Rio 2016 #Olympics What to Watch For — Tuesday August 9
A daily guide to can’t-miss Olympic events and #TeamUSA action
The Rio 2016 Olympics are here at last! There’s lots to watch on a million channels, over 6500 hours in all, and it’s tough to keep track of everything — so I’ve put together a handy guide.
It’s not comprehensive; instead it should guide you through the highlights and can’t-miss events each day. It will focus largely on Team USA medal possibilities with an attempt to look in at other big names or interesting events as well. Each event is given 1 to 5 stars (★) to highlight importance. All television viewing times listed are Central Time and are approximate.
Please follow me here on Medium at Brandon Anderson and on Twitter at @wheatonbrando for daily updates as the Olympics continue.
Tuesday August 9th
★★ Men’s beach volleyball — USA Dalhausser/Lucena vs Mexico — 9am (Central) NBC
Dalhausser and Lucena were not really challenged in their first match. It should be a bit tougher this time around against the top team in their group as the Mexican pair are also 1–0.
★★ Women’s water polo — USA vs Spain — 9:30am NBC
Team USA is the gold favorite after winning gold in London 4 years ago. Here’s a gold medal rematch against top contender Spain as they open their pool play (pun mostly intended).
★★ Men’s rugby sevens — USA vs Argentina — 11am NBCSN
The US women had a lot of fun with rugby with a win and a spirited draw against favorite Australia before going down in the quarterfinals. Now it’s the men’s turn! These rugby games move very quickly, only about 20 minutes total, but they’re a lot of fun. And remember, USA is technically the defending gold medalists — even if they’re defending a title over a century old.
★ Men’s basketball — Spain vs Brazil — 12pm NBCSN
Both Spain and Brazil were upset in their first game, so this one carries a little extra weight. Spain is still the top contender to USA but they need to right the ship against a hostile Brazilian crowd. Chicago Bulls fans will be familiar with the bigs as Gasol and Mirotic of Spain battle Felicio and Nene of Brazil.
★★★ Tennis — USA Serena Williams vs Ukraine, USA Sock/Johnson vs Spain — 1:15pm Bravo
USA doesn’t have much left in tennis, so tune in while you can. These matches will be nearly simultaneous. Serena has struggled so far and faces #20 Elina Svitolina in the round of 16, while Sock and Johnson take on Spain in the quarters. Spanish opponent David Ferrer has his own singles match that should end about two hours earlier, so that could be a nice advantage.
★ Men’s table tennis, men’s handball, and sailing — 2–4pm MSNBC
A lazy afternoon gives us a good chance to check in on 3 sports that don’t move the needle much for Americans. Both US men lost their first table tennis match and are out already in a sport that is absolutely dominated by the Chinese. You’ve never played ping pong like these guys. Handball is an incredibly fun sport that I swear USA should be good at, but we never have teams at the Olympics. Tune in for a look at your new favorite sport. And as for sailing? Well, we’re trying to watch a bit of everything.
★★★ Women’s beach volleyball — USA Fendrick/Sweat vs Brazil — 2:30pm NBC
This is a big match for USA as our #2 team takes on the gold favorites Larissa and Talita. Fendrick and Sweat lost their first match already, so they may need to pull off the big upset or they’ll be on the brink of elimination. If nothing else, you can scout on Walsh Jennings / Ross top contenders.
★★ Women’s soccer — USA vs Colombia — 5pm NBCSN
The World Cup champs are 2–0 after eking out a victory over France. This one should be easier and just a draw against 0–2 Colombia is enough to win the group and secure a spot in the knockout tournament.
★★★★★ Olympic prime time on NBC — 7–11pm NBC
Tonight is one of the marquee nights with the girls gymnastics team going for gold. You’ll also see some synchronized diving and a whole lot of swimming featuring Katie Ledecky and Michael Phelps going for gold again.
★★★★★ Women’s team gymnastics — throughout prime time 7–11pm NBC, encore 11:30pm NBC
This is the big one. The Fierce Five won gold at 2012 and this team is even better, a heavy favorite and maybe the stars of the entire Olympics for USA. Simone Biles is a rock star, the best in the world at 4 of the 5 events. Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas return to defend their team gold and are joined by spunky Laurie Hernandez and uneven bars star Madison Kocian. NBC will milk this throughout prime time so you’ll have to stay tuned all 4 hours to see the result — or stream it live starting 2pm if you can’t bear to wait.
★★★★ Women’s swimming 200m freestyle — 8:15pm NBC
Katie Ledecky already has a relay silver and an individual gold, and she’s a favorite to add to her total here. This is a rare individual event where she’s not a huge favorite, as Sweden’s Sjostrom should give her a run for her money.
★★★★ Men’s swimming 200m butterfly — 8:25pm NBC
Here’s a chance for Michael Phelps to go for gold #20 in his go-to butterfly stroke, but it’s going to be a battle. Phelps lost gold by 0.05 seconds four years ago to South Africa’s Chad le Clos, and the two should be neck and neck again as this one comes down to the wire.
★★ Women’s swimming 200m IM — 9:25pm NBC
Maya DiRado features for Team USA. She should be in contention for a medal in this medley race but Hungary’s Hosszu is a heavy favorite for gold.
★★★ Men’s swimming 4x200m freestyle relay — 9:30 NBC
The Americans dominate this relay historically and are favored to win gold again in Rio. Conor Dwyer and Townley Haas should lead the team as the top US two men in the 200m, and they’ll no doubt be joined by Michael Phelps in a bid for another gold. The fourth spot could go to Ryan Lochte, who has struggled in his qualification attempts but was on that 2012 gold team. This will be about a 7-minute race, so strap in.
★ Men’s rugby — USA vs Brazil — 12am NBC
If you’re not exhausted after a huge night of prime time, stay up for a late night replay of USA’s second rugby sevens match against host Brazil.
Please follow me here on Medium at Brandon Anderson and on Twitter at @wheatonbrando for daily updates as the Olympics continue.
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Follow Brandon on Medium or @wheatonbrando for more sports, humor, pop culture, and life musings. Visit the rest of Brandon’s writing archives here. Shout out to Aria and Wes for their help getting things together for this Olympics guide.
