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.