olympic sports

Olympic Daily Glance, Day 5 — Leyva, you’ve got me on my knees

Wednesday at the Olympic Games: Danell Leyva and John Orozco try to shake off the team meltdown and win the all-around, and … it’s a really busy day. Especially around 10 a.m. until noon.

WHAT HAPPENED TUESDAY

Funny how a mood can change quickly. Everything seemed so glum for the U.S. swimmers when Michael Phelps botched the finish in the 200-meter butterfly. But then Allison Schmitt came out smiled for her gold medal presentation, Ryan Lochte opened the 4×200 relay with a redeeming dart through the pool, and Phelps celebrated his record 19th Olympic medal. Caitlin Leverenz also got bronze in the 200 IM.

No such drama in gymnastics. The U.S. women were simply awesome. Forget Jordyn Wieber‘s disappointment in the all-around — she’s a gold medalist now, and all five members of the team delivered.

Speaking of Americans who couldn’t miss, Vincent Hancock made all 25 skeet explode to slam the door on any challengers as he defended his Olympic title. And the U.S. men’s hoopsters woke up in the second half to stretch their lead over Tunisia to 47. Venus Williams, the Bryan brothers and Raymond/Huber all advanced, though Andy Roddick ran into Novak Djokovic.

Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won a controversial beach volleyball match, but they’ll all make the next round, anyway. Less fortunate with the officials was judo’s Travis Stevens, who had a couple of upsets and battled German favorite Ole Bischof to a bloody stalemate (seriously, dude, buy some nail clippers) before the judges went with Bischof. A heartbroken Stevens had nothing left for his bronze-medal bout.

Finally, four U.S. teams took important wins. The only runaway was in men’s volleyball, where the USA straight-setted Germany. The men’s water polo team held off Romania. Abby Wambach scored and the U.S. defense held tight in a 1-0 women’s soccer win over North Korea. And the U.S. field hockey team, which upset Argentina in the Pan Am Games, did it again with a 1-0 decision.

And the Duke Olympics continue! Rebecca Smith scored for New Zealand as the Football Ferns advanced past Cameroon for a quarterfinal date with the USA.

MEDAL PROJECTION UPDATE

You’d think weightlifting would be more predictable than judo. Most weightlifters don’t even attempt enough weight to medal. In judo, medal favorites can lose in early rounds to marauding Americans. But I did pretty well with judo today and not well at all with weightlifting. I also went 0-for-3 in men’s skeet — I inexplicably left out Vincent Hancock, and I didn’t have Qatar picked to medal at all.

It wasn’t a great day for Britain, though I wasn’t very confident in the events in which they came up short — canoeing, diving and individual eventing. They can make up it on Wednesday. They’d better.

Underprojected: China (6), North Korea (3), Canada (3), four tied at 2

Overprojected: Britain (5), Turkey (4), Australia (2), Netherlands (2), Brazil (2), Germany (2)

Don’t forget the full medal projections.

WEDNESDAY’S VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS

times ET; *-medal event

Everything’s available online. NBC, MSNBC and NBC Sports Network may occasionally hop around to other events. Names are U.S. athletes unless otherwise mentioned.

4:00 a.m.: Archery, men’s and women’s round of 64 and 32. Yeah, I got this wrong yesterday and combined the Tuesday and Wednesday listings. Hope no one was expecting to see Khatuna Lorig at 7:15.

  • 7:15: Khatuna Lorig, round of 64 vs. Bhutan’s Sherab Zam
  • 7:41: Lorig (if she won earlier)

4:00: Fencing, men’s epee round of 32 and 16.

  • 4:30: Seth Kelsey
  • 5:00: Soren Thompson
  • 6:15: Round of 16 starts

4:00: NBC Sports Network signs on with Spain-Australia men’s field hockey

4:30: Rowing, semifinals and finals

  • 5:10: Women’s pair final. USA’s Sara Hendershot/Sarah Zelenka. Picks: NZL-GBR-AUS
  • 5:20: Women’s quadruple sculls final. USA has qualified. Picks: GER-UKR-USA
  • 5:30: Men’s eight final. USA has qualified.  Picks: GER-GBR-AUS

5:00: Swimming, qualifying heats. Honestly, I haven’t been listing these for several days because I assume no one’s getting up this early to watch the U.S. swimmers yawn their way to the semifinals.

7:00: Sailing, six classes

7:00, Bravo: Tennis, plenty

  • 7:00: Serena Williams vs. Vera Zvonareva, third round
  • tba: Venus Williams vs. Angelique Kerber, third round
  • tba: John Isner vs. Janko Tisarevic, third round
  • tba: Huber/Raymond vs. Russia, quarterfinals
  • tba: Williams/Williams vs. Italy, quarterfinals (Errani has to face Venus again? Brutal)
  • tba: Huber/Bob Bryan vs. Germany, first round
  • tba: Raymond/Mike Bryan vs. Italy, first round

7:30, NBC SN: Cycling, women’s time trial. Picks: GBR-GER-CAN

8:10: Fencing, women’s epee round of 32 and 16. (MSNBC signs on at 9 and starts here)

  • 8:10: Mariel Zagunis (defending champion/opening ceremony flag bearer)
  • 8:30: Dagmara Wozniak
  • 9:45: Round of 16 starts

8:30: Boxing, men’s bantamweight round of 16. Joseph Diaz Jr. vs. Cuba’s Lazaro Alvarez Estrada

9:00: Judo, women’s 70kg and men’s 90kg, repechage and medals

  • Women’s 70kg: FRA-NED-HUN-JPN
  • Men’s 90kg: GRE-JPN-RUS-CUB

9:15, NBC (starting at 10): Cycling, men’s time trial. Little shaky on the gold medal pick, given Fabian Cancellara’s injury. Picks: SUI-GBR-GER

9:30: Boxing, men’s heavyweight round of 16. Michael Hunter II

9:30, NBCSN: Soccer (men’s), Brazil vs. New Zealand

10:00: Diving, men’s synchronized springboard. Picks: CHN-RUS-MEX

10:00: Archery, men’s round of 64 and 32. Again — I got this wrong yesterday. This is actually correct.

