Olympic montage!

Here it is y'all! The NBC Olympic montage. I apologize if any of you were waiting for it and missed it. It came on after your local news cast in a final 30 minute show that including a performance by The Who, some athlete interviews at the closing, a preview of Sochi and then Bob's final thoughts followed by these closing credits.

NBC did the same thing they did two years ago in Vancouver and left the closing ceremony before its conclusion for the news to get you to stick around longer. In Vancouver, it was because the ceremony was actually still going on, but this time it was to show some stupid new show and then the late local news. I understand the news but the previews for this show over the 17 days were plenty. It's not lasting, NBC. Go ahead and cancel it.

Anyways, here it is. These things tend to get yanked off of YouTube pretty quickly, so we'll see how long it sticks around.

Sochi 2014.

Anyone else wondering what this city that is hosting the 2014 Olympics is like? Well, here is a package from the news the other night describing the place. I think it's going to feel a little like Beijing did because Russia is going to be working very hard to change the rest of the image and stigma that the rest of the world has about the country.

After watching this package on the news I'm going to be really interested to see what this city looks like in two years.

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Why do I love the Olympics?

I’m often asked why I love the Olympics so much. And I really don’t have a direct answer. It’s a lot of things that clearly have a strong impact on me.

I love that it gives us all something to cheer for together. We sports fans can find something to cheer for year round. Maybe its football season, March madness or the Masters. But how often are we all cheering for the same team or person in those? With the Olympics we’re all cheering for the same team, Team USA, and we tend to gather together to do so. For about three quarters of the games, I was watching with my friends, and not just watching, but also cheering, jumping and screaming together.

Before this stage in my life, I always sat to watch the Olympics with my family. Probably one of the few things we could all agree to watch at night. Which makes me wonder how many things do entire families still gather to watch together?

It doesn’t matter how well we know the sport or how popular it is, we all think we know something about it to a certain extent during the Olympics. We think we know when someone gets a good start off the blocks, or how to determine if someone entered the water vertical on a dive or whether something was a tenth deduction or not. The Olympics are mostly sports we don’t watch all the time (with the exception of basketball) and because of that we all learn together as we watch.

Then there are the things that are exclusive the each Olympic games that we’ll always remember. Did you ever think you’d hear the words badminton and scandal in the same sentence? Or did you ever think you’d actually know what dressage is? And you probably never thought you’d see swimsuits sported by Jamaican women…on the track. Seriously, what were those women wearing in the 4x100m?

In London, we’ve seen what was supposedly the last of the greatest swimmer and arguably the greatest Olympian of all time. We’ve seen three more absolutely unbelievable runs by the greatest sprinter of all time. We saw Grenada, Guatemala and Montenegro win their first Olympic medals And we watched a double amputee run in two Olympic races against able-bodied athletes, even beating some of them.

The journalist in me loves getting to know the athletes in any way I can. I watch feature pieces, interviews and whatever I can find. Most of us enjoy this because I think we like to find a bit of ourselves in the athletes competing. It makes us believe that maybe with a little more talent, or time or resources that could be us. No one ever said there was anything wrong with dreaming.

Every 18 and 36 months we’re allowed to dream, celebrate and cry with the people who represent us by wearing our country’s name on his/her uniform. It’s a unifying feeling that I wish we could experience every day as a country and a human race.

So now I put my USA necklaces and hand-held flag away for the next 544 days until Sochi on February 7, 2014. Or for just the next 46 days until the Ryder Cup.

So now it's the Fierce Five.

While the 2012 U.S. women's gymnastics team did not name themselves the Fab Five, they still felt the need to change it after people started complaining about that name being taken. First of all, the name is not trademarked and second, these girls weren't even born in 1991. But leave it to Jalen Rose to complain that the media shouldn't be calling the gold-medal winning team that.

The girls, who could just shove their gold medals in Rose and his four teammates' faces, just decided to come up with a new name themselves. Way to take the high ground, ladies. The solution? The Fierce Five.

Ok, so some closing thoughts on the gymnastics event finals.

Give Gabby Douglas a break on the uneven bars. While she had a slip up on the event, she fought hard to keep from falling and still posted a pretty decent score. Those that thought she had a chance at winning this event don't know much about gymnastics. She would have had to put up the routine of her life to even medal. This is the USA's weakest event and that's clear in the fact that the Olympic champion team only qualified one for the event. Uneven bars is my favorite event in gymnastics and I hope that the U.S. starts to improve on it soon.

The balance beam final is typically a survival of the fittest. By this point in the competition, of course someone like Douglas is exhausted and this is an event that she has struggled with in the past. She nailed three beam routines in a row and those were when it really counted. It's hard to put up four perfect beam routines in a meet. Aly Raisman was definitely capable of putting up a better routine but she still competed well enough to medal on the toughest event in the sport. Except she wasn't going to originally because her starting score (based on difficulty) wasn't correct. Cheers to Bela Karolyi for saving the day by convincing Raisman's coach to inquire the score. Once her difficulty score was changed she landed in a tie for third, again. This time the tie break, which I'm still against, went in her favor and she got a well-deserved bronze.

I definitely expected more of Jordyn Weiber on floor. Was it this recently announced stress fracture in her right leg? I don't know. But if she wanted more pity and attention, she certainly could have said something before or during the competition (like when she didn't make the all-around), rather than at the end. You could tell she kind of gave up after that first tumbling pass. You have to stick all the landings, especially with that field, to win and with a step on the first pass it's like she said, "I'm done." But she was gracious in defeat once again and cheered on Raisman and her absolutely outstanding floor routine. Shawn Johnson was bounced off the top of the podium by the last competitor in the floor final four years ago and this time Raisman withstood some pretty great routines to stay at the top. The difference? She performs the hardest routine in the world.

Douglas and Raisman certainly turned out to be the stars of the games when it just as easily could have been Weiber. The question is who will still be around in four years? It's hard to make two Olympics and no one has done it since 2000. Dominque Dawes made an impressive three teams, while Shannon Miller, Kerri Strug and Amy Chow were some of the last to make two.

I enjoyed this piece on the Today Show of the girls going out in London to enjoy the sites. It really shows that these are very young girls who love having fun and just happen to have some extraordinary talent.



I wrote a few days ago how I was disappointed in McKayla Maroney's reaction after she won silver on vault. She came out and said exactly what I figured happened, she was not upset with winning silver but upset with her performance and really didn't mean to be rude to those congratulating her. While she is an international athlete and needs to learn to be more gracious, let's not forget she is 16. However, she clearly wasn't over the whole thing by the time the medal ceremony came around and the look on her face went viral. The McKayla is not impressed tumblr is pretty entertaining.

It's clear though that she has a sense of humor. And I give her a lot of credit for knowing how to make fun of herself at her age. She and Raisman have been tweeting about competing against one another in a swim race (yes, I follow all five of them on Twitter). Yesterday, I guess they attempted to race but came across an obstacle. Maroney tweeted the below photo saying the caption below.

"The pool is closed...#notimpressed."

