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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.

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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.

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Olympic Preview – August 1st

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Wednesday’s competition starts with the round of 32 fencing match between Seth Kelsey and Li Guojie at 3:30 AM. It’ll wrap up with the 6 PM beach volleyball match between Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh and Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger. And everything else is stuffed in the middle of that 14.5 hour period!

As always follow me on twitter for the most current information and coverage.  If you have any questions feel free to shoot them my way and I will attempt to help you!

It appears almost everything is available online at nbcolympics.com with the exception of the qualifying rounds for shooting.

All times mentioned from now on are ET.

Archery

The US has their final three archers going on Wednesday in the individual competition. First #4 Khatuna Lorig will take on #61 Sherab Zam of Bhutan in the round of 64 at 7:15 AM. If Lorig wins she’ll be in the round of 32 at 7:41 AM. Next up is #10 Brady Ellison who will face #55 Mark Javier of the Philipines at 10:13 AM in the round of 64. If he wins this match he’ll be in the round of 32 at 10:52 AM. The final US archer will be #18 Jake Kaminski taking on #47 Dan Olaru of the Republic of Moldova at 11:31 AM. If Kaminski wins he’ll be in the round of 32 at 12:10 PM.

There will be some archery coverage on NBC Sports Network from 2:15-2:45 PM.

7:15 AM – Women’s Archery – Individual – #4 Khatuna Lorig vs. #61 Sherab Zam – Round of 64
7:41 AM – Women’s Archery – Individual – Round of 32
10:13 AM – Men’s Archery – Individual – #10 Brady Ellison vs. #55 Mark Javier – Round of 64
10:52 AM – Men’s Archery – Individual – Round of 32
11:31 AM – Men’s Archery – Individual – #18 Jake Kaminski vs. #47 Dan Olaru – Round of 64
12:10 PM – Men’s Archery – Individual – Round of 32

Basketball

Already 2-0 and on top of the group by a superior point differential (+77) the US will look to thin the ranks of unbeatens in their group when they face Turkey on Wednesday at 5:15 PM. Turkey and the US both have played Angola so some comparison may be possible. The US won by 52, Turkey by 22. Hard to say if Turkey can keep it respectable, but a win by Turkey is almost unimaginable.

The USA Basketball game will be shown LIVE on NBC Sports Network and the Special Basketball channel at 5:15 PM.

5:15 PM – USA Women’s Basketball vs. Turkey

Beach Volleyball

The US will finally have a daytime beach volleyball match when Josh Gibb/Sean Rosenthal take on Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins of Latvia in the final match of the group stage at 11:30 AM. Having lost in the 2nd game Gibb/Rosenthal must win this one to stay alive. If they win in straight sets they would guarantee they finish ahead of their opponents. A 2-1 win would send the tiebreaker to points ratio.

In the women’s match at 6 PM Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh will take on Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger of Austria, who are currently in 3rd. No matter what happens on Wednesday May-Treanor/Walsh will be advancing from the group. All that’s at stake is their seeding.

NBC will show the men’s volleyball match LIVE (ET/CT only) from 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM. The women’s match will be tape delayed and shown in primetime, 8-12 PM.

11:30 AM – Men’s Beach Volleyball – Josh Gibb/Sean Rosenthal vs. Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins – Group Stage
6 PM – Women’s Beach Volleyball – Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh vs. Doris Schwaiger/Stefanie Schwaiger – Group Stage

Boxing

Wednesday features three round of 16 bouts involving US boxers. The first match of the day at 8:30 AM will feature Joseph Diaz Jr. facing off with Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba in the round of 16 in the bantamweight division. The next bout at 9:30 AM will feature Michael Hunter taking on Artur Beterbiev of Russia in the heavyweight round of 16. The final bout of the day at 10:30 AM has Dominic Breazeale taking on Magomed Omarov of Russia in the super heavyweight round of 16.

Boxing will be LIVE on MSNBC from 9-10:30 AM featuring two of the three US fights. They will also have tape-delayed coverage from 5-8 PM.

8:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Bantamweight – Joseph Diaz Jr. vs. Lazaro Alvarez – Round of 16
9:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Heavyweight – Michael Hunter vs. Artur Beterbiev – Round of 16
10:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Super Heavyweight – Dominic Breazeale vs. Magomed Omarov – Round of 16

Cycling

In the women’s team trial there are two US athletes going and both have fairly prime starting spots near the end of the field. Amber Neben is 7th from the end and Kristin Armstrong will be last. Neben starts at 7:55:30 AM and Armstrong at 8:04:03 AM.

Later in the men’s time trial there will be only one competitor from the US, Taylor Phinney, and he will be starting 4th from last at 10:04:30 AM.

The women’s time trial will be LIVE on NBC Sports Network from 7:30-8:45 AM while the men’s time trial will be LIVE (ET/CT only) on NBC from 10-11:05 AM. Their will be coverage of the women’s time trail on NBC from 12:35-1:35 AM Thursday morning.

7:55:30 AM – Women’s Cycling – Road – Time Trial – Amber Neben
8:04:30 AM – Women’s Cycling – Road – Time Trial – Kristin Armstrong
10:04:30 AM – Men’s Cycling – Road – Time Trial – Taylor Phinney

Diving

In the men’s synchronized 3m springboard competition Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen will be attempting to win the US their 3rd medal in their 3rd diving event. The competition will start at 10 AM.

The diving will be shown during the primetime coverage on NBC, 8-12 PM.