  • 10:13: Brady Ellison
  • 10:52: Ellison (if he won earlier)
  • 11:31: Jake Kaminski
  • 12:10: Kaminski, ibid

10:15: Canoe slalom, men’s single kayak (K-1). Picks: SLO-ITA-FRA

10:30: Boxing, men’s super heavyweight round of 16. Dominic Breazeale

10:30: Shooting, women’s 25m pistol final. Picks: CHN-CZE-ESP

10:30: Table tennis, women’s singles final. China’s Ding Ning vs. China’s Li Xiaoxia. Feeling good about my picks. Picks: CHN-CHN-KOR

10:30: Weightlifting, women’s 69kg final. Picks: RUS-ROU-BLR

11:30, NBC: Beach volleyball, men’s pool play. Gibb/Rosenthal. They lost their first match, so they might need this one.

11:30: Gymnastics, men’s all-around. Not at all confident in my gold medal pick’s form. Picks: JPN-GER-GBR

1:20, NBC: Water polo, U.S. women vs. Spain

1:45, MSNBC: Fencing, men’s epee and women’s sabre, semis and medal bouts

  • Men’s epee: EST-ITA-SUI
  • Women’s sabre: USA-RUS-UKR

2:00: Weightlifting, men’s 77kg final. Picks: KOR-CHN-ARM

2:30: Swimming, several finals and semifinals.

  • Men’s 200 breaststroke: JPN-HUN-JPN
  • Women’s 200 fly: CHN-GBR-CHN
  • Women’s 4×200 free: AUS-USA-CHN
  • Men’s 100 free: AUS-BRA-CAN

2:45, NBC SN: Soccer (men’s), Great Britain vs. Uruguay

3:00, NBC: Volleyball, U.S. women vs. China

5:15, NBC SN: Basketball, U.S. women vs. Turkey

6:00, MSNBC?: Beach volleyball, women’s pool play. May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings once again in the late-night slot. Aren’t they getting a little old for that?

All day: Badminton (singles round of 16, doubles quarterfinals), women’s handball, men’s hockey.

Check the full schedule below for updates on table tennis and (non-table) tennis.

You know who actually has the best glance of how Americans are faring? Wikipedia.

Full schedule for the day: London2012.com

REMINDERS

Full TV listings: NBCOlympics.com
Full online listings: Also NBCOlympics.com

I’ll be doing this daily during the Games. As a reminder, you’ll also find my work at Bleacher Report, and I’ll be helping Trapit capture the best Olympic news sources. Follow @TrapitSports or all Olympic-related Trapit feeds on Twitter for more.

olympic sports

Top 5 Overlooked Moments of the Olympics

I don’t know that they’re really overlooked, but working for Bleacher Report has taught me a bit about SEO.

Archery: U.S. men were the comeback kids in the quarterfinals and semis. Couldn’t quite do it in the final. Highlights would be nice, but instead, NBC has the guys chatting with Ryan Seacrest. You can also watch the whole team event from the quarterfinals onward if you have a few hours.

Boxing: Terrell Gausha. Didn’t leave it in the hands of the judges. Highlights!

Diving: Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston winning silver in synchro springboard. They break it down.

Judo: Marti Malloy had two really nice throws on the way to winning gold. Some of the highlights are up. Not the good ones yet, but at least it shows her beating one of the contenders.

Water polo: When you have a 19-year-old who can score seven goals against a top rival, that’ll help. USA 14-13 Hungary. Couple of things you’ll see in the highlights — the underwater cam capturing all the argybargy, and the commentator criticizing the goalkeeper’s positioning. (Actually makes a very interesting tactical point.)

And a lowlight:

Fencing: How many times do you get a final second? Was is this — 1972 Cold War basketball?

olympic sports

Olympic Daily Glance, Day 4 — Good morning, Iceland!

Tuesday at the Olympics Games: U.S. women’s gymnasts unite, Phelps and Lochte try to find another gear, the U.S. women’s soccer team puts down the smartphones for a couple of hours to play soccer, and Iceland wakes us up. Yes, I said Iceland.

WHAT HAPPENED MONDAY

Yes, we know, Ryan Lochte didn’t medal. And the U.S. men’s gymnasts went splat in the team final. That’s all anyone’s going to talk about.

And that’s too bad, because Team USA had a lot of great performances. Missy Franklin and Matt Grevers took gold in the pool, with Nick Thoman and Rebecca Soni taking silver, the latter behind a teary-eyed Lithuanian teenager named Ruta Meilutyte. Divers David Boudia and Nick McCrory took bronze in the synchronized platform, with McCrory’s medal keeping Duke (2) ahead of Germany (1) in the medal count. Then there’s Marti Malloy, who extended the U.S. women’s streak of Olympics with a medal to two. (Read my story. I mean it.) And the American tennis players? 6-0 on Monday.