What to watch for - Day 17.

Well, here we are. Day 17. I appreciate you allowing me to fill your inbox everyday with these emails and I promise this is the last one.

Most the medals being handed out today are in the finals of some of the team sports and then the men’s marathon. The marathon is over by now and the only team sport left that involves the U.S. is men’s basketball.

Team USA has been expected to win the gold medal all along and today is their chance to actually do it. After falling way short of expectations in Athens, the U.S. men have been very strong and are looking for its second straight Olympic championship. No doubt you’ve heard the back-and-forth squabble of whether or not this team is better than the Dream Team. I’m not going to join this argument, but I will say that I wish it were possible to actually see a game between the two teams. But today the U.S. faces Spain, the same team they beat in the 2008 final. They can and should win. If they lose, there is no longer an argument as to which team is better.

Then tonight we have the closing ceremony. While the opening ceremony is heavy with anticipation, emotion and spectacle, the closing is more like a giant celebration. The music director for the closing ceremony, David Arnold, is calling it “the greatest after-party in the world.” Saying, “If the opening ceremony was the wedding, then we’re the wedding reception.”

Well, I love wedding receptions, so I’m excited for this one. The show will include performances of 30 British hit singles from the past five decades. The Who, George Michael, Muse and Ed Sheeran have all said they will take part in the show and some photos have also leaked of the Spice Girls. I sure hope the Spice Girls rumor is true. It’s what I want, what I really, really want.

Organizers say they want the ceremony to be a “cheeky” reflection of modern Britain, so maybe we can expect a little Monty Python type humor. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sir Paul McCartney appears again as well. I mean, what is British music without The Beatles? Also, The Daily Mail published photos of what it said was the set, which included reconstructions of London landmarks like St. Paul’s Cathedral and Tower Bridge.

Carrying the U.S. flag in the closing ceremony will be track athlete Bryshon Nellum. Nellum, who won a silver medal in the 4x400m, was chosen because of the amazing comeback he had to get to the Olympics. Nellum was shot in both thighs and one hamstring while walking home near the USC campus his freshman year of college. He overcame three surgeries to race again, the last of which was performed only a year ago.

If you’re like me and love a good video montage, tonight is the night! At the end of the NBC broadcast tonight they will show all the best parts of the last two weeks and since 2002 it’s been set to the score from Remember the Titans. It will happen during the closing credits of the broadcast, right after Bob Costas give us his final thoughts. I hope you enjoy it as much as I always do.

I will sure miss the Olympics, but I’m not sure I’ll miss the emotional rollercoaster it constantly puts me on. If you haven’t seen something over the last 17 days that hasn’t touched your heart in some way or caused you to cry, I don’t know what will.

While this is my last email, I’ll keeping blogging at paigeonlondon.blospot.com if you wish to continue reading my thoughts on the games.

Cheers!

Thank you notes.

I've loved Jimmy Fallon since he was on Saturday Night Live. He and Tina Fey were fantastic at the Weekend Update desk. Some people don't like him because he struggles to keep a straight face sometimes, but I think that's what makes him so endearing.

Fallon really came on strong during the whole Conan O'Brien/Jay Leno debacle in the winter of 2010. People wanted to know why NBC wasn't considering sliding O'Brien back to his old time slot and checked out Fallon to see why. They found that Fallon was actually very refreshing and entertaining. He really shines in the different sketches on his show. Anyone seen Downton Sixby?

My favorite is when he writes his thank you notes. In Vancouver, he joined Bob Costas one evening to write his thank you notes for the week. I was dying it was so funny.



NBC clearly remembered how well this went over and sent Fallon to London for round two. And you just thought you'd heard all the Dong Dong jokes.

To watch the London thank you notes, click here.

Royal watching.

If you haven’t caught any glimpses of the Royal Ambassadors during these games, you are not watching enough Olympics. Prince Harry, Prince William and Duchess Kate have been at a lot of events and truly enjoying them.

I loved how nervous William and Harry seemed to be watching the men’s gymnastics team final and then Kate at the first night of individual event finals. Anyone else see her talking to the Fab Five? How cool must that have been?

But my favorite was watching Wills and Kate at the cycling team pursuit competition. You could tell how genuinely excited they were watching it and were just any couple cheering their home country on. I mean, seriously, they are too cute!

What to watch for - Day 16.

This is my second-to-last daily Olympic email. Either you’re happy to know you won’t be getting this every day or sad because you know the Olympics are almost over. I’m feeling the latter.

The U.S. women’s volleyball team has never won the gold medal. They played in the final match in Beijing but came up short, 3-1, to the Brazilians. Since so many things in the Olympics are about redemption, what team do you think they are playing in the final? That’s right, Brazil. Both teams swept their opponents in the semifinals and have some heavy hitters on their respective sides of the net. American (and Texas Longhorn) Destinee Hooker is second in the tournament in scoring with 147 points, while Brazil’s Sheilla Castro is fourth with 125 points. The U.S. is ranked first in hitting efficiency and better than Brazil in blocking. However, Brazil is the stronger receiving team and is just behind the USA in hitting.

If the volleyball team wins gold, it will be the second team head coach Hugh McCutcheon leads to an Olympic championship. He was the head coach of the U.S. men’s Olympic championship team in 2008. You may remember the tragedy McCutcheon went through at the beginning of the games in Beijing when his in-laws were assaulted and his father-in-law killed on the opening day of the Olympics.

The U.S. women’s basketball team came into London a heavier favorite to win the gold than their male counterparts. The USA is looking to win its fifth-straight gold medal and its 41^st straight Olympic game. They will face France who is looking to win its first medal in women’s basketball. Both teams are undefeated in the tournament and it’s the first time since 1996 that the final game isn’t between the U.S. and Australia.

The women’s 4x100m team was absolutely amazing last night, winning the gold and setting a new world record. Tonight it’s the men’s turn and is sure to be another exciting relay. The Jamaicans own the world record, set last September, but qualified second behind the Americans by 0.01. Of course the Jamaicans have the two fastest men in the world on their relay team in Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake and did not race Bolt yesterday. The U.S. posted an American record of 37.38 in the heats and looked great with Justin Gatlin running anchor. Tonight, Team USA will run Trell Kimmons, Gatlin, Tyson Gay and Ryan Bailey in the final. Gatlin, Gay and Bailey all ran in the final of the men’s 100m on Sunday, while only two of Jamaica’s relay team (Blake and Bolt) were in that final.

While the U.S. men took silver last night in the 4x400m with a rookie team, the women will have some experience on their side. The team qualified first out of all the heats and is looking to defend its title from Beijing. Sanya Richards-Ross won it for the USA in the anchor leg in 2008 and will run in the race again, along with 200m champion Allyson Felix.