10 AM – Men’s Diving – Synchronized 3m Springboard – Final

Fencing

Men’s individual epee and women’s individual sabre will be held on Wednesday. Seth Kelsey will start things off for the US at 4:30 AM when Seth Kelsey takes on Li Guojie of China in the round of 32. He will be followed at 5 AM when Soren Thompson takes on Joerg Fiedler of of Germany also in the round of 32. If they win their matches they will advance through the rounds which start at the times listed below.

In the women’s individual sabre event Mariel Zagunis, two-time defending gold medalist, will start things off against Diah Permata Sari of Indonesia at 8:10 AM in the round of 32. The next competitor in the round of 32 is Dagmara Wozniak who will take on Salma Mahran of Egypt at 8:30 AM. If either competitor advances they will start the following rounds at the times listed below.

Fencing will be shown LIVE on NBC Sports Network from 8:45-9:30 AM, LIVE on MSNBC from 10:30-11 AM, LIVE on MSNBC from 1:45-3 PM and LIVE on MSNBC from 3:30-3:50 PM. They will be hoping that Mariel Zagnuis makes her expected run towards gold to show in those spots.

4:30 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Seth Kelsey vs. Li Guojie – Round of 32
5 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Soren Thompson vs. Joerg Fiedler – Round of 32
6:15 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Round of 16
7:30 AM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Quarterfinals
8:10 AM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Mariel Zagunis vs. Diah Permata Sarai – Round of 32
8:40 AM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Dagmara Wozniak vs. Salma Mahran – Round of 32
9:45 AM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Round of 16
10:40 AM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Quarterfinals
12:30 PM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Semifinals
1:30 PM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Semifinals
2:10 PM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Bronze Medal Match
2:40 PM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Bronze Medal Match
3 PM – Men’s Fencing – Individual Épée – Gold Medal Match
3:30 PM – Women’s Fencing – Individual Sabre – Gold Medal Match

Gymnastics

The men’s gymnastics individual all-around is on Wednesday at 11:30 AM. John Orozco and Danell Leyva who finished 4th and 1st in the qualification stage, are in the lead group with Kristian Thomas of Great Britain, Fabian Hambuchen of Germany, David Belyavskiy of Russia, and Mykola Kuksenkov. Their rotation will be floor routine, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar.

The gymnastics will be part of the primetime coverage from 8-12 PM on NBC.

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

Rowing

First up at 4:30 AM the men’s single sculls semifinals will take place with Ken Jurkowski in the race. He isn’t up for the A final so if he gets in the top 3 in his semifinal he will make final C, if not he will be in final D. He does have the fastest time so far in his heat.

At 6 AM the men’s pair semifinals are being held. In semifinal A Thomas Peszek/Silas Stafford will be looking for a top 3 spot and a trip to the final. The US was the slowest of the six competitors so far, 4.65 seconds behind the 3rd fastest boat.

Next at 6:50 AM the women’s pair final is contested. Sara Hendershot/Sarah Zelenka have the 2nd fastest time so far and are only 2 seconds behind the leaders, Helen Glover/Heather Stanning of Great Britain. You might have heard how they set the Olympic record in the heats with that row. US definitely a favorite to medal.

At 7:10 AM the women’s quadruple sculls final will be held. The US has the 3rd fastest time in the rows so far, 2.14 seconds behind Germany (1st) and Ukraine (2nd). Another definite medal threat.

Finally At 7:30 AM the US will look to win another medal in men’s eight. The US scorched their heat but every other boat went faster in the repechages. The 5.2 second gap between the US and the fastest so far, Germany, isn’t the end of the world. The US will probably be faster knowing that there is much more at stake here. I would expect them to challenge for a medal still.

Rowing will be shown from 4:45-5 PM on NBC.

4:30 AM – Men’s Rowing – Single Sculls – Semifinals
6 AM – Men’s Rowing – Pair – Semifinals
6:50 AM – Women’s Rowing – Pair – Final
7:10 AM – Women’s Rowing – Quadruple Sculls – Final
7:30 AM – Men’s Rowing – Eight – Final

Sailing

The 49er event will feature races 5 (7 AM) and 6 (7:50 AM). Trevor Moore and Erick Storck are in 9th place entering Wednesday’s competition.

In the laser radial event Paige Railey finds herself in 9th place at this point. She will seek to move during race 5 (7 AM) and race 6 (8:30 AM).

In the men’s RS-X event Bob Willis finds himself in 7th place after the 1st races. He will be in race 3 (7 AM) and race 4 (8 AM) on Wednesday.

In the laser event Rob Crane will be facing races 5 (7:10 AM) and 6 (8:40 AM) and is currently in 36th place.

In the elliott 6m event the US will face 6th place New Zealand (3-3) at 9 AM and 3rd place Russia (5-1) at 11 AM.

The women’s RS-X event will have races 3 (9:30 AM) and 4 (10:20 AM) on Wednesday. Farrah Hall is in 21st after the first two races.

No sailing coverage again on TV.

7 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 5
7 AM – Women’s Sailing – Laser Radial – Race 5
7 AM – Men’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 3
7:10 AM – Men’s Sailing – Laser – Race 5
7:50 AM – Men’s Sailing – 49er – Race 6
8 AM – Men’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 4
8:30 AM – Women’s Sailing – Laser Radial – Race 6
8:40 AM – Men’s Sailing – Laser – Race 6
9 AM – Women’s Sailing – Elliott 6m – New Zealand – Round Robin
9:30 AM – Women’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 3
10:20 AM – Women’s Sailing – RS-X – Race 4
11 AM – Women’s Sailing – Elliott 6m – Russia – Round Robin

Shooting

The US competitor in the women’s 25m pistol competition will be Sandra Uptagrafft. I believe will be in relay 2 of the event starting at 5:20 AM. We’ll have some idea what kind of qualification score she might need before she starts. The event involves 30 precision shots (5 shots in 5 minutes) and 30 rapid fire shots (3 seconds between shots). If she makes the top 8 after 60 shots she’ll be in the final at 10:30 AM.