The U.S. women’s teams did well, too — a close win over Hungary in water polo, a comfortable decision over Brazil in volleyball (with Kobe Bryant watching), and the basketball team played Angola.

MEDAL PROJECTION UPDATE

First, I need to correct something from the last two days. Due to a math error (well, an Excel range that was one row short), my underprojection numbers for South Korea, France and the USA should be one lower. That actually helps me out. I’m now dead-on with my South Korea projection (six medals so far), one off on France (I picked six; they have seven) and one off on the USA (I picked 16; they have 17).

Not a great day. I didn’t get shut out in any events, but I only got 16 of a possible 35 medals. The highlight was the 1-2 in men’s team gymnastics. Would’ve been a sweep if the Americans had put it together for bronze.

But overall, I’m not too far off on the medal table except in one glaring case.

Underprojected (more medals than I expected): China 3, North Korea 3, Italy 2, Colombia 2

Overprojected: Germany 5 (??!!), Turkey 3, Britain 2, Australia 2

TUESDAY’S VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS

times ET; *-medal event

Everything’s available online. NBC, MSNBC and NBC Sports Network may occasionally hop around to other events. Names are U.S. athletes unless otherwise mentioned.

4:00: Archery, men’s and women’s round of 64 and 32.

  • 4:13: Jacob Wukie, round of 64
  • 4:52: Wukie in round of 32 (if he won earlier)
  • 5:44: Jennifer Nichols, round of 64
  • 6:23: Nichols (if she won earlier)
  • 7:15: Khatuna Lorig
  • 7:41: Lorig (if she won earlier)

4:30: Rowing. U.S. men’s four and women’s eight have already advanced and don’t need to row today. NBC will have it at 11:15. Of U.S. interest:

  • 4:30: Men’s single sculls, quarterfinals
  • 4:50: Women’s double sculls, repechage
  • 5:10: Women’s lightweight double sculls, repechage
  • 6:00: Men’s single sculls, semifinals
  • 6:40: Women’s single sculls, quarterfinals
  • 7:40: Men’s lightweight four, semifinals

4:30: Handball (men’s), Iceland vs. Tunisia. Yes, we’re adopting Iceland, because they were so much fun to cover in 2008.

5:19: Judo, men’s 81kg, round of 32. Travis Stevens. Round of 16 and quarterfinals follow over next 2-3 hours.

5:30, NBC SN: Equestrian, team eventing, final event (jumping). Current ranking: Germany, Britain, Sweden, New Zealand, USA. Picks: GBR-GER-AUS

6:50: Fencing, men’s foil, round of 32/16/quarterfinals.

  • 6:50: Miles Chamley-Watson
  • 7:20: Alexander Massialas
  • 8:20: Race Imboden
  • 9:10: Round of 16
  • 10:30: Quarterfinals

7:00, Bravo: Tennis, various, all second round. Bravo’s on until 3 p.m.

  • 7:00: Venus Williams vs. Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak
  • tba: Varvara Lepchenko vs. Germany’s Julia Goerges
  • tba: Andy Roddick vs. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic
  • tba: Williams/Williams vs. Germany
  • tba: Huber/Raymond vs Poland (Radwanska/Radwanska)
  • tba: Bryan/Bryan vs. Russia

9:00: Shooting, men’s skeet final. USA’s Vincent Hancock leads qualifying, and that’s not a surprise. Frank Thompson might make final. Wait, why didn’t I pick the USA here? Oops. Picks: RUS-CYP-NOR

9:00: Judo, men’s 81kg and women’s 63kg medal rounds.

  • Men’s 81: KOR-BRA-AZE-GER
  • Women’s 63: JPN-FRA-SLO-NED

9:30, NBC SN: Equestrian, individual eventing, final event (more jumping). U.S. not likely to medal. Picks: GBR-NZL-USA

10:00: Diving, women’s synchronized platform. The one diving event in which the USA did not qualify. Picks: CHN-AUS-GBR

10:06, NBC: Canoe slalom, men’s C1 final. USA didn’t advance to semis. Picks: FRA-SVK-GBR

10:10: Archery, men’s round of 64 and 32.

  • 10:13: Brady Ellison
  • 10:52: Ellison (if he won earlier)
  • 11:31: Jake Kaminski
  • 12:10: Kaminski, ibid

10:30: Boxing, men’s 64kg round of 32. Jamel Herring

10:30: Weightlifting, women’s 63kg. Picks: KAZ-TUR-RUS

10:30, NBC: Swimming, early heats.

11:00: Table tennis, women’s singles semifinals.

11:30: Gymnastics, women’s team final. Surely lightning won’t strike down the USA again. Picks: USA-RUS-CHN

11:45, NBC: Volleyball, U.S. men vs. Germany

12:15, NBC SN: Soccer, U.S. women vs. North Korea. Will Abby Wambach’s face be healed? Will Pia Sundhage juggle the lineup again? Will Brandi Chastain do the commentary? And will North Korea suddenly find the form it had when it drew the USA in the 2007 World Cup opener 2-2? (No, it wasn’t a shutout, no matter what you may read on book jackets.)

  • Simultaneous: France vs. Colombia, MSNBC

1:00: Fencing, men’s foil, semifinals and medal bouts.  Picks: ITA-ITA-USA

2:00, MSNBC: Field hockey, U.S. women vs. Argentina. Rematch of Pan Am Games final, a huge U.S. upset.

