Also this week: Olympians reflect on their mental game plans
In this article: Soccer Opening Ceremonies Swimming Triathlon Gymnastics Archery Equestrian Weightlifting Beach Volleyball	Basketball Pole Vaulting Cycling Baseball Diving Water Polo Canoe/Kayak Boxing Other Olympic sports

Our day-by-day guide to the sports in Sydney.

Hopes are high for the XXVII Olympiad. 10,000 athletes. More than 300 events. Add to that 441 hours of coverage by NBC. Who can keep up? Now you don't have to.

pening ceremonies for the 2000 Summer Olympics kick off next weekend in Sydney. Between Sept. 15 and Oct. 1, Olympians from more than 200 countries will compete for the honor of earning a medal in the world's most prestigious athletic event. For American viewers, the Games offer an even bigger challenge: We're at least 14 hours behind the land down under. With an expected TV audience of 3.7 billion (200 million shy of the TV-viewing world) the showcase of physical strength, grace and speed also may set a slew of new records. While most events will take place while America sleeps, NBC and its cable channels MSNBC and CNBC will broadcast most big events -- albeit mostly after the real-time event. Here's an inside look at a few of the sports and contests. Check local TV listings for any changes, and set your VCR.

PRE-OPENING (Sept. 13-14) SOCCER

It's only fitting the world's most popular sport kicks off before the opening ceremonies. And this year, all eyes will be on the U.S. women's team, 1996 Atlanta gold medalists (15 players return for the Sydney Games) favored to win gold again. This year, the team -- including Brandi Chastain, Mia Hamm and Briana Scurry -- has played more outside the United States: 25 of 29 matches were abroad. Expect a tough opening match -- three out of their four losses this year have been to Norway, whom they play.
TUNE IN: MSNBC: U.S. men vs. Czech Republic, Sept. 13, 6:30 p.m. ET; U.S. women vs. Norway, Sept. 14, 6:30 p.m. ET.

DAY 1 (Sept. 15) OPENING CEREMONIES
The ceremonies, including the parade of nations and lighting of the Olympic Flame, unfold at the new $340 million Stadium Australia (seats 110,000). Headliners: Olivia Newton-John, Aboriginal artist Djakapurra Munyarryun and a choir of 3,500. But expect kangaroos, somewhere.
TUNE IN: NBC: 7:30 p.m. ET.

DAY 2 (Sept. 16) SWIMMING
Skin is out. This year, it's all about the sharkskin-like Speedo bodysuit: The makers boast an increase in speed of as much as 3%. The quest to shave seconds off scores takes a giant stroke forward as virtually every country is expected to outfit its competitors with the high-tech suits, made of a whisper-thin polymer blend. Check out who's wearing them when the men's and women's 4x100m freestyle relays dive in.
TUNE IN: NBC: 7 p.m. ET.

DAY 3 (Sept. 17) TRIATHLON
In the ongoing quest to push the limits of physical endurance, the triathlon reigns as the ultimate contest. Here, it makes its Olympic debut, and every inch of the 32-mile course will be visible. It may not be as tough (or as long) as Hawaii's famed 140-mile "Ironman," but athletes will swim 1.5 kilometers -- divers with new Aussie electronic repellents will keep sharks away -- bike 40 kilometers and run 10 more.
TUNE IN: NBC: Men go for the gold beginning at 7 p.m. ET; women, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. ET.

DAYS 4-5 (Sept. 18-19) GYMNASTICS
U.S. qualifying rules dominated much of the pre-Olympic buzz. Rather than go with straight scores, a selection team decided eight out of the 12 U.S. team members to allow for greater wiggle room for the healthiest, best-balanced roster. Also new: trampoline gymnastics, where competitors leap 30 feet into the air.
TUNE IN: NBC: Men's team gymnastic finals, Sept. 18, 7 p.m. ET; women's team gymnastic finals, Sept. 19, 7 p.m. ET.

DAY 6 (Sept. 20) ARCHERY
Think Robin Hood, but with nicer toys. The goal has remained the same since the days of Mr. Hood. (In homage to his marksmanship, if the shaft of an arrow in the target is split by another, it's called a Robin Hood and the score of the first is taken away.) These days, the gear is cutting-edge: fiberglass bows; strings of either a hydrocarbon product or kevlar (the stuff in bulletproof vests); aluminum or graphite arrows. More humane, too: In the 1900 Paris Olympics, live pigeons were used as targets.
TUNE IN: MSNBC: Men's gold medal match, 10 a.m. ET.