No shooting coverage on TV Wednesday.

5:20 AM – Women’s Shooting – 25m Pistol – Qualification
10:30 AM – Women’s Shooting – 25m Pistol – Final

Swimming

Starting off the morning will be the women’s 100m freestyle at 5 AM. Jessica Hardy will be in the 5th heat and Missy Franklin in the 7th. If they place in the top 16 they will go on to the afternoon semifinal at 2:38 PM where a top eight time would send them to Thursday’s final.

Next is the 5:20 AM men’s 200m backstroke where Tyler Clary will be in the 3rd heat and Ryan Lochte in the 5th. A top 16 final qualifies them for the 2:47 PM semifinals where they’ll strive for a top eight time and a berth in the final on Thursday.

Then in the 5:47 AM women’s 200m breastroke Rebecca Soni and Micah Lawrence will be swimming in the 5th and final heat and looking for those top 16 times to move on to the semifinals at 3:24 PM. If they place in the top eight at that they will go to the final on Thursday.

At 6:14 AM the men’s 200m individual medley heats will begin. Michael Phelps will begin his quest for a 20th medal in heat 4 and Ryan Lochte will be in heat 5. If they finish in the top 16 they move on to a semifinal at 3:36 PM where a top 8 finish sends them to Thursday’s final.

Finally the morning ended with the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay at 6:39 AM. The US team will be trying to finish in the top eight and qualify for the final that evening at 3:57 PM.

Starting off the afternoon will be the men’s 200m breaststroke at 2:30 PM. The US will be represented by Scott Weltz and Clark Burckle who finished 4th and 6th in the semifinals. Weltz was .79 seconds behind leader Michael Jamieson of Great Britain who will swim for gold in front of his home crowd.

In the women’s 200m butterfly final the US will have two swimmers going for gold at 3:09 PM. Cammille Adams just made the field, finishing in 7th, but Kathleen Hersey was the fastest in the semifinals by .2 seconds.

Next is the men’s 100m freestyle final at 3:17 PM. Nathan Adrian will be representing the US and was the 2nd fastest in the semifinals, .34 seconds behind James Magnussen of Australia.

Morning races will be shown from 11:05-11:30 AM and 12:30-1:20 PM. The afternoon session will be shown in primetime coverage, 8-12 PM.

5 AM – Women’s Swimming – 100m Freestyle – Heats
5:20 AM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Backstroke – Heats
5:47 AM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Breaststroke – Heats
6:14 AM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Individual Medley – Heats
6:39 AM – Women’s Swimming – 4x200m Freestyle Relay – Heats
2:30 PM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Breaststroke – Final
2:38 PM – Women’s Swimming – 100m Freestyle – Semifinals
2:47 PM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Backstroke – Semifinals
3:09 PM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Butterfly – Final
3:17 PM – Men’s Swimming – 100m Freestyle – Final
3:24 PM – Women’s Swimming – 200m Breaststroke – Semifinals
3:36 PM – Men’s Swimming – 200m Individual Medley – Semifinals
3:57 PM – Women’s Swimming – 4x200m Freestyle Relay – Final

Tennis

In women’s singles 4th-seeded Serena Williams will be taking on 13th-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia in the round of 16 at 7 AM. Sister Venus takes on 7th-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany in the same round, the match starting around 8:30 AM.

In men’s singles 10th-seeded John Isner will be facing 7th-seeded Janko Tipsarevic in the round of 16 starting around 10:30 AM.

In women’s doubles top-seeded Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond will face 6th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina of Russia in a quarterfinal match starting around 9:30 AM. Later Venus and Serena Williams will take on 2nd-seeded Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci of Italy. The quarterfinal match should start around 12:30 PM.

In mixed doubles, which gets started on Wednesday, 2nd-seeded Bob Byan/Liezel Huber will take on Christopher Kas/Sabine Lisicki of Germany in a round of 16 match starting around 1 PM. 3rd-seeded Mike Bryan/Lisa Raymond will take on Sara Errani/Andreas Seppi of Italy in a round of 16 match starting around 2 PM.

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

7 AM – Women’s Tennis – Singles – Serena Williams vs. Vera Zvonareva
APPROX 8:30 AM – Women’s Tennis – Singles – Venus Williams vs. Angelique Kerber
APPROX 9:30 AM – Women’s Tennis – Doubles – Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond vs. Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina – Quarterfinals
APPROX 10:30 AM – Men’s Tennis – Singles – John Isner vs. Janko Tipsarevic – Round of 16
APPROX 12:30 PM – Women’s Tennis – Doubles – Venus Williams/Serena Williams vs. Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci
APPROX 1 PM – Mixed Tennis – Doubles – Bob Bryan/Liezel Huber vs. Christopher Kas/Sabine Lisicki
APPROX 2 PM – Mixed Tennis – Doubles – Mike Bryan/Lisa Raymond vs. Sara Errani/Andreas Seppi

Volleyball

In women’s volleyball the US will be facing off with China at 3 PM and control of the group will be at stake. Both teams are 2-0 having won their previous two matches 3-1. The winner of this match is in the prime position to win the group.

The volleyball match with China will be LIVE (ET/CT only) from 3-4:45 PM on NBC.