2:00: Weightlifting, men’s 69kg.  Picks: ARM-ALB-ROU

2:30: Swimming, several semifinals and finals.

  • Women’s 200 free: USA-FRA-SWE (Franklin and Schmitt)
  • Men’s 200 fly: USA-JPN-AUS (Phelps and Clary)
  • Women’s 200 IM: AUS-CHN-USA (Leverenz and Kukors)
  • Men’s 4×200 free: USA-FRA-RUS (including Lochte and Phelps?)

2:40, NBC: Water polo, U.S. men vs. Romania

3:30, MSNBC: Soccer (women’s), Great Britain vs. Brazil. Only an hour’s window — maybe just second half?

4:00, NBC: Beach volleyball, men’s pool play. Dalhausser/Rogers

5:15, NBC SN: Basketball, U.S. men vs. Tunisia

6:00: Beach volleyball, women’s pool play. Kessy/Ross

Plus early rounds/heats of badminton and sailing. I highly recommend sailing if you like scenery — I’ll add it to the schedule when we get farther along. Check the full schedule below for updates on table tennis and (non-table) tennis.

You know who actually has the best glance of how Americans are faring? Wikipedia.

Full schedule for the day: London2012.com

REMINDERS

Full TV listings: NBCOlympics.com
Full online listings: Also NBCOlympics.com

I’ll be doing this daily during the Games. As a reminder, you’ll also find my work at Bleacher Report, and I’ll be helping Trapit capture the best Olympic news sources. Follow @TrapitSports or all Olympic-related Trapit feeds on Twitter for more.

olympic sports

Olympic Daily Glance, Day 3 — Flipping out

Monday at the Olympic Games: The U.S. men’s gymnasts take their momentum into the men’s final, and we’re back in the pool.

Reminder of the 2012 medal projections, and off we go …

WHAT HAPPENED SUNDAY

Shooter Kim Rhode won her fifth medal in as many Olympics, Britain’s medal drought ended in the women’s cycling road race, the neo-Dream Team demolished France, the USA’s Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston took silver in synchronized springboard, U.S. boxers, volleyballers and beach volleyballers rolled, the U.S. men’s water polo team held on against Montenegro, tennis was a washout,  and the U.S. women’s field hockey suffered a setback.

The stunner was in gymnastics. The U.S. women did as well as expected in qualifying. But Aly Raisman did even better, posting an all-around score ahead of heralded teammates Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Wieber. Only two Americans can compete in the final, so world champion Wieber is out.

Then came swimming, where Dana Vollmer set a world record to win the 100-meter fly, Allison Schmitt set an American record to take silver in the 400 free, Brendan Hansen got bronze in the 100 breaststroke, and the same lead weight that was tied to Michael Phelps in the 400 IM was apparently tied to Ryan Lochte as France passed him for gold in the 4×100 free relay.

MEDAL PROJECTION UPDATE

Highlight: Nailed all three medals, in order, in the women’s skeet. Lowlight: Judo. Not even going to talk about it.

But the overall medal count isn’t bad. Aside from China, which has three more swimming medals and two more shooting medals than I expected. North Korea also is better than expected — no surprise, given their penchant for secrecy. At the other end — hey, didn’t you used to be Germany? Projected: 4. Earned: 0.

So far, my fears of overcounting the USA is unfounded. Britain? Slightly, but remember that one of those was the highly unpredictable men’s road race.

Underprojected: China (5), USA (3), North Korea (3), Italy (2), France (2), Hungary (2)

Overprojected: Germany (4), Turkey (2), Mongolia (2), Britain (2), Australia (2), Japan (2)

MONDAY’S VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS

times ET; *-medal event

Everything’s available online. NBC, MSNBC and NBC Sports Network may occasionally hop around to other events.

3:30 a.m.: Badminton, women’s group play. USA’s Rena Wang.

4:37 a.m.: Judo, women’s 57kg round of 32. USA’s Marti Malloy.

4:39 a.m.: Archery, women’s round of 32. USA’s Miranda Leek.

5:26 a.m.: Judo, men’s 73kg round of 32. USA’s Nick Delpopolo.

5:30 a.m.: Fencing, women’s epee round of 64. USA’s Susie Scanlan (other Americans got a bye).

5:30 a.m.: Judo, men’s 73kg and women’s 57kg round of 16 and quarterfinals.

6:30 a.m., Bravo (TV starts at 7): Tennis, men’s singles. USA’s Andy Roddick vs. Slovakia’s Martin Klizan, first round, weather permitting. Other tennis Americans on the schedule:

  • John Isner vs. Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri, second round
  • Varvara Lepchenko vs. Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg, first round
  • Venus Williams vs. Italy’s Sara Errani, first round
  • Serena Williams vs Poland’s Ursula Radwanska, second round
  • Venus/Serena Williams vs. Romania, first round

7:15 a.m.: Shooting, men’s 10m air rifle. In the last two Olympics, the USA’s Matt Emmons has medaled (gold, silver) in the 50m prone and then lost gold on the last shot (cross-fired, hit trigger too soon) in the 50m three-position. This is a different event for him. Picks: ITA-HUN-CHN

7:30 a.m.: Equestrian, eventing. The cross-country phase of the event.

7:50 a.m.: Fencing, women’s epee round of 32. USA’s Courtney Hurley and Maya Lawrence.

