Mornin’, how about a dip?
Sunday morning in Beijing means prime time Saturday for NBC. Events moved to breakfast time in Beijing include gold-medal finals in swimming: the men’s 400-meter freestyle, the women’s 4x100 freestyle relay and the men’s and women’s 400 individual medley, which will be live in the Eastern and Central time zones.
Swimmer Michael Phelps is seeking a record eight gold medals during these Games, surpassing the mark of U.S. swimming icon Mark Spitz, who won seven in 1972 at Munich. But to win eight, Phelps has to win the first one. Live coverage of Phelps in the 400 individual medley – and three other swimming finals – highlights the NBC’s coverage from 8 p.m. to midnight PDT today.
The 400 IM final is scheduled to come about two hours into the broadcast.
Phelps, 23, shattered his world record in this event in the Olympic Trials, so he’s heavily favored in Beijing.
If he wins gold in the 400 IM, he’d pull within two golds of tying the all-time record for most golds in the Olympics, nine, shared by four others: Pavel Nurmi, a Finnish distance runner; Larisa Latynina, a Soviet gymnast; Spitz; and Carl Lewis, a U.S. track star.
Today’s daytime broadcast includes the men’s cycling road race, which will include scenes of some of Beijing’s cultural landmarks … and a look at the air quality in the first outdoor gold-medal event. The racers will cover 152.48 miles.
Other daytime broadcast events will include the United States taking on Japan in women’s soccer, rowing and beach volleyball.
The party atmosphere at the beach volleyball venue will make California girls Kerry Walsh and Misty May-Treanor feel right at home.
It won’t hurt that they’re also the defending Olympic champions and the dominant team on the domestic and international tours, having swept their Olympic qualifying events.
If Walsh’s injured shoulder holds up, they’re the team to beat, with their toughest challenge to come from Brazilians Juliana and Larissa. Americans Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh could also contend for medals.