3 PM – USA Women’s Volleyball vs. China

Water Polo

The Us will play their 2nd group stage match at 1:20 PM when they face Spain on Wednesday. Spain is tied with the US on top of the group and lead by goal differential +5 to +1. The winner of this match has a good shot at winning the group, however all four will be in the quarterfinals.

The water polo match with Spain will be shown LIVE (ET/CT only) on NBC from 1:20 – 2:30 PM.

1:20 PM – USA Women’s Water Polo vs. Spain – Group Stage

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Olympic Review – July 31st

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Archery

Jacob Wukie was the first archer to begin the day for the US. He took on Jayanta Talukdar of India in the round of 64. In that match Wukie was victorious 6-0 (27-22, 30-26, 29-28). Next Wukie took on Baard Nesteng of Norway in the round of 32. Wukie took a 2-0 lead by winning the first set 28-24 but then lost 3 straight to lose 6-2 (24-28, 29-28, 29-27, 29-26).

Next up was Jennifer Nichols who took on Chekrovolu Swuro of India. The two traded sets and had to go to a shoot off to decide it. In the end Nichols won 6-5 (24-27, 27-25, 25-25, 26-29, 28-25, 9-9 (closet)). In the round of 32 Nichols faced Bishindee Urantungalag of Mongolia. Nichols ended up losing 6-4 (27-27, 26-27, 26-26, 26-25, 28-25).

Basketball

Then USA men took on Tunisia on Tuesday and was only up 21-15 at the end of the 1st quarter and 46-33 at the half. The second half, and in particular the 3rd quarter, was where the US shown and after outscoring Tunisia 39-14 in the 3rd quarter the US went on to win 110-63. Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony led the US with 16 points a piece.

The win helped keep the US atop the table in group A where the US is the only team that is 2-0. The US will next be facing 4th place Nigeria on Thursday.

Beach Volleyball

The first match of the day saw Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers take on Gavira Collado/Herrera Allepuz of Spain. Both teams had won their set in straight sets and were fighting for the top of the group. With a 19-21, 21-16, 15-13 win the US duo moved into 1st place. They face Petr Benes/Premsyl Kubala of the Czech Republic on Thursday. If they win a single set they will guarantee they aren’t passed in the group and will advance to the quarterfinals. A win would win them the group.

In the 2nd match of the day April Ross/Jennifer Kessy took on Marleen Van Iersel /Sanne Keizer of the Netherlands. The win kept the US on top of the group by points ratio and guaranteed they will advance from the group stage. The only thing left to settle is who will win the group. Ross/Kessy or the team they play on Thursday, Elsa Baquerizo MicMillan/Liliana Fernandez Steiner of Spain.

Boxing

In the boxing competition on Tuesday Jamel Herring took on Daniya Teleussinov of Kazakhstan in the round of 32 of the men’s light welterweight competition. Jerring was behind from the start and lost 19-9 (8-5, 7-3, 4-1).

Equestrian

Tuesday was the last day of the eventing competition, both team and individual. In the first part of the day the first showjumping routines were run. Boyd Martin had to pull out of the competition after an injury to his horse was discovered.  Two of his teammates, Tiana Coudray and Will Coleman, were out of the running for the individual title. Coudray ended up with a score of 11 penalties in the jumping qualifier and a total of 88.6 penalties, placing her in 40th place. Will Coleman had a score of 2 penalties in the jumping qualifier and ended up with a score of 84.7 penalties to finish in 37th place. Philip Dutton was in contention for a spot and had a run featuring 23 penalties. He was able to advance despite his score of 70.1 being in 27th due to the limit on each country of only having three riders in the final. Karen O’Connor was in contention as well and seized the 16th spot by having a perfect ride in the qualifier, giving her 53.8 total penalties.  Coleman, Dutton, and O’Connor combined to give the US the 7th spot in the team competition with a total of 208.6.

In the eventing individual final Philip Dutton started off with a run with 11 penalties. That gave him a total of 81.10 and placed him in 23rd place. Karen O’Connor did much better and another perfect run left her in 9th with 53.8 penalties.  O’Connor was only 9 penalties off of the bronze medal.

Fencing

The first competitor to get the day underway for the US was Miles Chamley-Watson who took on Alaaeldin Abouelkassem of India in the round of 32. Chamley-Watson hung around for a while but lost 15-10 (4-2, 8-6, 3-2).  The next competitor for the US was Alexander Massialas  who faced off against Etienne Lalonde Turbide of Canada in the round of 32. Massialas had a great match and won 15-6 (11-3, 3-4). Massialas then moved on to the round of 16 where he was defeated 15-6 (8-3, 7-3) by Alexey Cheremisinov of Russia. The final competitor for the US was Race Imboden who defeated Guilherme Toldo of Brazil in the round of 32 by a score of 15-5 (12-5, 3-0). Imboden then moved on to the round of 16 where he was defeated 15-9 (9-5, 6-4) by Andrea Baldini of Italy.

Field Hockey

The US had a hugely important game against Argentina in the group stage of field hockey on Tuesday. After losing 2-1 in their first match the US needed a win to try and stay in the group. Only the top two teams advance, so there isn’t any room to spare. The US got the win they needed by defeating Argentina 1-0 in a continuation of their Pan-American rivalry. The win moved the US into a tie for 2nd with Argentina, Australia, and Germany. The US is in 4th due to goal differential. Their score will be improved a lot after they face South Africa (who Argentina defeated 7-1). The US next faces 3rd place Australia on Thursday. Another win there would give the US an even better shot at the medal round.