9 a.m.: Judo, men’s 73kg and women’s 57kg semis, repechage and medal round. xxx. Picks: men: JPN-KOR-FRA-NED; women: JPN-POR-BRA-ROU

9:10 a.m.: Fencing, women’s epee round of 16/quarterfinals.

9:19 a.m.: Badminton, men’s doubles group play. USA’s Gunawan/Bach.

10 a.m.: Diving, men’s synchronized platform. U.S. veteran Troy Dumais is paired with Kristian Ipsen. Picks: CHN-GER-USA

10:30 a.m.: Weightlifting, women’s 58kg. Picks: BLR-TPE-THA

10:45 a.m., CNBC: Boxing, men’s light heavyweight round of 32. USA’s Marcus Browne.

11:30 a.m.: Gymnastics, men’s team final. If they match their feats from qualifying, the Americans might make me regret picking them no higher than bronze. Picks: CHN-JPN-USA

11:45 a.m.: Volleyball, U.S. women vs. Brazil.

1 p.m.: Fencing, women’s epee semifinals and medal rounds. xxx. Picks: CHN-ROU-CHN

2 p.m.: Weightlifting, men’s 62kg. Picks: CHN-PRK-TUR

2:30 p.m.: Swimming, several finals. Picked a lot of Americans, but it might be time to wonder if they’re not quite up to the task this time.

  • Men’s 200 free. USA-FRA-GER
  • Women’s 100 back. USA-RUS-CHN
  • Men’s 100 back. USA-FRA-GBR
  • Women’s 100 breast. USA-AUS-USA

2:40 p.m.: Water polo, U.S. women vs. Hungary.

4 p.m.: Beach volleyball, men’s pool play. USA’s Gibb/Rosenthal.

5:15 p.m.: Basketball, U.S. women vs. Angola. Might not be close.

6 p.m.: Beach volleyball, women’s pool play. USA’s May-Treanor/Walsh Jennings.

Plus early rounds/heats of archery (individual), canoe slalom, handball, hockey, rowing, sailing, shooting (men’s skeet) and table tennis. Check the full schedule below for updates on table tennis and (non-table) tennis.

Full schedule for the day: London2012.com

REMINDERS

Full TV listings: NBCOlympics.com
Full online listings: Also NBCOlympics.com

I’ll be doing this daily during the Games. As a reminder, you’ll also find my work at Bleacher Report, and I’ll be helping Trapit capture the best Olympic news sources. Follow @TrapitSports or all Olympic-related Trapit feeds on Twitter for more.

olympic sports

Olympic Daily Glance, Day 2 — Back to the pool

Sunday at the Olympic Games:

Reminder of the 2012 medal projections, and off we go …

WHAT HAPPENED SATURDAY

We won’t lead with the negative, so let’s mention Ryan Lochte’s big win and Dana Vollmer’s qualifying records before we scratch our head about Michael Phelps finishing fourth. The U.S. men’s gymnasts were rock-solid in qualifying, and the U.S. men’s archers took silver after a series of thrillers. The USA finished the day with five medals: Lochte, the archers, Elizabeth Beisel (silver, 400 IM), Peter Vanderkaay (bronze, 400 free) and the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay.

In cycling, Great Britain’s team was stranded when the disinterested peloton couldn’t reel back a breakaway, and Kazakhstan’s aging Alexander Vinokourov latched onto an attempted solo break and won the whole thing. The USA’s Taylor Phinney was agonizingly close to bronze.

MEDAL PROJECTION UPDATE

For the most part, not bad. Got at least two out of the three medalists in most events. The cycling road race threw me off, but I doubt I’m alone there.

I had convinced myself that I overcounted the USA in the projections. Not yet. I had them projected for four today. They got five. But I was way off on China — projected for three, got six.

Underprojected: China 3, Italy 3, Brazil 2, USA 1, a few others with one

Overprojected: Germany 2, Britain 2. I blame the road race.

SUNDAY’S VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS

times ET; *-medal event

Everything’s available online. NBC, MSNBC and NBC Sports Network may occasionally hop around to other events.

5 a.m.: Table tennis, women’s singles second round. USA’s Ariel Hsing is still in it.

6 a.m., NBC SN: Basketball, men’s, Brazil-Australia. Mentioning it only because it’s the first thing on the TV schedule.

6:30 a.m., Bravo (starting at 7): Tennis, women’s singles first round. USA’s Varvara Lepchenko vs. Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg.

6:45 a.m.: Shooting, women’s 10m air pistol. Picks: SRB-UKR-AUS

7 a.m., NBC: Cycling, women’s road race. U.S. has some potential here. Britain’s Nicole Cooke will be out to avenge the men. Picks: NED-GER-GBR

8:30 a.m., Bravo: Tennis, men’s singles first round. USA’s Andy Roddick vs. Slovakia’s Martin Klizan.

9 a.m.: Shooting, women’s skeet. The USA’s Kim Rhode seeks to add to her collection. Picks: USA-CHN-SVK

9 a.m., Bravo: Tennis, women’s singles first round. USA’s Venus Williams vs. Italy’s Sara Errani. Guessing Bravo may need to hop between this and the Roddick match.

9:10 a.m.: Fencing, men’s saber quarterfinals. USA could have any out of Daryl Homer, James Williams and Tim Morehouse here.

9:15 a.m.: Badminton, men’s doubles pool play. USA’s Gunawan/Bach had a tough loss to South Korea on Saturday. Facing Malaysia here.