DAY 7 (Sept. 21) EQUESTRIAN
Competitors here perform feats of seemingly Harry Potter-level wizardry. The equestrian competition also is the most inclusive, sex- and age-wise, and one of the few events where women and men compete as equals in both the team and individual categories. Three of the five U.S. competitors are over age 40. Even in individual events, it's a team effort, with the horse doing more than 80% of the work. Jumping is a grueling contest: Horse and rider attempt to negotiate upward of 20 jumps, many towering over 5 feet and including such other hazards as pools of water. (In the 1932 Los Angeles Games, no team medal was awarded because no one completed the course.) In the less treacherous dressage, horses execute a series of complicated movements while the rider appears to provide no input. The most famous move: the Piaffe, in which the horse gracefully trots in place. It's also unusual in that the winner is the competitor with the fewest penalties, not the most points.
TUNE IN: NBC: Three-day individual cross-country competition begins at 7 p.m. ET.

DAY 8 (Sept. 22) WEIGHTLIFTING
Few athletic feats top those of weightlifting, where men can hoist the equivalent of a refrigerator overhead. (That's more than 400 pounds!) New for the Sydney Games: Women enter the competition. They defy the weightlifter stereotype: Three of the four U.S. women are former gymnasts, slender and under 5 feet 3 inches tall. Women compete in seven classes, lifting between 105 and 165 pounds. Men vie in eight, from 123 to over 231 pounds. To get an idea of how tough it is, go the gym and lift a 50-pound dumbbell. Then imagine what six times that amount feels like. That's what 17-year-old American competitor Cheryl Haworth can lift.
TUNE IN: MSNBC: Women's super heavyweight gold medal match, 10 a.m. ET. NBC: Men's gold medal match, 12:35 a.m. ET.

DAY 9 (Sept. 23) BEACH VOLLEYBALL
A sport that traditionally draws scant mainstream attention, beach volleyball stole the spotlight in its introductory Olympic appearance at the 1996 Atlanta Games. With only two players per team, it's eye-blazingly fast: Men's spikes can hit 100 mph; women's, 80 mph. Top hitters reach 111/2 feet high -- 3 feet above the net. To compare, check your vertical leap by jumping alongside a wall and measuring how high you touch.
TUNE IN: NBC: Women's quarter- and semifinals, noon ET. Gold medal match, Sept. 25, 10 a.m. ET. MSNBC: Men go for the gold Sept. 26, 10 a.m. ET.

DAY 10 (Sept. 24) BASKETBALL
This year's U.S. "Dream Team" roster changed almost weekly as the men's injury list kept growing. Five of the original 12 NBA players chosen were sidelined; only two are expected to play. But the women look mighty healthy: Like their male counterparts, U.S. women are expected to dominate the court in Sydney (they took the gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 1998 World Games). But the women will have to adjust to a slightly different game: In the Olympics, the women's game ball is the same size as the men's: 1/2 inch larger and 1 ounce heavier than in U.S. women's college and pro play, and the court is slightly smaller (4 feet by 1 foot smaller).
TUNE IN: MSNBC: U.S. women vs. Poland, 9 a.m. ET. NBC: Gold medal matches, Sept 30: women at noon ET, men at 7 p.m. ET.

DAY 11 (Sept. 25) POLE VAULTING
In another leap for womankind, female Olympians compete for the first time in pole vaulting. The USA's Stacy Dragila, the world's highest female jumper, has set an even higher standard for the Olympic track-and-field event. Two months before Sydney, Dragila bested her own record at the Olympic trials. The new world record to beat: 15 feet, 21/4 inches. (Dragila, who as a child was a rodeo goat roper, has set her sights on soaring 16 feet in Sydney.)
TUNE IN: NBC: Women's gold medal match, 7 p.m. ET. Men go for the gold Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. ET.

DAY 12 (Sept. 26) CYCLING
As if the return of Lance Armstrong for his third Olympics weren't a big enough draw, cycling adds four new track events this year: the 500-meter women's race, the Olympic Sprint (for three-man relay teams), the Madison and the Keirin. In the Madison (first run at New York's Madison Square Garden), teammates switch lead positions with the "hand-sling," where the lead rider pulls his partner forward by hand to exchange places. In the Keirin, a motorcycle sets the pace for the first five laps; cyclists sprint the final two. (Adding to the tension, track cycles have no brakes.)
TUNE IN: NBC: Women's road race, 7 p.m. ET. Men go for the gold Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. ET.

DAY 13 (Sept. 27) BASEBALL
In Sydney, this Olympic sport becomes the latest to allow pros to compete. But don't expect another U.S. "Dream Team." Unlike Japan and Korea, Major League Baseball, afraid of hurting pennant races, won't let its players appear. (Note: Milwaukee Brewers catcher Dave Nilsson took the season off to join the team from his native Australia.) Team USA, led by firey ex-Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, features minor-league prospects and just-retired major-leaguers. Unlike the pros, teams must use a designated hitter and abide by the 10-run rule, which ends games if a team leads by 10 runs after seven innings. New: Aluminum bats have been banned. Former Olympians: Mark McGwire, Barry Larkin and Nomar Garciaparra.
TUNE IN: MSNBC: Gold medal game, 10 a.m. ET.