Gymnastics

Brilliance. Beauty. Dominance. All of those words perfectly describe the US performance in the women’s team final on Tuesday. With the Russians breathing down their necks for 3 of the 4 apparatus the US answered the questions and didn’t flinch. When Russia made mistakes on the floor routine the US didn’t back down and put up a great score to blow Russia away and win the gold by over 5 points. How dominate was the US? Consider their apparatus rankings. In vault they were first. On the uneven bars they were third. On the balance beam they were first. On the floor routine they were third.  They had the three best vault scores in the competition. The first, third and fourth best floor routines. The fourth, fifth and seventh best balance beam routines. Even on the US’s weakest apparatus, the uneven bars, they finished sixth, eight, and 11th out of 24 competitors. The US improved their score from the qualification round, even with all the pressure.  Needless to say it was a routine that will go down in history. The US’s first women’s team gold since 1996 and a set of routines that demonstrated how gold medals are meant to be won: in clear dominant fashion. There was no doubting this one, no relying on someone else to help you out. The US flat out won this medal all by themselves, no one was going to top these girls.

Judo

Travis Stevens was the US competitor in the 81kg judo competition on Tuesday. He started things off in the round of 32 by defeating Aljaz Sedej of Slovenia by getting an ippon with 45 seconds left in the match. Then in the round of 16 he defeated Avtandil Tchrikishvili by getting an ippon at the 1:37 mark of a golden score period. In the quarterfinals Stevens took on Leandro Guilheiro of Brazil and defeated him by scoring a waza-ari half way through the match and holding on to that lead til the end.

In the semifinals Travis took on Ole Bischof of Germany. The match went scoreless the entire eight minutes and the judges ruled Bischof the winner.  I’m no judo expert, so my opinion can’t say much about how close it was. However from the comments I’ve seen from Stevens and his coach and others, it was a surprise they ruled for Bischof. Stevens tried to rally for a bronze but in a match with Antoine Valois-Fortier of Canada he gave up an early yuko and never could get a score to overcome it.  It was disappointing that he couldn’t get a medal after such a good run.

Rowing

In the first rowing event of the day the women’s double sculls crew of Margot Shumway/Sarah Trowbridge were able to make the final by finishing in 2nd place of their repechage by 1.31 seconds. They will now be in the final on Friday.

In the next event the women’s lightweight double sculls crew of Kristin Hedstrom/Julie Nichols made the semifinals by finishing 1st in their heat of the repechages. They are now in the semifinals on Thursday.

Next up was the men’s single sculls quarterfinals. The US finally got some disappointment as Ken Jurkowski finished 5th, a full 16+ seconds out of 3rd and will not make the regular semifinals. Jurkowski will be in the semifinal C/D on Wednesday to help determine rankings.

In the women’s single sculls quarterfinals Genevra  Stone rowed a great race and finished 2nd in her quarterfinal to advance to the A/B semifinals on Thursday.

In the final US event on Tuesday the lightweight four crew was not able to advance to the final as they finished in 5th place, 3.5 seconds out of 3rd place. They will race in the B final on Thursday.

Sailing

In the men’s 49er event on Tuesday Erik Storck and Trevor Moore finished in 16th in race 3 before winning race 4. Their total score is now 33 points as they are in 9th place and they are only 7 points behind 3rd place. Races 5 and 6 will be on Wednesday.

In the laser radial event Paige Railey finished in 12th in race 3 and 17th in race 4. She is now in 9th place with 42 points. That places her 24 points behind the 3rd place spot.  Races 5 and 6 will be on Wednesday

In the finn event Zach Railey finished 2nd in race 5 and 8th in race 6. Zach is now in 12th place with 48 points and is 25 points behind 3rd place. Races 7 and 8 will be on Thursday.

In the men’s RS-X event Robert Willis finished in 7th in race 1 and in 10th in race 2. His combined total is 17 and that puts him in 7th place, 11 points behind 3rd place. Races 3 and 4 will be on Wednesday.

In the star event Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih finished in 8th in race 5 and 9th in race 6. Their total is now 30 and that puts them in 6th place, just 13 points behind 3rd place. Races 7 and 8 will be on Thursday.

In the women’s RS-X event Farrah Hall finished in 22nd in race 1 and 18th in race 2. She is in 21st place with a total score of 40, 33 points out of 3rd. Races 3 and 4 will be on Wednesday.

In the elliott 6m event the US defeated Finland by two seconds and France by five seconds to move to 4-2 in the event. They are tied for 3rd place.  They will face 6th place New Zealand (3-3) and 3rd place Russia (5-1) tomorrow.

In the laser event Rob Crane finished race 3 in 30th place and race 4 in 28th place. His score of 135 places him 36th and is 120 out of 3rd place. He will have races 5 and 6 on Wednesday.

Shooting

Frank Thompson and Vincent Hancock competed in the qualification period of the skeet competition. Vincent Hancock set an Olympic record hitting 123 of 125 and led the group heading into the final. Frank Thompson hit 119 of 125 and was tied for 7th. Only six make the final, so he was JUST outside that group. In the final Hancock was perfect hitting 25 of 25. His total of 148 is a new Olympic record and he won gold for the 2nd straight Olympics. No man had ever won two skeet golds before, let alone in a row. An amazing accomplishment for a very talented shooter.

Soccer

The US defeated North Korea on Tuesday by a score of 1-0 led by an Ally Wambach first half goal. The result gave the US the top spot in Group G and sent them into a quarterfinal matchup with New Zealand on Friday. The US caught a big break as Sweden, France and Japan, the other three quarterfinalists in the last World Cup, along with Brazil, who the US beat in the quarterfinals of that World Cup, are all on the other half of the bracket. Beating New Zealand would earn the US a semifinal matchup with Canada or Great Britain.