9:30 a.m., NBC SN: Basketball, U.S. men vs. France. This could be a semifinal matchup.

9:45 a.m.: Gymnastics, women’s qualification. Five sessions — this one includes the USA.

10 a.m.: Archery, women’s team quarterfinals. After today’s thrillers, are you going to skip this?

10 a.m.: Diving, women’s synchronized springboard. First chance to watch a Duke athlete — Abby Johnston dives with Kelci Bryant. Picks: CHN-CAN-AUS

10:30 a.m.: Weightlifting, women’s 53kg. Picks: KAZ-TUR-TPE

11 a.m.: Judo, men’s 66kg and women’s 52kg finals. Picks: men’s 66kg, RUS-JPN-BRA-MGL; women’s 52kg, JPN-MGL-BRA-ALG

11:45 a.m., NBC: Volleyball, U.S. men vs. Serbia

12:30 p.m.: Archery, women’s team medal matches. Picks: KOR-IND-CHN

12:30 p.m.: Tennis, women’s doubles first round. USA’s Williams/Williams vs. Romania.

1 p.m.: Fencing, men’s saber semis and medal round. Again, some potential for USA. Picks: GER-RUS-ITA

2 p.m.: Weightlifting, men’s 56kg. Picks: VIE-CHN-AZE

2:30 p.m.: Swimming, several finals. In Vollmer and Hansen we trust.

  • Women’s 100 fly: USA-SWE-AUS
  • Men’s 100 breast: JPN-ITA-USA
  • Women’s 400 free: FRA-ITA-GBR
  • Men’s 4×100 free relay: AUS-USA-FRA

2:40 p.m., NBC: Men’s water polo, USA-Montenegro. No, it’s not a huge mismatch. The Balkans like their water polo.

2:45 p.m., MSNBC: Men’s soccer, Great Britain-UAE. A nation holds its breath.

2:45 p.m.: Men’s soccer, Spain-Honduras. Big bounce-back game?

4 p.m., NBC: Beach volleyball, women’s pool play. USA’s Ross/Kessy

4:15 p.m., NBC SN: Field hockey, women’s pool play, USA-Germany

4:30 p.m., CNBC: Boxing, men’s lightweight round of 32. USA’s Jose Ramirez

5 p.m., CNBC: Boxing, men’s welterweight round of 32. USA’s Errol Spence

5 p.m., NBC: Beach volleyball, men’s pool play. USA’s Dalhausser/Rogers

Plus early rounds/heats of canoe slalom, equestrian eventing (dressage), rowing and sailing.

Full schedule for the day: London2012.com

REMINDERS

Full TV listings: NBCOlympics.com
Full online listings: Also NBCOlympics.com

I’ll be doing this daily during the Games. As a reminder, you’ll also find my work at Bleacher Report, and I’ll be helping Trapit capture the best Olympic news sources. Follow @TrapitSports or all Olympic-related Trapit feeds on Twitter for more.

olympic sports

Olympic Daily Glance, Day 1 — Finally!

Saturday at the Olympic Games: Actual competition. The women’s 10m air rifle should be the first event to award medals. Three high-profile U.S. women’s teams will be in action, and you’ll need both your TV and computer to watch soccer and hoops around lunchtime. (Or breakfast, if you’re on the West Coast. Or brunch.)

Rather than have separate categories for medal events, ongoing events and viewing recommendations, I’m combining everything in the viewing recommendations. They’ll include every medal event, every U.S. team in action and (as much as possible) every U.S. athlete in action. Also a few other interesting events, lest you think I’m too provincial.

I’ll also remind everyone of my picks in each event as part of the 2012 medal projections, just so you can follow along at home and make fun of each one I get wrong. The medal projections page has been updated with a link to each sport’s detailed picks in case you really want to argue the point.

WHAT HAPPENED FRIDAY

A world record in archery qualifying and what we can only assume was a spectacular opening ceremony. (Yes, I’ll watch the delayed version … grumble grumble grumble.)

MEDAL PROJECTION UPDATE

Haven’t missed one yet!

VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS

times ET; *-medal event;

Just a guess: NBC will check in on some events while the men’s road race is in progress.

4 a.m., NBC SN: Beach volleyball, women’s pool play (in case you can’t wait, like Christmas morning)

* 5 a.m., NBC: Cycling, men’s road race (won’t end for a few hours). USA’s Tejay van Garderen had a breakthrough Tour de France, and Chris Horner and Taylor Phinney will be in the mix. Picks: GBR-SUI-SVK

5:30 a.m., NBC SN: Table tennis, men’s prelim round. USA’s Wang

* 6 a.m., NBC SN: Shooting, women’s 10m air rifle (first medal event). Matt Emmons’ wife, Katy, will be shooting for the Czech Republic. But the USA itself also has a good, um, shot with Jamie Gray. Picks: CHN-CZE-GER

6 a.m., online: Gymnastics, men’s qualification. Chinese, British gymnasts in action.

