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| Hope Solo and the U.S Women's National Team go for gold at Wembley on Thursday. (Presswire) |
Trying to watch the Olympics? Even with NBC now streaming every event live online, the wild array of events -- and difficulty in finding live events, for anyone like us not interested in avoiding spoilers all day -- can make the television viewing experience a bit bewildering.
But we're here to help. Here's our chronological list of the events U.S. Olympic fans should consider watching, and where, for Thursday, Aug. 9. All times Eastern and all events are live action unless otherwise noted. (Events broadcast on NBC will be on a one-hour delay for Mountain and Pacific viewers. Sorry.) Many secondary events are also subject to change.
Here's what awaits you Thursday:
4 a.m. Men's Decathlon - 110m hurdles, Live on NBCOlympics.com
4:55 a.m. Decathlon - Discus, Live on NBCOlympics.com
6:35 a.m. Men's 4x400 heats, Live on NBC Olympics.com, replay at Noon on NBC
7:55 a.m. Decathlon - Pole vault, Live on NBCOlympics.com
If you really want to wake up early -- or, if you're on the West Coast, stay up -- Ashton Eaton continues his quest for gold and the title of world's greatest athlete. In the 4x400 relay, Oscar Pistorius will run for South Africa's team.
10 a.m. Women's Volleyball semifinal, United States vs. South Korea, NBC Sports Network and NBCSports.com
All of the men's (indoor and beach) teams were bounced this week but American women won both gold and silver on the beach. Now it's the indoor team's turn to follow up as the world No. 1 heads into the semis following a sweep of the Dominican Republic.
11:30 a.m. Women's Boxing, Live on NBCOlympics.com, CNBC (tape-delay) at 5pm.
11:30 a.m. Women's Flyweight Final
11:45 a.m. Women's Lightweight Final
12:15 p.m. Women's Middleweight Final
17 year old American Claressa Shields faces Russia's Nadezda Torlopova for the gold medal in the Middleweight final in what should be one of the matches to watch on the women's side.
10:30 a.m evening session, Live NBCOlympics.com, NBC (tape-delay), 8 p.m.
1:30 p.m. Men's Decathlon - Javelin
2:20 p.m Men's triple jump final
2:30 p.m. Women's 800m semifinals
3 p.m. Men's 800m final
3:20 p.m. Men's 4x100 relay heats
3:55 p.m Men's 200m final
4 p.m. Women's Javelin final
4:20 p.m. Men's decathlon 1500m (Final Event)
Usain Bolt returns to the track in the 200m and a loaded field awaits as the world's fastest man goes for yet another gold medal. He cruised to an easy semifinal win but faces stiff competition from fellow Jamacians Yohan Blake and Warren Weir. American Wallace Spearmon should challenge for a medal as well.
Will Claye and Christian Taylor are the only two from the U.S. in the triple jump final but should be in gold medal contention. Be sure to catch the 4x100 relay if for nothing else to see if Team USA can get the baton successfully around the track without any issues.
Noon, Women's semifinal, United States vs. Australia, NBC Sports Network and NBCSports.com
Team USA got off to a slow start in their previous game and are looking to avoid that against the Aussies. Going for their fifth gold meal this year, the team forced 26 turnovers and had suffocating defense on Tuesday against Canada. A win in the semifinal would give the Women's team their 40th straight Olympic victory.
2 p.m. Women's 10m platform, Live NBCOlympics.com, NBC (tape-delay), 8 p.m.
Fun fact, Brittany Viola, an American who qualified 14th to sneak into the final, is the daughter of former MLB pitcher Frank Viola. That's one of the story lines going into the final platform dives where the Chinese, led by Chen Ruolin, are expected to wrap up yet another medal in the sport while in London. American Katie Bell qualified ninth to also make it into the finals.
2:45 p.m.: Women's gold medal game, United States vs. Japan, NBC Sports Network and NBCSports.com
The redeem team moniker has already been used but this group of women might get labeled with it if they can overcome Japan in the gold medal game. It was just 13 months ago that the team lost a heart-breaker on penalty kicks in the World Cup and it's pretty clear that even after an exhausting victory against Canada, the Americans are ready to go for a little revenge on Thursday.
"I've been hoping for this final," forward Abby Wambach said, "from the moment I stepped off the podium in Germany."
If you're not fired up for this, we just can't help it you're not patriotic.
The bronze medal match between Canada and France takes place on the same channel starting at 8 a.m.
3:00 p.m. Women's Water Polo gold medal game, United States vs. Spain, NBC and NBCSports.com
Like their soccer-playing counterparts, the match has plenty of redemption story lines surrounding it and will need maximum effort from the Americans if they're going to best their silver medal in Beijing. Spain is undefeated in the tournament and have been playing good defense on their run to the final. The U.S. will need to use the momentum from an overtime thriller against Australia in the semifinal as fuel for the team's first ever Olympic gold in the sport.
Other events:
7 a.m. Swimming, Women's 10km marathon, joined in progress on NBC at 11:45 a.m.
7:30 a.m. Indvidual Dressage, final on MSNBC live at 9 a.m.
10 a.m. Cycling, BMX, NBC (tape-delay) 8 p.m.
If you missed the highlights, there were two huge crashes at the start of competition on Wednesday, one involving American Brooke Crain. Riders return to the track on day two with Australian Caroline Buchanan favored on the women's side and the men's competition looking like a battle between American Connor Fields, Australian Sam Willoughby, France's Joris Daudet and the Netherlands' Raymon van der Biezen.
10:45 a.m. Wrestling qualifying, NBC Sports Network
2:03 p.m. Women's Freestyle 55kg, Live on NBCOlympics.com, NBC Sports Network (tape-delay) at 5 p.m.
2:48 Women's Freestyle 72kg, Live on NBCOlympics.com, NBC Sports Network (tape-delay) at 5 p.m.
1:30 p.m. Taekwondo semifinals, MSNBC
4 p.m. Women's Featherweight medal fights, Live on NBCOlympics.com
4:15 p.m. Men's Featherweight medal fights, Live on NBCOlympics.com