The men will run the 5000m tonight and Team GB’s Mo Farah will look to follow his gold in the 10000m with a gold in this event. Anyone else see the 10000m last week? The scene was incredible with a Brit winning. The place will be cheering heavily for this guy tonight. The silver medalist in the 10000m was American, and Farah’s training partner, Galen Rupp, who will run in the final along with 2007 champion Bernard Lagat and Lopez Lomong. All three make a strong contingent for the U.S. There will be the typical challenges with the Kenyans and Ethiopians because none of them raced in the 10000m. I can assure you that if Farah wins, Olympic Stadium will be going crazy.

Also being raced tonight is the always-entertaining men’s 50km and women’s 20 km walk. You’ve probably made fun of these events at some point in the past, but watch how fast they go. It’s not easy.

Other final track and field events include the women’s 800m, women’s high jump and women’s 800m.

Future Olympian?

My dreamlike state with the Olympics gave way to reality today when I found out that one of my best friends had an emergency c-section this morning. Harper Kathryn Shaw was born just over five weeks early at 8:59 a.m. (est) today, weighing in around 4.5 pounds.

First of all, I'm so thankful to say that both mommy and baby are doing well. Praise the Lord! The proud parents, Kristin and Chris, did not find out the sex before hand and I don't know what they were thinking or hoping for, but I have to admit that I think I was hoping for a girl. Just so that I could start thinking of her as a future Pi Phi.

Since she was born premature and during the Olympics, I am going to go ahead and say future Olympian as well. She's clearly strong minded, determined and a fighter. I think we should set our sites on 2028, 2030 or 2032 (depending on what sport she picks up).

So many congratulations to my dear friend. I can't wait to met Ms. Harper!

You go, girl.

There was a lot of talk leading up to the games about how influential women were going to be in these Olympics. First time there were more women delegates than men for the U.S., first time every host nation had women delegates, etc.

However, there has also been criticism that since this is 2012 it should be commonplace that women do all these things. We are 92 years past suffrage, women should be celebrated for the accomplishments of winning and not just for getting to the Olympics, etc.

I see both sides. But I'm just proud that women are winning medals and responsible for a large part of the USA's medal count. The Olympics always produce a whole slew of new names and these games will prove to be no different. But the great thing is that it puts a new group of women for girls to look up to. I remember looking up to so many Olympic athletes as a kid and I still do today.

Here is yet another news piece for you about the influence of women in these Olympics.

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What to watch for - Day 15.

Yesterday was big for Team USA as we now have a 10-medal lead over China with hopefully more to come.

Anyone else wondering when BMX became an Olympic sport? Yeah, I did too. I didn’t even know it was in the games until Wednesday, but apparently this is its second appearance. Anyways, moving on…

Tonight begins the relay finals for men’s and women’s track with the men’s 4x400m and the women’s 4x100m.

The U.S. has won 16 of 22 Olympic titles in the men’s 4x400m and the dynasty has never been at risk more than it will be tonight. Team USA is without its two best runners in this race with 2008 champion LaShawn Merritt and 2004 champion Jeremy Wariner out with injuries. The team had four Olympic rookies run the semifinal, who did great, coming in second to the Bahamas with an identical time. It was looking like the red, white and blue could defend its title. However, AFTER the race they figured out that Manteo Mitchell, who ran the first leg, had a fractured his fibula. Can we just stop and marvel at the fact that this guy ran a 400m sprint on a broken leg. Wow. But the U.S. is the long-time defending champion and still has some other great runners and we certainly can’t count them out.

The Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago and Great Britain are looking to take the top spot now. South Africa is now in the final as well after falling and failing to finish in the heats. However, they won their appeal and now Oscar Pistorius will run the anchor leg. Can you imagine what a scene it would be if they won or even medaled? The South Africans did win the silver medal at the world championships last year, but they are now without their fastest runner of the race, who suffered a separated shoulder in the fall during the heats.

The women’s 4x100m will probably be between the U.S. and Jamaica. Team USA qualified first after coming within 0.04 of the Olympic record in the semifinals. This was also without two of its fastest runners in Carmelita Jeter and Allyson Felix. Jamaica finished second in its semifinal but did not race Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce or Veronica Campbell-Brown. So it seems the best was left for last and we can only wait to find out what will happen. It is another “redemption” race for the U.S. since the baton was dropped during the race in 2008.

The women’s 1500m and 5000m will be run tonight, while the men’s pole vault and women’s hammer throw will also be completed.

The U.S. women’s basketball team advanced to the gold medal game after a win against Australia yesterday and the men look to do the same today. They face Argentina for the third straight Olympic semifinal game today at 4 p.m. Argentina won in 2004 and went on to win the gold, while the U.S. did the same four years ago. The red, white and blue defeated the Argentinians 126-97 on Monday. If the U.S. advances, they will face the winner of the other semifinal between Spain and Russia.

You’ll rarely hear me talking about the men’s welterweight Taekwondo competition. But American Steven Lopez is chasing his fourth Olympic medal and hails from my hometown of Sugar Land, Texas. I know nothing about the sport and can’t give you any insight. But I’m cheering for Lopez to bring another medal home to the SL.

Oscar.

I realize that if I was a really good blogger, I would have made some of these posts before this athletes started competing in their respective events. But I was busy and unfortunately can't spend all day writing about the olympics. However, to be fair, I mentioned Oscar Pistorius in my Day 1 update.

By now you know who this guy is. Born without full legs and then had them amputated to the knee when he was 13-months-old. He has been a successful para-athlete and has now worked his way from the Paralympics to the Olympics.

There has been a lot of controversy on whether or not his carbon prostethics give him an added advantage over other competitiors. Some say he can't become injured as easily or tire out as quickly. But I think that he can still get injured and doctors say that the spring in his prostetics don't give any more of a bounce than the ligaments we able-bodied people have in our legs. My point is that if it did give him or other amputees and advantage, why wouldn't they all be qualifying for the Olympics?

Either way you want to look at it, it's incredible to look at what obsitcales he has put behind him and what he has accomplished. The spirit and fight that someone like him has just amazes me.

I think it was very powerful and moving to watch him compete in the 400m. I will never forget it. But what I certainly will never forget was Kirani James, the Grenadian and eventual winner of the 400m, asking to trade bibs with Pistorius after the race. James is someone that has overcome a lot and is an inspiration in his own right. Not only won the first ever Olympic medal for Grenada, but he won it in gold. Yet it was James who was inspired by Pistorius and wanted something to remember that ground-breaking moment. I cry just thinking about it.

Here is Pistorius on the Today show talking about that race and what happened with James afterwards. THIS is why I love the Olympics.

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Google doodle.

Anyone else been playing the daily Olympic game on the Google Doodle? I have for the past few days and some of them are hard!

If you don't know what I'm talking about, just go to the Google homepage and play the game above the search box. Today was canoe and it is definitely challenging. My favorite has been the hurdles. My best time is 13.1 seconds.

If you want to find a way to waste some time, I recommend giving it a look every day.

What to watch for - Day 14.

Lots of great finishes by the Americans last night and there a lot of important medals up for grabs today.