Swimming

In the Men’s 100m freestyle Nathan Adrian finished 1st in the heats and Cullen Jones finished 9th, a 100th of a second behind 8th.  Adrian did great in the semifinals winning his heat and finishing 2nd overall, but Cullen Jones was only 14th, missing the final by .22 seconds. Adrian will swim in the final tomorrow.

Next in the women’s 200m butterfly Kathleen Hersey finished 1st and Cammile Adams 8th in the heats to move on to the semifinals. In the semifinals Hersey finished 1st but Cammile Adams was in a slower heat and just made the final finishing in 7th, .36 ahead of 9th. They will swim in the final on Wednesday.

Then in the men’s 200m breaststroke Clark Burckle and Scott Weltz went 6-7 in the heats to qualify for the afternoon semifinals. In the semifinals Weltz finished 4th and Burckle 6th to make the final. Weltz was .79 seconds behind leader Michael Jamieson of Great Britain in the semifinals. They will swim for gold on Wednesday.

In the women’s 200m freestyle Allison Schmitt zoomed into the lead after the 1st turn and never looked back. She blew away the field and finished 1.97 seconds ahead and set an Olympic record with a time of 1:53.61. Missy Franklin was just out touched at the wall and finished 4th by .01 seconds.

In the men’s 200m butterfly final Michael Phelps swam a great race and appeared to have it won, but was beaten to the touch by Chad le Clos of South Africa. Phelps seemed to try to coast in while le Clos finished strong. It was almost a mirror image of Beijing. Phelps did pick up the silver, just .05 seconds back, his 18th career medal, tied for the most all-time. Tyler Clary was well back in 5th place in the race.

In the women’s 200m individual medley Shiwen Ye came on in the final 50m and blew the field away and to overtake Caitlin Levernez.  Leverenz had been in 1st at the final turn but came in 3rd to win the bronze. Ariana Kukors was another .88 seconds behind her in 5th place. Ye sat an Olympic record in the event.

In the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay the US team of Charlie Houchin, Matthew McLean, Davis Tarwater, and Conor Dwyer swam a time 2.43 seconds better than the 2nd place team, France, to put the US into the final. In the final the US turned to a team of Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Ricky Berens, and Michael Phelps to win the gold. They led the entire race and Michael Phelps led it home to win his 19th  medal, a new Olympics record. Incredible story for Phelps, one of the greatest athletes ever.  They were over 3 seconds ahead of France at the end.

Tennis

There was some good news and some bad news for the US on Tuesday. In the women’s singles round of 32 Venus Williams defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-3 to move on to a round of 16 match against 7th seed Angelique Kerber of Germany.  Varvara Lepchenko was knocked out by Julia Georges of Germany, 6-3, 7-5 in a round of 32 match.

In men’s singles Andy Roddick saw his tournament come to an end as he lost 6-2, 6-1 to 2nd-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the round of 32.

In women’s doubles top-seeded Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond defeated Agnieszka Radwanska/Urszula Radwanksa of Poland 6-4, 7-6 in the round of 16 to move on to a quarterfinal against 6th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina of Russia tomorrow. Venus and Serena Williams were victorious over Angelique Kerber/Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-5 in the round of 16 to move on to a Wednesday quarterfinal against 2nd-seeded Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci of Italy.

Finally in men’s doubles top-seeded Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan defeated Nikolay Davydenko/Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in the round of 16 to move on to the quarterfinals. Their match will be on Thursday against a yet to be determined opponent.

Volleyball

The men’s volleyball team continue their dominant play as they bounced Germany in three sets (25-23, 25-26, 25-20) to stay atop the group. They and Brazil are 2-0 with all six sets won but the US has a slightly better point ratio. That tie will be broken when the two countries meet on Thursday.

Water Polo

The US men got a huge victory over Romania on Tuesday as they knocked Romania from the top of the group and moved up to 2nd. The US is only behind Serbia who has a goal differential of +18 largely thanks to beating Great Britain by 14 on Tuesday. The US will get a chance to build theirs up on Thursday when they face the British.

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

Olympic Review – July 30th

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Archery

#14 Miranda Leek was the first archer to compete individually for the US. Her first match of the day was in the round of 64 against #51 Kateryna Palekha. Leek won the match 6-2 (29-26, 29-24, 28-28, 27-27). She then moved on to the round of 32 where she was eliminated by Pia Lionetti 6-4 (27-26, 28-27, 28-28, 26-26, 28-26).

Badminton

In women’s badminton Rena Wang gave a valiant effort but lost to Xin Wang, who is amazing according to my viewing… not sure how you score on her. Badminton looks impossible. The score was 21-8, 21-6. Rena Wang had a tough break getting drawn in a group of 2 so she only got one match in London. Hope the 20-year-old is back in Rio.

In the men’s badminton doubles event Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan were already eliminated but had one final match against Kawamae/Sato of Japan. They lost the match 21-15, 21-15.

Basketball

The women’s basketball team destroyed Angola 90-38 to place themselves high atop Group A with a point differential of +77 through two games. Their next match is against 3rd place and 2-0 Turkey on Wednesday.

Beach Volleyball

In men’s beach volleyball we saw our first upset of the tournament as Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal were knocked off 21-17, 21-18 by the Polish team of Mariusz Prudel/Grzegorz Fijalek. The Polish team was ranked 9th in the world heading into the match, but the result was still surprising.  The loss leaves the US in 3rd in their group and they need a result on Wednesday against group leaders Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Ruslans Sorokins.