6:15 a.m., online: Table tennis, women’s first round. USA’s Zhang (MSNBC has table tennis block from 2-2:45)

7 a.m., Bravo: Tennis, check links below for updated timetable; Bravo’s on this until 3 p.m. U.S. players in action on Day 1 (assume times are tentative):

  • 6:30 a.m.: Ryan Harrison vs. Santiago Giraldo (Colombia)
  • 6:30 a.m.: Christina McHale vs. Ana Ivanovic (Croatia)
  • 8:30 a.m.: John Isner vs. Olivier Rochus (Belgium)
  • 9 a.m.: Serena Williams vs. Jelena Jankovic (Serbia)
  • 10:30 a.m.: Donald Young vs. Andreas Seppi (Italy)
  • 12:30 p.m.: Mike Bryan/Bob Bryan vs. Belucci/Sa (Brazil)
  • 2:30 p.m.: Isner/Andy Roddick vs. Melo/Soares (Brazil)

7 a.m., MSNBC: Soccer (women’s), Japan vs. Sweden

8:30 a.m., CNBC: Boxing, men’s 56kg and 75kg, leading with USA’s Joseph Diaz Jr. vs. Ukraine’s Pavlo Ishchenko.

* 9 a.m., online: Judo, men’s 60 kg and women’s 48 kg semifinals and medals (finals at 11 and 11:10). USA not entered. Picks, men’s 60: UZB-JPN-UKR-RUS; picks, women’s 48: JPN-BRA-ROU-BEL

* 9:55 a.m., online: Archery, men’s team final (NBC SN at 11:15). USA is a solid contender. Picks: KOR-FRA-USA

10:15 a.m., online: Table tennis, women’s first round. USA’s Hsing (MSNBC has table tennis block from 2-2:45)

10:30 a.m., online: Gymnastics, men’s qualification. U.S., Japanese gymnasts in action.

* 10:30 a.m., online: Shooting, men’s 10m air pistol. USA’s Daryl Szarenski and Jason Turner have a decent shot. Picks: KOR-TUR-SRB
* 10: 30 a.m., online: Weightlifting, women’s 48kg. USA not entered. Picks: THA-CHN-JPN

11 a.m., NBC: Swimming, early rounds

11:45 a.m., NBC: Basketball, U.S. women vs. Croatia

11:50 a.m., NBC SN: Soccer, U.S. women vs. Colombia (game time: Noon)

* 1 p.m., online: Fencing, women’s individual foil semifinals and medal matches. (4:30 p.m. on MSNBC) USA’s Lee Kiefer has potential here. Picks: ITA-ITA-KOR

* 1:30 p.m., NBC/online: Swimming, several finals. USA: Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are in full effect in that first final. The USA’s Peter Vanderkaay has a shot in the free. Women’s 400 IM is all Elizabeth Beisel. The relay will be a battle with the Netherlands and possibly Australia. (Note: it looks NBC’s coverage here may cut away from this and save the big races for primetime.)

  • Men’s 400 free: CHN-KOR-GER
  • Men’s 400 IM: USA-USA-JPN
  • Women’s 400 IM: USA-GBR-HUN
  • Women’s 4×100 relay: USA-NED-AUS

2:15 p.m., Soccer channel/online: Soccer (women’s), France vs. North Korea. The other game in the USA’s group.

2:50 p.m., NBC: Volleyball, U.S. women vs. South Korea (game time: 3 p.m.)

3 p.m., online: Gymnastics, men’s qualification. Russian, German gymnasts in action.

3:30 p.m., online: Badminton, men’s doubles, USA’s Gunawan/Bach (4 p.m. on MSNBC)

3:30 p.m., online: Table tennis, women’s second round, possible USA players

3:30  p.m., CNBC: Boxing, men’s 56kg and 75kg. Expected at 5:15: USA’s Terrell Gausha vs. Armenia’s Andranik Hakobyan

5 p.m., NBC: Beach volleyball, men’s prelims, USA’s Gibb/Rosenthal

6 p.m., online: Beach volleyball, women’s prelims, USA’s May-Treanor/Walsh Jennings

Plus early rounds of equestrian (eventing, dressage phase), handball (women’s) and rowing

Full schedule for the day: London2012.com

REMINDERS

Full TV listings: NBCOlympics.com
Full online listings: Also NBCOlympics.com

I’ll be doing this daily during the Games. As a reminder, you’ll also find my work at Bleacher Report, and I’ll be helping Trapit capture the best Olympic news sources. Follow @TrapitSports or all Olympic-related Trapit feeds on Twitter for more.

olympic sports

Olympic Daily Glance: Day 0 — The revolution will not be televised

Friday at the Olympic Games: Stuff you can’t see.

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

A bunch of men’s soccer, with Japan upsetting Spain, Belarus getting one past the otherwise superb New Zealand-via-Fairfield goalkeeper Michael O’Keeffe, and the ref in the Great Britain-Senegal draw apparently losing his red card on the Underground.

MEDAL EVENTS

Coming Saturday. We promise.

ONGOING EVENTS

Archery: Qualification rounds for men’s and women’s individual and team.
– U.S. interest: Full team, legit medal hopefuls including a gold medal contender in Brady Ellison.

VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS
times ET

NBC’s networks are not televising this round of archery. Not even online.

The Opening Ceremony will be at 4 p.m. ET. NBC will broadcast it in prime time. I’m predicting thousands of Americans will find a way to watch it along with the rest of the world, but I have to remind everyone that such activities are usually illegal. Now who can help me intercept Eurosport’s satellite feed?

Full TV listings: NBCOlympics.com
Full online listings: Also NBCOlympics.com

I’ll be doing this daily during the Games. As a reminder, you’ll also find my work at Bleacher Report, and I’ll be helping Trapit capture the best Olympic news sources. Follow @TrapitSports or all Olympic-related Trapit feeds on Twitter for more.

olympic sports

Olympic Daily Glance: Day -1 — Flagged

Thursday at the Olympic Games: More soccer. Soccer fans probably think these Games are about them … they’re so vain.