Usain “Lightning” Bolt returns to the track tonight to defend Olympic title No. 2 in the 200m. He crushed everyone in 2008 and almost walked across the finish line in the semifinals last night. Another story of “redemption” makes an appearance in this race in Team USA’s Wallace Spearmon, Jr. He thought he had finished third in Beijing and was in the middle of his victory lap when he was told he had been disqualified for a lane violation. Yohan Blake is also in the mix in this race (of course). The real question is probably how much Bolt will best the rest of the field by?

In the men’s 800m, Kenya’s David Rudisha is the favorite to win the gold as the reigning world champion and world record holder. Ethopia’s Mohamed Aman has provided some challenges for Rudisha in the past, as has the Sudan’s Abubaker Kaki. The Americans have two runners in the final in Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds.

On the field, the men’s triple jump will be contested and it has been 20 years since the U.S. has claimed two medals in this event. Team USA’s Christian Taylor and Will Claye are the two favorites heading into the final. Taylor is the reigning world outdoor champion and Claye the 2011 world indoor champion.

The final events of the decathlon will happen today to determine the “best male athlete in the world.” American Bryan Clay won the event in Beijing and there is a pretty good chance the U.S. could go one-two this time around. World record holder Ashton Eaton leads Trey Hardee by 99 points with three events to go (pole vault, javelin and 1500m), while the athlete in third place is 199 points behind Hardee.

The Olympics have been dubbed the “girls’ games” and today marks three big games/matches for U.S. women’s teams. Prior to primetime, the U.S. women’s soccer team looks to win its third straight gold and defeat world champion Japan in a rematch of last year’s World Cup final. The USA ended up losing in PKs in a very close match a year ago.

The U.S. women’s basketball team is currently on a 39-game winning streak and looks to defeat Australia to make it into the championship game for their fifth straight gold medal.

In the pool, the U.S. women’s water polo team looks to better its silver in Beijing with a gold in London. The Americans will take on Spain in the final this afternoon.

Life skill.

London marked the second Olympics for American swimmer Cullen Jones. He was a part of that epic 4x100m relay in 2008 and quitely won two silvers (4x100m & 50m) in these games. He's a great swimmer, but this post is more about what he has been doing outside the pool.

He has been working with a foundation called Make A Splash to help children in the African American community learn how to swim. Those children are three times more likely to drown than any other race because 70 percent of African American children have little to no swimming skills. At one point Jones was a part of that 70 percent. When he was five-years-old he almost drowned at a swim park and had to be resuscitated by the lifeguard. He was enrolled in swim lessons the following week and has clearly learned how to swim.

Since 2007, Make A Splash has helped one million children learn how to swim. Below is a piece from Rock Center about what he's been doing and why. I love stuff like this because it really shows that some athletes aren't all about competing or winning. Jones doesn't want anyone to die because of a fear of water and is working hard to decrease the number of children (and adults) that don't know how to swim.

I always say that swimming is an important life skill that everyone should have and Jones backs me up by saying that swimming is not just a sport but something that can save lives. You go, Cullen!

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2012 Olympic crush.

Seriously, how adorable is Nathan Adrian? He is definitely my Olympic crush of 2012. That big smile gets me every time and he's definitely easy on the eyes.

He swam an absolutely amazing race in the 100m freestyle and you could tell that he was legitimately stoked to have won. I love it when athletes get excited. You just won a gold medal! Celebrate!

Then he also swam some great legs in the 4x100 and IM relays. And I also judge my favorite swimmers on whether or not they made an appearance in the Call Me, Maybe video. He has a good part in it, so that gives him bonus points.

He's only 23, so four years isn't too big of an age gap, right?

Dan Patrick did a pretty good interview with him last week. My favorite part is how excited he was watching the clip of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte's reaction to his win. It won't let me embed, so you can watch the interview here.

What to watch for - Day 13.

It’s official. I’m a little depressed now that gymnastics is over. That and that I can only count the number of days left in the Olympics on one hand. However, there are still plenty of medals to be handed out and Team USA has several guaranteed along with some great chances at others today.

The U.S. is guaranteed both the gold and the silver in the beach volleyball final. Will it be two-time Olympic champion Misty May-Treanor and Carrie Walsh Jennings? Or the other duo in the red, white and blue in Jen Kessy and April Ross? The champions looked great last night in a hard match against the Chinese team and proved that they have a lot of fight left in them. They’ve still never lost a match and have only lost one set. However, Kessy and Ross defeated the Brazilians, who were the number one ranked team, in the semifinals to reach this game, which proves they have a lot of talent as well. It should be an amazing match and the best thing is that no matter what happens the U.S. wins!

The marquee event, in my opinion, on the track today is the women’s 200m dash. American Allyson Felix has been runner up at both the last Olympics and desperately wants to win gold. Felix has won three world titles in the event but never the Olympic title. However, she still has the two-time Olympic champion to compete against in Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown. The race is stacked with talent with the world’s fastest woman – Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce (I love that she runs with a bow in her hair), Sanya Richards-Ross and Carmelita Jeter. It should be one exciting race.

Americans Jason Richardson and Aries Merritt have good shots to win the men’s 110m hurdles tonight. Richardson was the 2011 world champion and Merritt won the 2012 world indoor championships in the 60m hurdles. They will have to fight against the reigning champion and world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba.

The third big race of the day is in the women’s 400m hurdles. Russia’s Natalya Antyukh and Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnova turned in the top qualifying times, while Team USA qualified all three runners in T’erea Brown, Lashinda Demus and Georganne Moline.

Over on the field, the women’s long jump will be contested. American Brittany Reese is the only track and field athlete to win her event at all four world championships since Beijing and looks to win the first gold for the U.S. since Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1988.

The competition for the best male athlete in the world begins today with the decathlon. The USA’s Ashton Eaton set the world record in the event in the Olympic trials and will be looking to continue that momentum into the five of 10 events happening today. The other American to watch is two-time world champion and Texas Longhorn Trey Hardee. The bronze medalist from 2008, Cuba’s Leonel Suarez, is also expected to contend for a medal.

We have five more days to pull ahead of the Chinese in the overall medal count. I thought they’d be done with most their big events by now (Dong Dong can only win trampoline once), but they continue to keep reeling those medals in. The U.S. has won the overall medal count the past two Olympic games and three of the last four.

Going on the defensive.

I would like to take some time to defend NBC, London and the British people from anyone that might be hating any of the above during the Olympics. You know that I will defend just about anything regarding the Olympics, so I’m aware that much of this will be biased, but I’m going to do it anyway.

First of all, NBC is my network of choice for news, so I love that they have the monopoly (or rather the money) to cover all the Olympics and combine my daily news personalities along with it. People have been complaining ever since the games started about the fact that “nothing is live” and that everything is known before you even get the chance to watch it. While NBC is holding a lot of television coverage for primetime (because that’s what advertisers want), it’s not like they haven’t given you the opportunity to watch it live on your computer. And a lot of people are because it seems that some businesses are complaining of productivity going down since the games began.