To end the day Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh  beat Kolocova/Slukova 21-14, 21-19. The win moved the Americans into 1st place alone ahead of Wednesday’s match with Cook/Hinchley of Australia.

Boxing

Marcus Browne took on Damien Hooper in the round of 32 portion of the light heavyweight competition. Browne got off to a good start and led 3-2 after round 1 and 6-5 after round 2. Unfortunately Hooper took control of round 3 and won the bout 13-11, eliminating Browne from the competition.

Canoeing

After a rough first day in the canoeing slalom events the US turned to the men’s C2 and the women’s K1 teams to do a little better. Unfortunately Eric Hurd and Jeff Larimer in the C2 competition turned in the 12th best time in run 1. In run 2 they had the 9th best time, but it was only 12th best overall, eliminating them from the competition. In the K1 event Caroline Queen needed a top 15 finish and was in 13th after the 1st run. She struggled in her 2nd run and had the 19th best of the 2nd runs. Her 1st run didn’t stand up as several competitors passed her and she ended up finishing 17th.

Diving

In a competition that featured a lot of teams that weren’t the Chinese making mistakes, the US duo of David Boudia and Nick McCrory avoided some big ones and put up a solid score of 463.47 to finish with the bronze medal. The bronze is the 2nd diving medal for the US in the last two days after only one in the last 12! Incredible! Both are in the individual 10m platform competition starting on Friday.

Equestrian

Boyd Martin started the day off for the US and had only 3.6 penalties to set a good starting point. Karen O’Connor was next and her penalty score of 5.6 left her just ahead of Boyd. Needing just one more rider to have a solid day to be in good position in the team competition Tiana Coudray struggled and had a score of 25.6 before Will Coleman had one of 36.4.  That meant it was up to veteran Phillip Dutton to lock things down for the US. He did with a score of 2.8 and it looks like he and O’Connor/Boyd will form the 3 highest scores for the team competition.

In the team competition the US is in 5th with a score of 155.2. The 3rd place team is Sweden with a score of 131.4. Tough task to come back for the US, have to hope some teams make mistakes.

In the individual competition Phillip Dutton is in 12th (47.1), 7.6 points behind the 3rd place rider. Karen O’Connor is in 24th (53.8), Boyd Martin in 26th (54.3), Tiana Coudray in 42nd (77.6) and Will Coleman in 46th (82.7).

Tomorrow will be the show jumping which will determine the team medals and individual standings. The top 25 riders will participate in the jumping final. Dutton is in good position now while O’Connor and Martin are right on the bubble.

Fencing

The individual epee competition was Monday. Susie Scanlan took on Olena Kryvtska of Ukraine in the round of 64 and lost 15-13. In the round of 32 Maya Lawrence faced Mara Navarria of Italy and pulled off a 15-12 upset. At the same time Courtney Hurley took on Laura Flessel-Colovic of France and lost 15-12. In the round of 16 Lawrence faced Rossella Fiamingo and lost 15-7.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics was a disaster for the US today. Having qualified in 1st they were 3rd on the floor routine to start but finished 7th on the pommel horse, and 4th on the rings. There was some thought they might rally on the vault but when John Orozco fell to his butt on his landing you knew it was not going to be a medal day for the US. They finished 5th overall and were really just 2 points out of silver. Really hurts knowing how close they were and how good the guys who made mistakes are.

The two individuals who will be in the individual all around struggled. Danell Leyva was 9th, 20th, and 10th on his first three apparatus before being 4th on the horizontal bar. Orozco was 23rd, 13th, 20th, 15th, and 8th. Not a confidence builder for these two as they head to the individual all around on Wednesday.

Judo

Judo was probably the highlight of the day for me. I absolutely loved watching Nick Delpopolo and Marti Malloy. Both have great fun names and were a joy to watch.  Delpopolo started off in the round of 32 beating Chi Yip Cheung with two Waza-aris. Next Delpopolo faced Dirk van Tichelt in the round of 16 and won with a yuko that held up as the only score.  Delpopolo finally lost in the quarterfinals after going a full match with Ki Chun Wang without any scores. Wang advanced on the judge’s decision.  In the repechage to get to the bronze medal match Delpopolo lost to Nyam-Ochir Sainjarga when he scored a yuko right at the end of the five minutes.

Marti Malloy started things off in the round of 32 when she defeated Telma Monteiro, one of the top competitors in the world, with a yuko in the golden score period.  She then moved on to the round of 16 where she made quick work of Yadinys Amaris getting an ippon just 40 seconds into the match.  In the quarterfinals she defeated Irina Zabludina with a yuko during the golden score period. Then in the semifinals she battled Corina Caproioriu tough but got taken down for an ippon with just seven seconds left. After that disappointing loss which meant she wouldn’t be the first woman to reach the gold medal final in judo she rebounded with an ippon halfway through her match with Giulia Quintavalle to win a bronze medal.

If you’ve never watched judo you should give it a watch. It takes a little time to figure out what is going on but it’s very interesting to watch and the matches go really quick.

Rowing

In the women’s quadruple sculls repechage the US needed to finish in the top four to make the final and they did more than that. They went boat-to-boat with the Australians and just barely finished 2nd by .7 seconds. They will be in the final on Wednesday.

In the men’s quadruple sculls the US needed to finish in the top 3 to make the semifinal. The US faltered early but came back strong. Unfortunately in the end they finished 4th by .72 seconds, so they were eliminated.

In the men’s pair repechage the US needed to finish in the top 3 to move on to the seimifinals on Wednesday. The US just barely did that as they were nearly caught at the line, squeaking out 3rd place by .53 seconds.

