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Issue Date: August 8, 2004
Exclusive 2004 Olympic Field Guide
Here are broadcast highlights of the Games' first week from the NBC team's field notes.
The journey to the Olympics is often as thrilling, agonizing and spectacular as the Games themselves.
No one knows better than a quartet of NBC Olympic researchers who've traveled thousands of miles and visited dozens of countries this year. Their job: covering the competitions that decide who will earn the right to stand among the world's best athletes in Athens.
We asked Dan Fleschner, 25, Abigail Lorge, 27, Aimee Berg, 38, and Matt Stroup, 26, to give us the inside baseball on the events and athletes to watch Aug. 13-29.
Along with hearing athletes' stories (such as 2000 Olympic gold medal wrestler Rulon Gardner recalling his career-jeopardizing loss of a toe to frostbite in winter 2002), the four also collected personal memories, like the time Russian super-heavy- weightlifting legend Vasily Alekseyev mistakenly sat on Berg during a bus ride. (Ouch!)
There were other surprises, too: Covering the European handball championship in Slovenia, Stroup was shocked by fans' passion for the sport: "Painted faces, sold-out arenas, constant cheering -- no matter what the score," he recalls. "I was the only American covering the event, which made me somewhat of a novelty."
The sightseeing wasn't bad, either. Take Lorge's trip to the 2004 world triathlon championships on the tiny island of Madeira, off Portugal: "The scenery is incredibly gorgeous," she says. "I might never have even heard of [it], let alone traveled there, if it weren't for this job."
For the latest broadcast schedule, go to NBCOlympics.com. See our day-by-day guide.
See our Aug. 20-22 issue for day-by-day coverage of the Games' final week.
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Opening ceremony (Aug. 13)
The modern Olympics, reborn in Athens in 1896, return to Greece today. A record 202 countries are expected to march in the Parade of Nations, including Iraq, which last participated in 1988. Nations will head into the stadium in Greek, not English, alphabetical order, our NBC quartet points out: Team USA will march between the United Arab Emirates and Japan. Noticeably absent: The U.S. men's baseball and soccer teams failed to qualify. Tune in: NBC, 8 p.m.-midnight ET.
Day 1 (Aug. 14)
Swimmers dive in today. In the longest event (men's 1,500-meter freestyle), Stroup says, competitors swim nearly a mile; in the fastest (men's 50m freestyle), they exceed 5 mph. Synchronized swimmers are trained to hold their breath for up to two minutes at a time. During a routine, a synchronized swimmer's heart rate may rise to 200 beats per minute. Tune in: Women's synchronized springboard diving final (live), NBC, noon-6 p.m. ET. Men's and women's 400m individual medley, men's 400m freestyle, women's 4x100m freestyle relay, men's synchronized platform diving final, NBC, 8 p.m.-midnight ET.
Day 2 (Aug. 15)
The Athens version of the Dream Team, featuring NBA No. 2 draft pick Emeka Okafor, 21, begins competition. (Fleschner notes that the U.S. men's basketball team has lost only two games in Olympic history -- in 1972 and 1988.) Many of the NBA players named to the original U.S. team dropped out, amid press criticism. And the reigning world champion U.S. women's gymnastics team, including Courtney McCool, 16, begins its gold medal pursuit, led by coach Marta Karolyi, wife of the legendary Bela Karolyi, whose golden touch led the "Magnificent Seven" to gold in Atlanta in 1996. Tune in: Basketball, U.S. men vs. Puerto Rico, NBC, noon-6 p.m. ET. Women's gymnastics, NBC, 7 p.m.-midnight ET.
Day 3 (Aug. 16)
The U.S. men's gymnastics team, led by twins Paul and Morgan Hamm, 21, tries to win its first team medal in two decades; the last American male gymnast to medal was Jair Lynch, who won silver on the parallel bars in 1996. Fleschner's gathered facts: Top male gymnasts can reach speeds up to 20 mph when they hit the vault; female gymnasts, up to 17 mph. And the balance beam is more than 16 feet long and just 4 inches wide (roughly the diameter of a CD). Tune in: U.S. men's beach volleyball match (live), NBC, 12:30-4 p.m. ET. Men's gymnastics team final, NBC, 8 p.m.-midnight ET. Men's weightlifting 62kg final, men's judo 73kg final, NBC, 12:35-2 a.m. ET.