Secondly, if it was all live, how many people have televisions in their offices at work to watch it? I do, but I know I’m in the minority. What people really want is for the stuff to be shown live at night when they’re at home. The fact of the matter is that physically can’t happen. I love the NBC put out a statement saying that they apologize for not being able to make time in London and the U.S. the same to fix this problem for everyone. Haha!

Come on, people! Forget that we’ve been spoiled the past two Olympics with Beijing morning falling during our primetime and Vancouver being on west coast time. The fact is that this is the way most Olympics are and we just forgot about it over the last six years. Anyone remember Sydney?

The other problem is that this is the second Olympics where Twitter has existed and really the first that it has been big. Twenty years ago when the games were in Barcelona we faced pretty much the same time difference (just one hour difference between London and Barcelona). Back then the only way you found out what happened before they showed it on television was if you watched the news. Now people can go on news sites, Facebook and Twitter to find out what has happened and they are ticked that they’re finding out before they can watch it. First of all, get over it. Secondly, just don’t go on those sites. I’ve successfully made it through three quarters of the Olympics without any spoilers so I can watch it at night. It’s possible and I’m someone that normally sits in front of that stuff all day long.

NBC did compromise and show a lot of stuff live over the weekend. But they still have to please advertisers, so they have to save the big stuff for primetime. Good news for all you Olympic Scrooges – Rio is just one hour ahead of the east coast, so stuff will be live in four years. But don’t get too used to it. The final three cities for 2020 are Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo, while 2014 is in Russia and 2018 in South Korea. That doesn’t bode well for live primetime.

Now, if anyone out there is bashing the city of London, I want you to come and talk to me face-to-face so we can have it out. London is absolutely the perfect city for the Olympics. It has so many great sites and things to do and the setting for some of these venues are absolutely perfect (i.e. cycling, rowing, beach volleyball, soccer). People were hemming and hawing before the games started about London being too big, not enough security, blah, blah, blah. I haven’t heard anything about this since the games began. Have you? They planned it out. They knew what was coming. I went through Heathrow in June and although it was a month before the Olympics, we had people asking if we had any questions and I can promise you the security was tight. It’s clear thy fixed any kinks before everything started.

On to talking and defending the Brits themselves. They are very misunderstood. People think they are stuffy, snobby and not into anything remotely exciting. That is all very wrong. While they don’t wear their hearts on their sleeves, they are sentimental and kind people (a little like me). I spent four months there six years ago and I never met an inhospitable person. I’ve said before that they don’t always like to show how excited they get over something, but sometimes they can’t hide it and then there is no holding back for them. This was evident during the royal wedding, the Diamond Jubilee and now the Olympics. They will wait until the last possible moment, somewhat complaining, but then they go all out. And they go nuts! They knew all along that they would not be in the hunt to win the overall medal count, but they still continue to show up to all type of events to cheer on the rest of the world. It’s just been a bonus to them that they’ve started to win all these medals.

Have you watched any of the events where a member of Team GB wins a medal? It is awesome! And you can’t look at those British athletes and tell me they aren’t emotional or sentimental. The Brits are loving the Olympics and loving it so much that they just might actually admit it to you.

Cheerio.

What to watch for - Day 12.

It’s safe to say I’ll be a little depressed tomorrow because the countdown until gymnastics at the Olympics goes back to four years. However, there are still four events left and the Americans have some great opportunities to earn more medals.

If you don’t typically like men’s gymnastics, I encourage you to watch tonight’s horizontal bar final. You will be entertained, I promise! The guys have absolutely nothing to lose and don’t hold anything back in these routines. The person to actually catch the bars after his skills is typically the one to win. American Jonathan Horton won the silver in Beijing, I still think it should have been gold, and is in the final again in London. The only color medal he doesn’t have is Olympic gold and with this possibly being his last Olympic event he will through everything out there in this routine. Danell Leyva is also in the final and after what he did on the event in the all-around final to win bronze, it’s clear he is definitely capable of a great score. Other contenders include Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands, who does a very difficult three-release series, and defending champion Zou Kai of China.

No one from Team USA is in the parallel bars final, which means the reigning world champion Leyva won’t have a chance to keep his title. This is considered to be a pretty wide open race with a lot of previous top-three finishers, but the top two qualifying scores came from the Japanese brothers Yusuke and Kazuhito Tanaka.

The two per country rule did not just affect Jordyn Weiber in the all-around but also kept Kyla Ross out of the finals for beam. She qualified in sixth, but with Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman qualifying second and fifth, she has been left out. The top qualifier was China’s Sui Lu, while Russia’s Viktoria Komova tied Douglas in the second spot. Keep an eye on Romania’s Catalina Ponor who won the event in 2004. Romania considers this their event and Ponor looked fearless in the team finals on the apparatus.

All eyes will be on Weiber in the floor exercise final but it was Raisman who qualified first with a 15.325. This is Weiber’s chance for an individual gold and her time to shine alone. She qualified sixth but had a step out of bounds that of course kept her out of the all-around and from a higher qualifying score. This final is jam packed with talented gymnasts. Two Olympic champions in Romania’s Ponor and Sandra Izbasa, two floor world champions in Australia’s Lauren Mitchell and Russia’s Ksenia Afanasyeva and three world all-around champions in Italy’s Vanessa Ferrari, Russia’s Aliya Mustafina and Weiber. Can’t wait!

There will be medals awarded in track and field in the men’s high jump, men’s discus, men’s 1500m and women’s 100m hurdles.

In the men’s 1500m, Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi had the top time in the semifinals followed by Asbel Kiprop of Kenya and Mekonnen Gebremedhin of Ethiopia. American Leo Manzano posted the fourth-best time in the semifinals and is joined by teammate Andrew Wheating in the final.

There are a lot of stories about redemption every four years and the biggest one of these games comes from Lolo Jones. She was on pace to win the gold in the 100m hurdles in Beijing but tripped on the last hurdle to stumble and miss out on a medal. Jones is just one of those people you want to cheer for and she has a great shot at winning a medal again this time around.

Beach volleyball continues for Misty May-Treanor and Carrie Walsh Jennings. Their match tonight determines whether they play for the gold or bronze. They have still never lost a match and are in good position to win their third straight gold.

My favorite.

I’ve been so busy the past few days that I haven’t had time to write about all what has happened in my favorite sport – gymnastics.

First of all, it always kind of ticks me off that people only think about and appreciate gymnastics every four years. It’s hard and impressive stuff. I’d like to see all the athletes people consider the best in the world do some of this stuff. Then the Olympics come around and people are amazed, once again, at what gymnasts can do and are wondering what happened to the people from four years ago. While gymnastics is not as publicized as the other big sports every year, they still do typically show the national and world championships on NBC every year. If you want to know when it’s on, just ask me. I’ll keep you up-to-date.