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

On Wednesday, the U.S. women’s soccer team fell behind 2-0 and came back to win 4-2 against France. African women’s soccer teams didn’t do so well. Neither did the people who picked out the flags to show on the big screen at one soccer venue, which showed South Korean flags by pictures of North Korean players. They had a little delay after that.

MEDAL EVENTS

Geez, could you wait another day or two?

ONGOING EVENTS

Soccer: Eight men’s games, spread throughout the day.
– U.S. interest: Didn’t qualify. Don’t remind us.

VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS
times ET

7 a.m., NBC SN: Men’s soccer, Honduras-Morocco
9:30 a.m., NBC SN: Men’s soccer, Mexico-South Korea
9:45 a.m., MSNBC: Men’s soccer, Spain-Japan
Noon: Might be the last day you can take a long lunch, so do it
2:45 p.m., MSNBC: Men’s soccer, Brazil-Egypt
3 p.m., NBC SN: Men’s soccer, Great Britain-Senegal

Full TV listings: NBCOlympics.com
Full online listings: Also NBCOlympics.com

I’ll be doing this daily during the Games. As a reminder, you’ll also find my work at Bleacher Report, and I’ll be helping Trapit capture the best Olympic news sources. Follow @TrapitSports or all Olympic-related Trapit feeds on Twitter for more.

olympic sports

Olympic Daily Glance: Day -2 — Kickoff!

Wednesday at the Olympic Games: Lots of soccer. Not quite a full slate of events, but it’s a nice way of seguing from previews to actual competition.

MEDAL EVENTS

Um, no. Not yet.

ONGOING EVENTS

Soccer: Six women’s games.
– U.S. interest: Yep. USA vs. France at noon ET. Stern test for the opener.

VIEWING RECOMMENDATIONS
times ET

11 a.m., MSNBC: Women’s soccer, Great Britain-New Zealand
Noon, NBC SN: Women’s soccer, USA-France
4 p.m., NBC SN: Women’s soccer, Japan-Canada

Full TV listings: NBCOlympics.com
Full online listings: Also NBCOlympics.com

I’ll be doing this daily during the Games. As a reminder, you’ll also find my work at Bleacher Report, and I’ll be helping Trapit capture the best Olympic news sources. Follow @TrapitSports or all Olympic-related Trapit feeds on Twitter for more.

olympic sports, track and field

Facts that journalists should consider in racism accusations

We have an AP story today about an aboriginal runner, John Steffensen, who claims he’s the victim of racism in Olympic selection. Steffensen is threatening to boycott the Olympics, in which he has a relay spot, because Australia gave an individual spot to Steve Solomon.

Being the good Midnight Oil fan that I am, I tend to sympathize with Australia’s aboriginal population. But track and field is one of those sports that has objective data that lets us evaluate these claims. They’re called “qualifying standards” and “times.”

Here’s what AP has to say about it — “Solomon, who also achieved an Olympic qualifying time.”

And that’s it.

Journalists have to do more than this. Looking up times and qualification criteria is a simple matter. You can even start at Wikipedia to get a general sense of things and then verify the information therein. (Before pedantic folks cry foul at “Wikipedia,” please note the phrase “verify the information therein.” Wikipedia is a good starting point, and it often links to the sources you need.)

So let’s do it.

The men’s standards for the men’s 400 meters are: 45.30 for the A standard, 45.90 for the B standard.

What do the A and B standards mean? Check the IAAF explanation. Basically, countries can enter up to three athletes in each event if they’ve all achieved the A standard. The B standard is basically a backup plan so that countries that don’t have A-standard athletes can still get someone (one!) in the race.

Let’s look at the times for the people in question for the time period in question:

2011: Solomon 45.58, Steffensen 46.10

2012: Solomon 45.52, Steffensen 45.61

So if we’re going strictly on times, which AP didn’t mention in the story, Steffensen has no case. And in his Twitter feed, he doesn’t make much of a case, either. He veers back and forth between claiming racism and then claiming that he’s not claiming racism. (One error: “Anyways the boys pr is my seasons best!!” No, Solomon beat Steffensen’s 2012 best in 2011 AND 2012.)

Let’s check the Australian media.

Now it becomes trickier. It seems Steffensen did indeed beat Solomon in a trial back in March. And then Steffensen suffered a hamstring injury.

Are the trials supposed to be the sole determining factor if you have two or more athletes meeting the B standard but not the A? The federation gave itself some wiggle room here at the top of page 2 in its official nomination criteria (not the separate documents saying “We will have nomination criteria” or “Yes, we really have nomination criteria“), saying athletes can be chosen based on their World Championships performance, their performance at trials or at the “discretion of the Selectors.”

The criteria could be clearer, and Steffensen’s case is at its strongest when he says it’s about transparency. (It’s a little shakier when he says, “Hey, neither of us had the A! Why should either of us run?”) Fellow 400-meter Sean Wroe backs Steffensen based on his win at trials.

But based on available information, which seems more likely?

A. Athletics Australia has issues with aboriginals.

B. Athletics Australia is really impressed with a young phenom who has posted the fastest times by an Australian in each of the past two years.

Perhaps there’s more to the case that Steffensen could make. But maybe journalists should be asking. At the very least, the facts need to be out there.

Steffensen won the trial. Solomon has the faster times. That’s not in dispute. And journalists need to include those facts before racing with the “racism” headline.