The Summer Olympics start this Friday, and it’s sometimes dizzying and tough to know what to watch with the hundreds of events, and NBC’s 3600+ hours of coverage this year. We here at SportsCrunch will be catching as much of the Olympics as we can, but here’s what we’d be watching if we had to keep our eyes on just ten things:
1. Opening Ceremonies
To kick-start the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the official flame, which has traveled via the torch relay for the last 129 days and has covered 85,000 miles – the longest relay since the beginning of the tradition at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, will be lit and the approximately 10,500 athletes will proudly walk into the stadium. The countries will be led by Greece, who traditionally enter first, and will be placed in order by stroke count with the Simplified Chinese characters instead of the usual alphabetical order. For example, Australia will enter in the 203rd position because the character is written in 15 strokes and they will be followed by Zambia whose character is written in 16 strokes. There are multiple acts scheduled to perform including Canada’s Celine Dion, Taiwan’s Jay Chou and a group of over a hundred Indigenous Taiwanese dancers. Tune into NBC at 7:30pm EST to catch the beginning of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
2. Michael Phelps’ Quest For 8 Gold Medals
Twenty-three-year-old Michael Phelps is under a lot of pressure. He tied the record for most Olympic medals won by bringing home eight medals: six gold and two bronze at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and is going for eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Phelps’ dominance in the swimming world has him being compared to Mark Spitz, who took home seven gold medals in the 1972 Summer Olympics – a world record, and many hope Phelps will take his spot. With 25 world record (22 individual + 3 relay), Phelps’ strive to win more gold will be an event worth witnessing. His events are: 200m free, 100m fly, 200m fly, 200m IM, 400m IM, 4×100m free relay, 4×200m free relay, and 4×100m medley relay. Tune in to NBC during the primetime hours (8:00pm-12: 30am EST) to watch Phelps go for gold on Saturday (8/9) – Sunday (8/17).
3. 41 Year Old Dara Torres
This is her fifth Olympics and at forty-one years old, she’ll be the oldest in the pool but that isn’t discouraging Dara Torres. Torres took home gold in her first and only event at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and now has a total of 9 medals in her collection: 4 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze. Five of those medals were won in Sydney in 2000 and she was the oldest member of the entire Olympic team (this year a 56-year-old shooter is the oldest). Torres hasn’t been swimming the entire 24 years since her 1984 Los Angeles Olympic debut, in fact she retired twice, but this comeback has proved to be her best. Just 15 months after giving birth to her first child, Torres broke her own record in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Nationals, which marked her 14th win at these events. She will be competing in the 50m free and 4×100 free relay. Check her out on Saturday (8/9) during the Primetime hours (8pm-12am) and Saturday (8/16) from 7:30pm-10:00pm.
4. U.S. Men’s Basketball Tries For Redemption
During the last 16 Summer Olympic Games ranging from 1936-2004, the United States Men’s Basketball team has won gold 12 times and one of the four games was the 1980 games when the United States boycotted the Olympics. The usually gold medal favored team was derailed at the 2004 Athens Games by losing three games and Argentina took home the top prize. This year NBA’s finest like Lebron James (Cleveland Cavaliers), Jason Kidd (Dallas Mavericks) and Kobe Bryant (LA Lakers) will hit the court determined to re-establish the gold medal for the U.S. Follow the “Redeem Team” starting Sunday (8/10) at 10:00am – 12:00pm EST where they’ll take on host nation China.
5. Marathon Runners Vs. Beijing Smog
A major concern for athletes participating in longer events, like the marathon, has been and continues to be the immense amount of smog that blankets Beijing on most days. The Chinese government has spent close to $200 billion dollars since 1998 trying to fight air pollution and results are mixed on how effective these measures have been. In preparation for the Olympics, athletes have been encouraged to wear facemasks and stay inside to be ready to perform in their event. In March, the International Olympic Committee issued a report saying “some events will not be conducted under optimal conditions” and “the Games are more about competing in the Olympic spirit, than about breaking records.” It’s doubtful that many athletes will agree that they are headed to the world’s biggest athletic competition to put in a mediocre performance. It’s possible that the schedule could be changed for the men’s marathon, which is set for the last day, depending on the smog levels and organizers are looking at moving it up. Stay tuned to NBC for any updates on date changes and if runners will be forced to wear masks while running. The men’s marathon is currently set for Primetime hours (7:30pm-12:00am EST) on Saturday (8/23).