I’ll start with the men. Yes, a bit of a disappointment because they definitely had the talent to medal and possibly even win with the way the other favorites faltered. They did so well in qualifying but once things started to go sour in the final, they couldn’t pull it together. Gymnastics is one of those individual sports that is turned into a team sport after a certain point (like swimming, tennis, track and field) and it’s hard for some to learn how to be a team. Since male gymnasts are typically older, compared to the women, a lot of them have already competed in college and learned this team aspect. Neither of the top two guys for the U.S decided to go the college route. I think their lack of experience as a team was evident in the team final. They just didn’t know how to be teammates when things started going wrong for them. Instead of getting up and cheering on the others to perform well and get good scores to make up for their mistakes, they sat and sulked about how they had messed up. And then never really pulled it together. If you look at team captain Jonathan Horton, who competed in college, he was there cheering on every one of his teammates no matter how he had performed.

In the all-around final, both Danell Leyva and John Orozco struggled again and it was a question as to if either of them would be able to pull it together. One of the biggest differences between men and women’s gymnastics is that you don’t have to be perfect in every event to win or medal. Because there are six events it’s rare that one guy is amazing at all of them and tends to put up a low score on at least one or even two. Because Leyva had pommel horse early on, he was able to put up good scores on his last events that also happened to be his best. I’m happy that he came back to win a medal and it makes me wonder if he and John had both done this in the team final what could the team have ended up with?

But let’s also talk about that team final in general. China came out strong and there was no question through the meet that they would win. The biggest surprise continued to be the British. Where did they come from? Those of you that don’t keep up with the sport may not know that they were not far off from failing to make the Olympics. Yet, they got themselves in medal contention. At the end, they thought they had won silver, Ukraine had finished third and Japan (the favorites) were off the podium. Japan was going to go home without a medal because their best gymnast, and the world’s best gymnast, totally tanked at the end of his pommel horse routine. The question was whether or not he had made it to a handstand to attempt the required skill of a dismount or not. Japan had to put in an inquiry and as the coach did this he had cash in his hand. What? And American money, not British pounds. What was going on?

Well, it turns out that now when you inquire a score you have to pay and if you get the score changed you get the money back. It’s kind of like the coach’s challenge in football. You can challenge the ruling, but if you’re wrong you lose the timeout. This is to keep coaches from inquiring every score in the attempt to continually boost a total. To be clear, a coach can’t inquire as to why judges took deductions certain places, but it’s to ask why the start value was off and why a certain skill wasn’t considered completed. In the end, Japan got moved from fourth to second, the Brits ended up third and Ukraine got the boot to fourth. Everyone was unhappy except for Japan. The funny thing was that if GBR had known the whole time they would get third, they would have been just as ecstatic as when they thought they had silver. Craziest ending I’ve ever seen in a team final.

On to the Fab Five and they really are fabulous and adorable. Although neither of them are even old enough to go to college yet, they know how to be a team and support one another. They were great in qualifying and of course we know about Jordyn Weiber not making the all-around final. Yes, I’m still sad about that but I’ve already given my opinion on this topic. They came out again in the team finals on fire and scored big on vault. McKayla Maroney’s vault was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen more gymnastics than the average person. Very soon it was clear that the fight was between the U.S. and Russia. Uneven bars is the worst event for the Americans and the best for the Russians and after that we knew that it was going to be down to what both teams could accomplish on the beam and floor. Well, Russia fell apart and the USA excelled. Talk about not knowing how to be a team - the Russians could not figure out how to stop crying and continued to fall further from the lead.

But those cute girls from the USA nailed just about everything and those floor routines were almost like icing on the cake. Weiber attacked her routine and after her first pass the look on her face said it all. She knew she had it. Then Aly Raisman was crying before her routine was even over. Yes, they knew they had won, but in gymnastics nothing is official until the score is out. You could see the overwhelming joy on their faces when the saw the scoreboard change. They were truly the best team there and proved it.

I’m still amazed by Weiber and her composure. Yes, she cried after qualifying, but who wouldn’t? Then she came out and performed her routines wonderfully in the team final with a smile on her face, while also cheering for her teammates. Unfortunately, this wasn’t something you really saw from the guys. Then she was there again during the all-around finals, cheering on her teammates in a meet she desperately wanted to be in. But enough about her – for now.

Douglas put together a great all-around meet. She really doesn’t have a weak event and made no major mistakes, which is what it takes to win the all-around at the Olympics. After a long drought of not winning this event, the Americans have really started to dominate the gold and I love it. Let’s also not forget the significance of her being the first African-American to win the event. And how can you not love that girl? She has a smile that would light up any room and is sure to always thank the Lord and the people who have helped her get to where she is.

I knew it was going to be hard for Raisman to win gold and even silver, but bronze was definitely doable. In the end, she did get third, just not the bronze medal. If she didn’t have one extra step somewhere on any event that bronze would be all hers alone. It’s crazy that someone who fell off beam and then just gave up on the event ended up with third. If one of the gymnasts here acted like that towards her coach, she would be ripped apart by the media. What happens in Russia?

I hate the gymnastics tie-breaking procedure. It’s come into play now a few times in these games. I just don’t understand why it can’t remain a tie. They give out two medals in swimming, track & field, etc. Just because it’s a subjective sport they can’t tie? This kept Nastia Liukin from a gold on bars in Beijing and kept a very deserving gymnast from a medal in the all-around. The FIG should really review some its policies this year.

Now we move on to event finals where they U.S. (women at least) should bring in some more medals. Vault happened last night and was a little disappointing. I don’t know what happened to Maroney. She didn’t need to stick her first vault to get a great score and help her to first. She got the perfect type of score she needed without nailing the landing. All she had to do was put the next one to her feet and the gold was hers. My friends and I laughed about Tim Daggett jinxing it, but if there was a gold medal guaranteed for anyone, it was for her in this event. In the end, she still got second by a tenth of a point after falling on her second vault, that’s pretty incredible. I was more disappointed at her reaction to the fellow gymnasts coming up to congratulate her. I know she’s 16, but she’s better than that.

For the men, the only events we have left that have Americans are vault and high bar. Vault will be hard but high bar is doable. I love this final because the guys throw everything out there and hold nothing back. It is awesome to watch.

Now we are on to bars, beam and floor for the ladies. Bars will probably be the hardest one to medal in, but we could go one-two on both beam and floor. Douglas will be on bars with some strong competition. But if she nails her routine and others stumble, she could walk away with another shiny piece of hardware. And it’s clear the judges like her, which is good in this subjective sport.

Douglas and Raisman are on beam and have great routines. Raisman is the favorite if she can avoid what happened in the all-around. You can imagine I’m cheering for Weiber on floor. She has been so great and consistent and such a good teammate that I want this for her. Raisman will want it too and won’t give it away easy. It’ll be an exciting final to watch.

You can be sure I’ll give my final thoughts once the events are all completed.

What to watch for - Day 11.

There were some great moments last night and some disappointing ones. I’ll be honest in saying that there aren’t a lot of medal events on tonight.

Gymnastics continues with three more event finals in men’s vault, men’s still rings and women’s uneven bars. There isn’t an American in the still rings event final, so you can be sure NBC will only show the three medal routines and then move on to something else.