Day 4 (Aug. 17)
Water sports are highlighted today. In whitewater kayaking, American Rebecca Giddens, 26, the 2002 world champion, begins her pursuit of Olympic gold in the women's K-1 event. Fleschner points out that eminent baby doctor Benjamin Spock won a 1924 gold medal with the U.S. men's eight rowing team. Also: American men's double sculls competitors Aquil Abdullah, 31, the first black man on a U.S. Olympic rowing team, and teammate Henry Nuzum, 27, compete today. Tune in: Rowing, men's and women's eights competition; whitewater canoeing, men's singles, NBC, 12:30-4 p.m. ET. Rowing (live), MSNBC, 2 a.m.-4 p.m. ET. Women's gymnastics team final, NBC, 8 p.m.-midnight. Whitewater kayaking, women's singles, NBC, 12:35-2 a.m. ET.
Day 5 (Aug. 18)
The U.S. women's beach volleyball team is dominant going into these Olympics. The game is fast, Berg says: Kills (returned balls) can reach 90 mph. Berg's trivia: The winners of the first beach volleyball tournament, in California in 1948, were awarded cases of Pepsi. Tune in: U.S. women's beach volleyball match (live), women's cycling time trial, women's shot put final, NBC, 12:30-4 p.m. ET. Men's cycling time trial, men's shot put final, 8 p.m.-midnight ET.
Day 6 (Aug. 19)
If you get bored with the gold medal contest in gymnastics and swimming finals today, stay up late and catch the men's volleyball and weightlifting competitions, Berg says: "Imagine Olympic wrestlers Rulon Gardner, 32, and Aleksandr Karelin, 36, sitting on each end of the bar, and you'll get an idea of how much Olympic weightlifters pick up." (The super-heavy-weight record for the clean and jerk is 573 pounds, more than the combined weight of the two wrestlers.) Tune in: Women's individual all-around gymnastics finals, men's 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley swimming finals, women's 200m breast stroke and 100m freestyle, NBC, 8 p.m.-midnight ET. U.S. men's volleyball team vs. Russia, men's weightlifting 77kg final, NBC, 12:35-2 a.m. ET.
Day 7 (Aug. 20)
Water polo players swim about 1.5 miles a game, and goalies take 50-mph shots in the face, Berg says: "It's been said that water polo is boxing plus sprinting plus basketball plus wrestling -- with no floor beneath your feet. There's so much yanking and grappling that some players wear two swimsuits to prevent indecent exposure." Europeans may dominate the men's game, but the American women are favored to win the gold in Athens. Tune in: U.S. women's water polo team vs. Russia, USA Network, 7 a.m.-noon ET. Men's track and field 10,000m final (live), NBC, 12:30-4 p.m. ET. Heptathlon begins, NBC, 8 p.m.-midnight ET.
Day 8 (Aug. 21)
The "World's Fastest Woman" will be crowned tonight in the track and field 100m final, an event won by an American sprinter at each of the past five Olympics, Lorge says. Tune in: Trampoline final, NBC, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Rowing finals, CNBC, 2 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Women's track and field 100m final, women's heptathlon final, NBC, 8 p.m.-midnight ET.
Six more sports to watch
(Check NBCOlympics.com for broadcast times.)
Shooting: Collyn Loper, who at 17 is the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic shooting team, has been blind in her right eye since birth. Although she's right-handed, she learned to shoot left-handed so she could sight her target. Tune in Aug. 14: women's air rifle finals, CNBC.
Table tennis: Tawny Banh, 29, is among Team USA's competitors. New for Athens: The ball is slightly larger and heavier, to slow down this 100-mph game. Tune in Aug. 16: Bravo.
Fencing: Fencers, including 21-year-old Sada Jacobson, wear white uniforms because, in pre-electricity days, touches were determined by an ink spot left on the uniform by the weapon. Today, fencing is scored electronically; the competitors are wired to a central computer, and touches are recorded instantly. Tune in Aug. 17: Women's individual saber final, Bravo.
Basketball: Diana Taurasi, 22, of the Phoenix Mercury, the No. 1 WNBA draft choice of 2004, debuts with the American women's basketball team, the defending champions. Tune in Aug. 18: U.S. women vs. South Korea, USA Network.
Boxing: American Olympic champions who have gone on to become world heavyweight champs: Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Lennox Lewis. The 2004 U.S. team is led by Andre Ward, 20. Tune in Aug. 18: CNBC.
Badminton: How fast is it? Top players can smash the shuttlecock near 200 mph. The lone U.S. entry: doubles partners Howard Bach, 25, and Kevin Han, 31. Tune in Aug. 19: Men's doubles semifinals, Bravo.
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