 knowing an 8 would win him the match, and a 7 in the shootoff. Yikes. The loss meant no US man would reach the round of 16 in the individual event, yet alone medal.

Basketball

An 89-58 victory for the US over Turkey on Wednesday helped solidify the US’s position on top of the group. Their point differential has them ahead of China but the two will face off for the top spot directly if they both win their next games. The US next plays against the Czech Republic, who is in 4th, on Friday.

Beach Volleyball

Josh Gibb and Sean Rosenthal came up huge in their match Wednesday afternoon against Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins of Latvia. Knowing that they would need to win, and win with a good margin, to advance to the knockout round the US came out with a great performance winning 21-10, 21-16. The win moved the US well into first with a point ratio of 1.337 compared to 2nd place’s 1.148. The US could have actually lost 14 more points and still had a better ratio!  The US will next compete in the round of 16, probably on Friday.

To end the day Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh took on Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger of Austria. After a slow start May-Treanor/Walsh got on track and rolled in sets 2 and 3 to a 17-21, 21-8, 15-10 victory. The win gave them the top spot in their group and they move on to the knockout round.

Boxing

The US lost in three different weight classes in men’s boxing on Wednesday as their boxers faced some tough competition. First up in the bantamweight division Joseph Diaz Jr. lost to Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba 21-15. The match was close and Diaz gave it a lot, as the 15 point shows.

In the heavyweight division Michael Hunter took on the Russian Artur Beterbiev and they had a real close bout. Hunter was up 8-7 after the 2nd round but couldn’t hold on in the final round and the match ended up tied at 10. Hunter lost the decision on a tiebreaker and saw his Olympics come to an end. Tough ending for the fighter who really did have a decent day.

Finally in the super heavyweight division Dominic Breazeale was just no match for the Russian Magomed Omarov who was up 5-0 after a round and went on to a dominant 19-8 win.

Cycling

The US was the strong competitor they were expected to be in the time trials on Wednesday morning. First in the women’s time trial Amber Neben came in a respectable 7th while Kristin Armstrong was dominant and won the gold. Armstrong was a full 25 seconds faster than any other rider on the course.

In the men’s time trial Taylor Phinney put up a very good time of 52:38.07. He led most all of the riders but was beaten by three, Bradley Wiggins winning the gold. That meant that for the 2nd time in London Phinney ended up in 4th. Hopefully the 22-year-old is back in Rio 2016 and can win a medal.

Diving

In an amazing continuing run at the Olympics the US won their 3rd diving medal in three events on Wednesday. I’ll keep repeating it because it’s amazing…. a total of one medal combined from 2000-2008 (that being in 2000) and now three so far in London! Incredible! This time it was Troy Dumais/Kristian Ipsen who won the bronze in the men’s 3m synchronized springboard final. They executed solid dives throughout the competition and their consistency was rewarded with the bronze. Dumais will compete in the 3m springboard competition starting on Monday.

Fencing

Fencing tells a sad tale on Wednesday. Two US fencers made the semifinals, but neither were able to medal. We’ll start in the men’s individual epee competition. In the round of 32 Seth Kelsey got things underway with a tight 8-7 victory over Li Guojie of China. Hard to believe that his run may never had happened if he hadn’t gotten the touch in overtime to win the match. His teammate Soren Thompson was not at fortunate and lost 15-4 to Joerg Fiedler of Germany.

In round of 16 he was a big underdog against Nikola Novosjolov of Estonia and came away with the upset 15-11 to  move into the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals he dispatched the Venezuelan Silvio Fernandez 15-9 to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals he and Ruben Limardo Gascon of Venezuela were tied at 5 and headed to overtime. This time Kelsey didn’t get the touch and Gascon moved on to the gold medal final 6-5. In the bronze medal final Seth Kelsey took on Jinsun Jung of Korea. In a higher scoring version of the semifinals Kelsey had the match tied at 11 and went to overtime. Jung got a touch on his foot in the 2nd half of the minute to win the bronze and leave Kelsey medaless in 4th.