Team USA’s Sam Mikulak will be in the men’s vault final after qualifying fourth. Russia’s Denis Ablyazin was the top qualifier but there aren’t a lot of big names (i.e. title holders) in this final. It should be pretty open for the taking and clearly favorites can stumble. I’m looking at you, McKayla Maroney.

Gabby Douglas looks to win her third gold in as many attempts on the uneven bars tonight. However, she will have some stiff competition just to earn a medal. Great Britain’s Beth Tweddle is outstanding on this event and turned in the best qualifying score. She’s the best gymnast in GBR’s history and the crowd will be behind her 100%. If she hits her routine, the place is sure to go nuts. Also in the final is defending Olympic champion He Kexin, who tied with Nastia Liukin for first but won gold on a tie-breaker in Beijing. Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina are still in search of a gold for Russia and are outstanding on this event. They are certainly in medal contention as well.

The American’s swept the podium in the 400m in Beijing with Lashawn Merritt winning gold. Neither of those will happen tonight. Merritt won’t be defending his title after pulling up in his qualifying race due to a hamstring injury. And neither of the other two Americans even qualified for the final. Makes you wonder where Jeremy Wariner is, right? The favorite in this race is Grenada’s James Kirani. If he wins, or even makes the podium, it will be that country’s first Olympic medal.

Unlike the 400m, USA will have a chance to defend its podium sweep from Beijing with three Americans competing in the final of the 400m hurdles. Angelo Taylor and Kerron Clement took first and second, respectively, four years ago and hope to repeat, while Michael Tinsley is the other teammate running for the red, white and blue.

I have also heard that the women’s steeplechase will be shown in primetime. If there is an event that the ancient Greeks invented to stay entertained, this has to be one of them. This race involves a lot of running with a jump over a large post into a puddle of water every lap. I find it to be one of the oddest races in track, but you’ll just have to watch to see if you agree with me.

With Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser out of the men’s beach volleyball tournament, it’s up to Americans Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal to defend the title from Beijing. The duo continues play tonight in the quarterfinals.

What to watch for - Day 10.

Good news, bad news. I’ll give you the bad first – swimming has officially concluded. The good news is that gymnastics returns tonight after a two-day absence for three nights of event finals.

I’d talk more about the men’s tennis final, but it may be over by the time you read this. I will say that if Andy Murray wins, Wimbledon will go crazy.

Tonight will be the men’s floor exercise and pommel horse and the women’s vault. American Jake Dalton is in the mix on a packed final on the floor exercise, as is all-around champion Kohei Uchimura and runner up Marcel Nguyen. Qualifying first was the defending champion Zou Kai of China, but all eight gymnasts qualified within 0.4 points of each other. Floor should be one of the more exciting finals for the men.

Great Britain has one of its best chances for a gold in gymnastics in the pommel horse final in Louis Smith. Smith qualified in first with a great routine and won the bronze in Beijing. The reigning world champion, Krisztian Berki of Hungary, qualified fifth but is probably the favorite.

McKayla Maroney made the U.S. team purely to land vaults to help the team to gold. She did that and now has the chance to get herself an individual gold. If Maroney puts up a vault like she did on Tuesday, she will undoubtedly be the Olympic champion. She is the reigning world champion and the best vaulter in the world. Even with her step on the vault in qualifying she still put up an amazing score. If I remember correctly, the gymnasts will compete two vaults and the average of the two scores will determine the winner. The vaults have to be from “two different families”, basically meaning that they can’t do the same vault twice and have to prove that they really are the best by nailing two different kinds of vaults. Also in contention is Germany’s Oksana Chusovitina, who is competing at the ripe gymnastics age of 37 and is the reigning silver medalist.

Everyday from here on out I’ll give you the laundry list of track events that will be handing out medals for the day. They’ll show several heats and semis in primetime as well, but not all will have finals the same night. Today is the women’s marathon, women’s triple jump, men’s hammer throw, men’s steeplechase, women’s 400m and the most popular race of the games – the men’s 100m.

Jamaica defended its title in the women’s 100m yesterday and looks to remain the home of both the fastest man and woman in the world. There’s a very good chance this will be the case. Usain Bolt amazed all of us in Beijing with both his runs but is not the favorite because his teammate, Yohan Blake, defeated him in the Jamaican Olympic trials. Blake is the current world champion because Bolt false started in that race last year. It’s important to note that no one is allowed a false start anymore. If you go before the gun, you are out, which is what happened to Bolt at worlds. Also in the race are Americans Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay. Gatlin won the gold medal in the event in Athens but was not in Beijing due to a four-year ban from the sport because of doping. He’s back, and I assume clean, but he’s never been in an Olympic race with Bolt. Gay was in the race in 2008, but claims a hamstring injury was the reason he was not able to compete with Bolt. Gay is one of two guys in the race, along with Blake, that have ever defeated Bolt at 100m.

The women’s 400m looks to be a race of redemption for the USA’s Sanya Richards-Ross. She was the heavy favorite in 2008 and was leading after 200m before her hamstring tightened. She ended up finishing third but came back to lead the 4x400m team to gold. Great Britain’s Christin Oburugu is back to defend her Olympic title and will obviously have the home crowd behind her. Two other Americans, Dee Dee Trotter and Frencent McCorory, are also in the final. Side note: Richards-Ross is married to NFL player Aaron Ross and they are sure to have the most athletic children in the world. Hopefully, they’ll follow in their parents’ footsteps and go to Texas (or switch it up and maybe go to Mizzou). Either way - Hook’em Sanya!

Tonight will show another match featuring Misty May-Treanor and Carrie Walsh Jennings. They continue on to the quarterfinals in the elimination round of beach volleyball.

What to watch for - Day 9.

I’m very sad to say that today is the last day in the pool for the London Olympics. Four years removed from eight gold medals in Beijing, Michael Phelps has still provided us some great entertainment in London. We are all lucky to have watched him compete these last several games and there’s a pretty good chance we will never see someone like him again.

Phelps goes for gold medal number four and overall medal number six of these games in the 4x100 individual medal relay tonight. The American men have never lost this race, except for 1980 when the U.S. boycotted the games, so it’s safe to say they are the favorites. Besides Phelps, it’s not known for sure who will compete in the final. I’m not sure who will swim breaststroke, but I’d go with Matt Grevers in the backstroke and Nathan Adrian in the freestyle

The women qualified in fourth in the 4x100 medley relay, while Australia blew everyone away but also used their best swimmers in qualifying. Team USA has finished first or second every time since the race was added, so they have a great chance at gold as well. It’s another question mark as to who will swim the final for the Americans but Missy Franklin is a pretty good bet. This would give Franklin her fourth gold medal and her sixth medal in seven events – not bad for 17-years-old. She is sure to swim the backstroke leg. I’d put Rebecca Soni in at breaststroke, Dana Volmer at fly and Allison Schmitt at freestyle. I’d think three gold medal winners and one silver in those events 100m would give you a pretty good chance at relay gold.

The other events that end the week in the pool include the women’s 50m freestyle and the men’s 1500m freestyle – the longest and shortest events in swimming. Jessica Hardy will compete the all-out sprint for the red, white and blue, while American Connor Jaeger will swim in the 1500m. Neither are necessarily favorites but you never know in these two races.