6. The Lopez Taekwondo Family
The USA Taekwondo Team is made up of four members and three are related. In fact Mark, Diana and Steven Lopez are siblings and have become the first set of three siblings on the U.S. Olympic Team since 1904. Diana, 24, Mark, 26, and two-time Olympic gold medalist (2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens) Steven will be joined by their oldest brother Jean who is also their coach. The Sugar Land, Texas natives are all hoping to bring home gold and you can watch them go for it online Tuesday (8/19) thru Saturday (8/23).
7. Softball And Baseball’s Last Go Round
Women’s softball was an event added for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and this year will mark the last for the short-lived experience. This is another sport where the United States Team has won gold for the past 3 Olympics and the pressure is on to take the game out with a bang. Veteran team members Jennie Finch, Laura Berg and Cat Osterman know the excitement that a gold medal brings and hope to lead their team to a fourth victory as they take on their last Olympic challenge for the foreseeable future. The ladies will begin the path to victory on Monday (8/11) against Venezuela and you can watch them play from 9:30pm – 11:30pm EST. They also play on Wednesday (8/13) at the same time, Friday (8/15) from 12:00am – 2:00am EST and Sunday (8/17) from 5:00am – 7:00am EST to determine their placement in the following finals. Baseball will also be finishing up this year, dealing a big blow to Cuba, Japan, and the US, all countries who traditionally sent strong teams to the event.
8. Shawn Johnson Goes For All-Around Gold
Sixteen-year-old Shawn Johnson will feel the weight of competing against the world’s best gymnasts on her tiny 4 foot 8 inch frame and is preparing to defend her stance as world all-around champion. Johnson won every international competition that she entered in 2007, her first year facing those challenges and has risen to fame for her all-around talents and charisma. The teen heads to Beijing with the hopes of becoming only the third U.S. women to claim all-around gold following Mary Lou Retton (1984) and Carly Patterson (2004). Johnson is favored to achieve her goal of the top prize and luckily, she thrives under pressure. Regardless of how she does, she’s already a hometown hero. The Des Moines, Iowa native has a bronze version of herself stationed in the Iowa Hall of Pride and this month she’ll appear as a butter sculpture next to the annual butter cow at the Iowa State Fair. Watch her on NBC Sunday (8/10) Primetime (9:30pm – 12:00am EST), Tuesday (8/12) 10:30pm – 12:00am EST, Thursday (8/14) 11:30pm – 1:00am EST and Sunday (8/17) thru Wednesday (8/20) during the Primetime hours.
9. Tyson Gay Going After Title Of World’s Fastest Man
The highly anticipated race to find out the world’s fastest man is likely to be a close contest between U.S.A.’s Tyson Gay and Jamaica’s Asafa Powell. The American sprinter won gold medals during the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Japan at the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4×100-meter events. Gay was also named the Men’s Track & Field Athlete of the Year, a title that was held by Powell in 2006. At the Olympic Trials in July, Gay’s hamstring cramped during a 200-meter race, which made him ineligible to run in his best event in Beijing since he didn’t finish in the required top three. Powell for his part is a self-confessed lazybones and working on getting his focus in the right place for the biggest sprint of his lifetime. Watch the two come head to head on Friday (8/15) and Saturday (8/16) during the Primetime hours.
10. Lopez Lomoung Goes From Refuge To Olympian
And finally, Sudanese-American track and field athlete Lopez Lomong. People that were looking to turn young boys into child soldiers abducted Lomong at age 6 along with 50 others from church and he was able to escape with three other boys. The boys walked for three days and unknowingly, crossed into Kenya where border police arrested them and sent them to a refuge camp. Ten long years of living in the camp later, he learned of a program called “Lost Boys of Sudan” in the United States that would be resettling 3,500 young men. He applied to the program, telling them his life story of his life without his parents and five siblings, whom he assumed were dead, and was accepted. He moved to New York and was resettled with a family there were he came to find out his family was in fact alive and they thought he was dead. Lomong learned about the Olympics in the refuge camp and was inspired by watching Michael Johnson with the 400 meters in the 2000 Summer Olympics. Lomong competed for Northern Arizona University and was named the division I NCAA indoor champion at 3000 meters and the outdoor champion at 1500 meters. In Beijing, he will take on the 1500 meters and use the inspiration he gained eight years ago from Michael Johnson to push him to perform. Lomong will walk into Olympic Stadium with his head held high and will be carrying the American flag, an honor voted on by his fellow U.S. Team members. He’ll be racing for the red, white and blue team on Tuesday (8/19) 11:00pm – 12:00am EST.