In the round of 32 two-time defending gold medalist Mariel Zagunis started her tournament off with a solid 15-7 win over Diah Permata Sari of Indoneisa.  Her teammate, Dagmara Wozniak, also advance from the round of 32 when she beat Salma Mahran of Egypt 15-6.  Both fencers were victorious again the round of 16 and the US was looking good. Zagunis won her match against Seira Nakayama of Japan 15-9 while Wozniak won her match with Azza Besbes of Tunisia 15-13 after being down 12-10 late. In the quarterfinals Zagunis continued to cruise and defeated Min Zhu of China 15-6. Wozniak ran into trouble however and despite rallying from down 14-11 to get within one point, lost 15-13 to Sofya Velikaya of Russia.

In the semifinals Mariel Zagunis faced Jiyeon Kim of Korea. Zagunis led 8-2 after round 1 and 12-6. Then Kim got hot and started winning point after point after point. She cut it to 12-10, lost a point, but then won 5 more to win the match 15-13 on a 10-1 run. It was a crushing defeat for Zagunis who was so close to going for her 3rd straight Olympic gold.  In the bronze medal match Zagunis faced Olga Kharlan of the Ukraine. Zagunis was ahead 8-6 after the 1st round, but Kharlan won 9 of the next 11, including the final five straight. to win the match 15-10. It’s matches like this that are hard to watch as competitors try so hard only to end up JUST off the medal stand.

Gymnastics

Much like the team final the early story in the men’s gymnastics individual all around was mistakes. John Orozco had an awful one on the pommel horse and scored at 12.566, eliminating him from medal contention in the 2nd apparatus. Danell Leyva made a similar bad mistake, though his was only a 13.5. The two stood 19th and 24th after the pommel horse. After that they put their problems behind them and performed incredibly well the rest of the way. Orozco was 3rd on the rings (15.2), 8th on the vault (15.9), 8th on the parallel bars (15.266) and 8th on the horizontal bar (14.966). He wasn’t spectacular but he didn’t make more big mistakes and his consistency earned him an 8th place finish.

Two things kept Danell Leyva in medal contention despite that score on the pommel horse. First of all his score wasn’t quite as bad. That extra point higher than Orozco is huge.  In the end he would have been there places further back in the end if he was without that point. But the biggest reason Orozco could rally was that his last event was the horizontal bar where he has a routine that can knock it out of the gym. Although he was only 14th on rings and 10th on vault, neither one of those scores were bad enough to send him down the rankings. Then on parallel bars Danell Leyva performed a magnificent routine that scored a 15.833, best on the apparatus of the evening. He moved on to the horizontal bar where he needed just a 15.434 and scored a 15.7, again best on the apparatus, to win him a bronze medal. It was a testament to why you don’t quit!

Rowing

A lot of close calls in rowing on Wednesday, most of which were the US coming up just short. In the first event of the day, men’s single sculls, Ken Jurkowski finished 6th in Semifinal C/D heat 2 and moved into Final D on Friday.

In men’s pair rowing the team of Thomas Peszek/Silas Stafford were the first to have close disappointment as they finished 4th in the 1st heat of Semifinal A/B. They missed out on a spot in Final A by .09 seconds and instead will be in Final B on Friday.

Next up was the women’s pair rowing final. Sara Hendershot/Sarah Zelenka were the ones to experience disappointment as they finished 4th and missed the bronze meal by .2 seconds.

Finally the US found some success in the women’s quadruple sculls final as the crew finished in 3rd and won the bronze medal!

The final disappointment of the day belonged to the men’s eight crew who finished… 4th, by .3 seconds. Another crew that just missed out on medaling, the story of the day in rowing for the US.

Sailing

In the 49er event Erick Storck/Trevor Moore finished 7th in race 5 and 13th in race 6. They are now 7th overall with 37 points and trail 3rd place by just 7 points. Races 7 and 8 are on Thursday.

In the laser radial event Paige Railey finished race 5 in 4th and race 6 in 9th. She is now 7th overall with 38 points and trails 3rd by 19 points. Races 7 and 8 are on Friday.

In the men’s RS-X event Robert Willis finished 11th in race 3 and 25th in race 4. He’s now in 13th overall with 53 points and trails 3rd by 35 points. Races 5 and 6 are on Thursday.