DAY 14 (Sept. 28) DIVING
Diving offers a new Cirque du Soleil-like twist this year: Synchronized diving debuts, with duets required to perform one set of forward-facing, one set of rearward-facing dives, and one set with two divers taking off facing opposite directions. Members of the new synchronized diving pairs must be entered in an individual event.
TUNE IN: NBC: Women's 10m platform synchronized divers go for the gold beginning at 10 a.m. ET. Men's 10m platform synchronized gold match, Sept. 23, 7 p.m. ET.

DAY 15 (Sept. 29) WATER POLO
Not many sports are as demanding as water polo. Strenuous and brutal, it requires players to swim constantly while mixing it up in tussles just slightly tamer than a street fight. In a match, players cover a distance of two miles; during a tournament, they can shed 10 pounds and incur countless bumps and bruises. Most amazing: Competitors stay afloat using a stroke called the eggbeater, rotating their legs in outward circles with such strength that they get bellybutton-high out of the the water. (Try it at home: How much of your body can you elevate in the backyard pool?) And not all action is visible. Underwater, players engage in non-stop contact -- pushing, holding, kicking, even yanking down swimsuits to gain advantage. To showcase this subsurface strategy, NBC will sink cameramen to the pool's bottom. New: Women compete for the first time.
TUNE IN: MSNBC: Men's quarterfinals, 10 a.m. ET. Gold medal matches: women, Sept. 23, 9 a.m. ET; men, Oct. 1, 8 a.m. ET.

DAY 16 (Sept. 30) CANOE/KAYAK
In the canoe/kayak slalom event, a man-made torrent that must be mastered rivals the Hollywood set built for The Perfect Storm: 14 tons of water per second is pumped through a 300-meter U-shaped course that has 20 to 25 gates (depending on the event). The gate configuration is changed each night before an event and is off limits to competitors until then. This year, the penalty for touching one of these gates has been dropped from 5 seconds to 2 in hopes of preventing a repeat of incidents at the Atlanta Games in which a total of a dozen boaters capsized trying to avoid the five-point penalty they incurred by running too close to a gate. While kayakers are sealed into their craft, canoe paddlers must kneel as they tackle the turbulent flow.
TUNE IN: NBC: Canoeists and kayakers go for the gold Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 beginning at noon ET.

DAY 17 (Oct. 1) BOXING
Olympic-style boxing loses few of the action-packed thrills of professional boxing but does operate at a less dramatic level. Among the biggest differences: The force of the blow doesn't count in amateur bouts, meaning boxers score no higher by knocking an opponent to the mat. Even the referees, the sole authority in the ring, are low-key, likely to utter only three words: stop (boxing), box (begin again) and break (a clinch). In pro boxing, referees allow more blood to spill and boxers to fall, and are reluctant to stop matches, which often have millions of dollars riding on them. Watch 19-year-old standout Brian Viloria, a 106-pound world light flyweight champ from Waipahu, Hawaii, otherwise known as "The Hawaiian Punch." TUNE IN: NBC: Gold medal matches begin at 11 a.m. ET. NBC: Closing ceremonies, 7 p.m. ET.

Contributing: Kathy Balog, Joe Bower, Matthew Graham, Ricardo A. Gutierrez

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Other olympic sports

They're not on broadcast schedules, but watch for results of these events:

BADMINTON
Badminton is the world's fastest racket sport. Top speed of the goose feather shuttlecock: 200 mph. Players can log four miles in a match. Studies show badminton players make almost twice as many shots as tennis players. Gold medal matches: Sept. 21-23.

FENCING
The most elegant Olympic sport is experiencing a renaissance among pre-teen enthusiasts in the United States. Recently mandated plastic face guards fogged up and even broke, so the rule isn't enforced. Gold medal matches: Sept. 16-24.

GRECO-ROMAN WRESTLING
Eight first-time Olympians go to the mat in the Greco-Roman event, where only arms and upper bodies are used to attack. Women's wrestling debuts in 2004. Gold medal matches: Sept. 26-27.

TABLE TENNIS
A winning shot in this sport, where the ball reaches speeds of 100 mph, is called (appropriately) a kill. For extra power, try the "penholder grip": Hold the handle like a pen and turn the paddle down. Gold medal matches: Sept. 23-25.

TAEKWONDO
"The way of kicking and punching" debuts officially for both male and female competitors at Sydney. Gold medal matches: Sept. 27-30.

WHEELCHAIR RACES
Disabled athletes compete for gold in these track-and-field events: the women's 800-meter and men's 1,500-meter wheelchair race: Sept. 28.