The women’s double sculls competition started today and the US duo came in 3rd in their heat. They will have to go to the repechage on Tuesday to qualify for the final.

Finally the men’s four competition started and the US got off to a great start. They won their heat by over a second and will be in the semifinals on Thursday.

Sailing

In the first day of 49er racing the US team of Erik Storck and Trevor Moore finished race 1 in 6th and race 2 in 10th. Their total of 16 points is 7 back of 3rd place.   Races 3 and 4 are tomorrow.

In the first day of laser racing the US competitor, Rob Crane, finished race 1 in 35th and race 2 in 42nd. The total of 77 puts him in 39th, 66 points behind 3rd place. Races 3 and 4 are tomorrow.

In the first day of laser radial racing Paige Railey finished race 1 in 8th and race 2 in 5th. Her total of 13 was good for 5th and puts her just just 4 points out of 3rd. Races 3 and 4 are tomorrow.

In the second day of finn racing Zach Railey finished race 3 in 13th and race 4 in 17th. His total of 55 places him 13th and he is 33 points out of 3rd. Races 5 and 6 are tomorrow.

In the second day of star racing the US team of Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih placed 5th in race 3 and 3rd in race 4. Their total of 27 is good for 5th place and are only 8 points show of 3rd. Races 5 and 6 are tomorrow.

Finally in the elliott 6m races the US crew of Anna Tunnicliffe, Debbie Capozzi and Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer beat Portugal by 12 seconds and then lost to Australia by less than a second. These results left the US at 2-2 and in 5th place in the competition.  The US will face Finland and France tomorrow.

Shooting

Matt Emmons finished 35th (590) and Jonathan Hall finished 27th (592) in the men’s 10m air rifle competition Monday.

Vincent Hancock and Frank Thompson started the skeet competition with the first three rounds. Hancock leads the way with 74 out of 75 hit while Thompson is in a tie for 5th with 71 out of 75 hit. Only the top six make the final. There are two more rounds of 25 before that point though. Those rounds and the final take place tomorrow.

Swimming

In the women’s 200m freestyle the US had both Allison Schmitt and Missy Franklin easily qualify for the semifinals. It got a bit more interesting there as Schmitt swam the 2nd best time but Franklin just barely made the final finishing .19 seconds ahead of 9th place. They’ll both race in the final tomorrow.

In the men’s 200m butterfly Tyler Clary and Michael Phelps qualified easily for the semifinals. In the semifinals Clary was 4th in his heat but thanks to a slower 2nd heat he is 6th for the finals. Phelps finished 1st in his heat but is 4th for the finals. We’ll see them head-to-head in the final tomorrow.

In the women’s 200m individual medley the US qualified Ariana Kukors and Caitlin Leverenz for the semifinals. They finished 3-4 in their heat but will be 3-4 in tomorrow’s final as well because Kukors was .66 seconds ahead of the top time in the other heat.

In the men’s 200m freestyle final Ryan Lochte was 2nd at the final turn but was passed and finished 4th, missing the bronze by .11 seconds.

In the women’s 100m backstroke final Missy Franklin was coming off a nice rest. A nice rest of 10 minutes since the 200m freestyle. That was no bother to her though as she won the final setting an American record of 58.33.  Great gold medal for Missy Franklin!

In the men’s 100m backstroke final the US was very excited as Matt Grevers won the gold with an Olympic record 52.16 and saw his teammate Nick Thoman come home in 2nd to take the silver!

Finally in the women’s 100m breaststroke final Rebecca Soni tried her best but couldn’t track down 15-year-old Ruta Meilutyte. Soni took home the silver, losing out on the gold by just .08 seconds. Breeja Larson finished 6th, but just .03 seconds behind 4th.

Tennis

Andy Roddick won his round of 64 match against Martin Klizan 7-5, 6-4 on Monday. His reward? A round of 32 match against #2 Novak Djokovic on Tuesday. John Isner got his round of 32 match over already defeating Malek Jaziri 7-6, 6-2. He will face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the round of 16.

In women’s singles Varvara Lepchenko was able to complete her round of 64 match with Veronica Cepede Royg and beat her 7-5, 6-7, 6-2.  Her opponent in the round of 32, Julia Goerges, knocked off #2 seed Agnieszka Radwanksa in the round of 64. That match will be on Tuesday. Venus Williams easily handled Sara Errani 6-3, 6-1 in the round of 64 and moves on to a round of 32 match with Aleksandra Wozniak on Tuesday. #4 Serena Williams defeated Urszula Radwanska in the round of 32 6-2, 6-3. Serena moves on to face Vera Zvonareva in the round of 16.

In women’s doubles play Venus and Serena teamed up to defeated Sorana Cristea/Simona Halep 6-3, 6-2 on Monday. They now face #5 Angelique Kerber/Sabine Lisicki on Tuesday in the round of 16.

How both of those happen AND the sisters play their scheduled round of 32 doubles match with Cristea/Halep of Romania… I don’t know. So perhaps the Serena match will be on Tuesday and the doubles match will make it in on Monday.

Volleyball

The US women’s volleyball team got a great result when they defeated Brazil 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21. Not only was the win big in trying to win the group but getting a match like this out of the way helped the US grow into the tournament. The US has to be considered a strong contender for the gold if they keep playing like this. They next play group leader China on Wednesday.

Water Polo

The US women’s water polo team got a big 14-13 win over Hungary to start off their group stage.  Maggie Steffens lead the way with 7 goals for the US. The goal put the US into 2nd place in the group and sets them up for a match for the top of the group with leader Spain on Wednesday.

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