In the laser event Rob Crane finished 16th in race 5 and 26th in race 6. He is now in 32nd overall with 135 points. races 7 and 8 are on Friday.

In the women’s RS-X event Farrah Hall finished 18th in race 3 and 18th in race 4. She is now in 18th overall with 76 points. Races 5 and 6 are on Thursday.

In the women’s elliott 6m event the US defeated New Zealand by 15 seconds in their first race of the day before losing to Russia by 4 seconds in their 2nd race of the day. The Us is now 5-3 and in 4th place. They face 9th place Netherlands team (3-5) on Thursday.

Shooting

Sandra Uptagrafft finished in 28th place with a qualifying score of 576. Only the top 8 qualified so Uptagrafft was 7 points behind the score of 583 needed.

Swimming

In the men’s 200m breaststroke final on Wednesday the US competitors of Scott Weltz and Clark Burckle finished 5th and 6th in a race that saw the world record broken.

In the women’s 100m freestyle Jessica Hardy and Missy Franklin both advanced safely from the heats. Then in the semifinals Missy Franklin finished 3rd (+.54) and Jessica Hardy finished 8th (+.81). Both will be in the final on Thursday.

In the men’s 200m backstroke Ryan Lochte and Tyler Clary both advanced from the heats and then won their semifinals. Clary has the top time heading into the final on Thursday and Lochte was (+.69).

In the women’s 200m butterfly final Kathleen Hersey finished 4th (+1.72) and Cammile Adams finished 5th (+2.72) missing out on medals. Hersey was only .3 seconds behind 3rd place.

In the men’s 100m freestyle final Nathan Adrian finally won the US a gold medal in the event after a 24 year drought!  His winning time of 47.52 was only .01 seconds ahead of 2nd place James Magnussen of Australia.

In the women’s 200m breaststroke Micah Lawrence and Rebecca Soni were both easily into the semifinals where Rebecca Soni set a world record with a time of 2:20 flat. Micah Lawrence was 6th in the semifinals, 3.39 seconds behind Soni!  They will go for medals in the final tomorrow where Soni is expected to win gold and maybe be the first woman to ever break 2:20.

In the men’s 200m individual medley Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps both qualified easily from the heats. In the semifinals Lochte finished with the top time of 1:56.13. Phelps was 3rd, .98 seconds behind him. They will race in the final tomorrow.

In the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay to end the day the US set an Olympic record and won a gold medal as the team of Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer, Shannon Vreeland and Allison Schmitt beat Russia by 1.49 seconds.

Tennis

First of all there were two matches that didn’t get to happen on Wednesday Bob Byan/Liezel Huber vs. Christopher Kas/Sabine Lisicki of Germany and Venus Williams/Serena Williams vs. Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci of Italy.

In women’s singles Serena Williams was dominant against Vera Zvonareva of Russia as she destroyed her 6-1, 6-0 in the round of 16. Serena now faces Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the quarterfinals. Venus Williams saw her tournament come to end as she lost 7-6, 7-6 to Angelique Kerber of Germany in the round of 16.

In men’s singles John Isner defeated Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the round of 16 7-5, 7-6. He will now face Roger Federer of Switzerland in the quarterfinals.

In women’s doubles Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond beat Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina of Russia in a quarterfinal match 6-3, 6-3 to move into the semifinals.

In mixed doubles Mike Bryan/Lisa Raymond beat Sara Errani/Andreas Seppi of Italy in a round of 16 match 7-5, 6-3 to move on to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals they will meet Gisela Dulko/Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.

 

Volleyball

In women’s volleyball the US took on co-group leader China and made it clear who the top team in the group is. The US won in straight sets, defeating the Chinese 26-24, 25-16, 31-29. The US is now alone atop the group at 3-0 and faces last place Serbia, 0-3, on Friday.

Water Polo

In women’s water polo the US took on co-group leader Spain and gave up a late 9-6 lead to finish in a 9-9 draw. That means that the group winner will be determined by goal differential if the US and Spain each win their remaining match. The US faces last place China, 0-2, on Friday.