There are six finals in track and field tonight – men’s 20km walk, women’s discus, men’s long jump, women’s heptathlon 800m, men’s 10,000m and women’s 100m. The most popular of all these will be the women’s 100m to determine the fastest woman in the world. Jamaica swept the podium in 2008 and reigning champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, is back to defend her title. American Carmelita Jeter, who is the current world champion, turned in the top qualifying time and will have U.S. teammates Alliyson Felix and Tianna Madison in the semifinal as well. Jamaicans Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart will also compete for spots in the final.

American Marquise Goodwin is the American favorite after winning the Olympic trials. I have a certain fondness for Goodwin because he is also a member of the Texas football team – Hook’em Horns! He has won the U.S. outdoor and NCAA titles and turned in the best leap in the qualifying round. Here’s to hoping Goodwin will win a gold medal and a football national championship in the span of six months!

Beach volleyball has reached the knockout stage and Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings are still in the hunt for their third gold. After losing their first Olympic set the other day, the duo looks to remain undefeated (and in the tournament) as they take on a rookie Netherlands team tonight.

What to watch for - Day 8.

The Olympics sure don’t disappoint. We are pretty lucky to live in a country that is successful at stuff like this and that NBC only shows us events that we have a chance to win. Let me also say that if you can’t stay off news sites or social media during the day and end up finding out everything that happens before primetime, you are seriously missing out. I’ve made it through everyday so far without knowing what I’m going to see and it’s so much more exciting. Just try it out if you haven’t already!

No gymnastics tonight. But don’t worry! It’s not over yet. Just a two-day break until event finals start on Sunday. But track and field does start today and the Americans are sure to be just as dominate on the track as they’ve been in the pool.

Speaking of the pool, Michael Phelps goes for his third gold of the games in the 100m butterfly tonight. This is the race that he barely won in 2008 and took the extra stroke at the end, which turned out to be the difference between eight gold medals and seven gold medals and a silver. The guy he narrowly beat, Serbia’s Milorad Cavic, is back and in lane six. Phelps qualified in first and will have a great position in lane four in between American Tyler McGill in lane three and South Africa’s Chad le Clos in lane five. Phelps is looking very strong right now and is going for career medal 21 with this race. I think it’s going to be gold.

We’ve got Missy back in the pool after she failed to medal in the 100m free last night. I hate to use the word “failed” in a sentence about her because she’s so amazing. Tonight is the 200m backstroke and Franklin and Elizabeth Beisel were the top two qualifiers in the race. World-record holder and defending Olympic champion, Kristy Coventry, will be in lane seven with Beisel in fourth and Franklin in fifth.

It’s hard to label something as the most exciting event of the night, but it might be the 50m freestyle. It’s the shortest race in swimming and really proves how fast a swimmer is. After not qualifying in the 100m free, Cullen Jones turned in the best qualifying time and will be in lane five, while the guy that tied him, Cesar Cielo, is in lane four, followed by another American, Anthony Ervin. Cielo is the world record holder and posted the same qualifying time as Jones.

One of the distance swim races happens tonight in the women’s 800m freestyle. American Katie Ledecky, the 15-year-old and the youngest member of the U.S. team, qualified for the final in third and will be in lane three. Analysts say that even at 15 she is the real deal. Great Britain’s star swimmer, Rebecca Adlington, is the defending Olympic champion and world record holder. She qualified in first and will be the overwhelming fan favorite.

There will be some qualifiers for various track and field events and finals in two.

I strongly suggest you cheer for Christian Cantwell in the men’s shot put final tonight. Why? Well, because he is a Mizzou grad (can’t imagine you need anymore reason than that). He won silver in Beijing and qualified for tonight’s finals in first. Americans Reese Hoffa and Ryan Whitnig also qualified for the final. Whitnig won the event at this year’s world championships and has a good chance to make the podium. Germany’s David Storl and Canada’s Dylan Armstrong are also favorites.

There are 22 women in the 10,000m, which is the longest race outside the marathon. Americans Lisa Uhl, Janet Bawcom and U.S. Olympic Trial winner Amy Hastings are all in the final. Bawcom is Kenyan born and the first Kenyan-American to represent the USA in the Olympics.

What to watch for - Day 7.

I say it every morning, but wasn’t last night great? Some great finishes at the aquatic center and a comeback for a medal in men’s gymnastics. More of the same should happen tonight,

We’ve heard a lot about the women’s gymnastics all-around since Sunday and today is the actual competition. No, Jordyn Weiber will not be in it. But Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman will be. Russia’s Viktoria Komova posted the best qualifying and was the favorite after Sunday, while Russia will also have a chance in Aliya Mustafina. I think that Douglas is now the favorite after her performance in team finals. While Komova is very talented and came within tenths of beating Weiber at the world championships last year, she showed that she can let emotion get to her during a competition. The question will be what type of gymnast shows up tonight? Raisman is solid and consistent but lacks the start value of both Douglas and Komova. However, if the others slip and she performs like she has all year, Raisman could end up quite a surprise. In the past Douglas has had struggles with staying concentrated and faltered in big meets. If she competes like she has in these games she could be the third straight all-around champion for the U.S. Beijing was the first time the Americans went one-two and there is a strong chance that could happen again today.

Tonight is Michael Phelps v. Ryan Lochte 2.0 with the 200m individual medley, basically the same race from Saturday just cut in half. This storyline has not been as advertised since Lochte destroyed everyone in the 400 IM and has struggled since, while Phelps struggled and has now picked up some steam. Lochte is the reigning world champion and current world record holder, while Phelps is the two-time defending Olympic champion. Lochte ended up qualifying first and Phelps third, which puts them next to each other in lanes three and four. If Phelps wins, he’ll be the first person to win three gold medals in the same individual event. I’m just hoping this race lives up to the original hype!

Lochte will have a quick turnaround for the 200 IM since he swims in the 200m backstroke right before. The question will be if Lochte seems to save anything for his showdown with Phelps or will go for the gold here and see what he has left in the IM. American Tyler Clary was the top qualifier and will swim in land four, while Lochte qualified second and will be in lane five.

Missy Franklins goes for medal number four in her fifth race – the 100m freestyle - of the games. Franklin will be in lane three, while current Team USA member Jessica Hardy will be in lane eight. Watch out for top qualifier Ranomo Kromowidjojo from the Netherlands who had a great semifinal win.

American Rebecca Soni has a chance to defend her Olympic title in the 200m breaststoke. Soni set a new world record in qualifying and is swimming very strong. The U.S. also has another great swimmer in Micah Lawrence who will be in lane seven.

Also today, USA men’s basketball takes on Nigeria at 5:15 p.m. (est). The Americans are averaging 104 points per game. This is Nigera’s first time in the Olympic games and is currently 1-1 after losing to Litiuania. We’ll see if Kobe Bryant has the opportunity to do what he did against Tunisia – autograph an opposing player’s shoe after a game.