XXX Olympiad- Day 11

Today is the ‘scandal ridden’ Badminton Women’s Doubles Final, 1:30 pm on MSNBC.

Broadcast Schedule

All this is sourced through the NBC Olympics broadcast schedule.  Competition starts again at 6 am tomorrow.  

Competitions designated by (Medal) will award winners that day.  ‘all’ means not specified.  Sometimes NBC especially does mashups and doesn’t include event or competitor information.  Elimination means no round robin, one and done.

These schedules are a place for you to make sure you don’t miss a sport you like and share your observations.  Have fun today!

Saudi woman is first to compete in Olympics

By Liz Clarke, Washington Post

Published: August 3

Clad in a white judo uniform and snug, black headcovering, 16-year-old Wojdan Shaherkani stepped onto a judo mat here Friday to enthusiastic applause after being introduced as “the first woman ever from Saudi Arabia!”

Eighty-two seconds into her competition, Shaherkani’s Olympics ended in defeat; the repercussions of her participation may be far more wide-reaching. As the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete in an Olympic Games in any sport, she has been vilified by some and quietly cheered by others in her country.

…

Shaherkani’s participation in London, along with that of fellow Saudi Sarah Attar, a U.S.-based runner who’ll compete in the 800 meters next week, has been hailed as a diplomatic coup by the International Olympic Committee, which pressed all competing nations to include at least one woman on their teams.

The three that had historically refused – Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar – relented.

Track athletes enjoy some fast times at London Olympics

By Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

August 3, 2012, 5:45 p.m.

When Britain’s Jessica Ennis set an Olympic heptathlon hurdles record Friday morning, she also set the pace for the opening day of track and field competition.

…

In distances short and long, with hurdles to conquer or nothing between them and the finish line but raindrops, athletes covered ground in astonishingly fast times Friday. “It felt nice,” Cheruiyot said of conditions in the stadium. “The wind was very quiet. I enjoyed it.”

…

“It’s a very fast track. I love it. I loved the crowd,” said Kerron Clement, whose season-best 48.48 in the first round of the 400 hurdles led all three Americans into Saturday’s semifinals. “The crowd’s great on the first day. I’m pretty impressed by that.”

With an overturned result, US men’s boxing avoids total elimination from Olympics

By Associated Press

Published: August 3

A few hours after the U.S. men’s boxing team thought its London Olympics were over, amateur boxing’s governing body decided Errol Spence deserved to fight on.

The AIBA overturned Spence’s loss to Indian welterweight Krishan Vikas late Friday night, five hours after the defense-minded Vikas had apparently clutched and grabbed his way to a 13-11 victory.

After the American team protested the result, AIBA’s competition jury reviewed the bout and ruled Vikas had committed nine holding fouls in the third round alone. He also intentionally spat out his mouthpiece in the second round, which should have resulted in at least four points of deductions.

…

Spence felt he had won the bout afterward, expecting his hand to be raised in the ring, but wasn’t terribly surprised when Vikas got the nod. The welterweight from Dallas already was the last U.S. man standing after his eight male teammates lost in the previous five days, including three-time Olympian Rau’shee Warren’s 19-18 loss to France’s Nordine Oubaali an hour earlier.

Spence stopped the eight-fight skid, but must beat Zamkovoy to save the most successful country in Olympic boxing history from its first medal shutout and its worst showing at any games – although three U.S. fighters are in the first Olympic women’s boxing tournament, which begins Sunday.

Olympic Viewing: NBC’s Poorly Timed Commercial

By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer

August 3, 2012

NBC says no offense was intended by a poorly timed promotional ad featuring a monkey on gymnastics rings that aired on the network directly following a commentary by Bob Costas on Gabby Douglas’ gold medal inspiring other African-American girls to take up the sport.

The gymnastics-themed ad for the upcoming NBC comedy “Animal Practice” was specifically timed to run late Thursday night following the women’s gold medal competition. NBC said it was scheduled to run before the network knew about Costas’ commentary.

“Much of America has fallen in love with Gabby Douglas,” Costas said. “Also safe to say that there are some young African-American girls out there who tonight are saying to themselves, ‘Hey, I’d like to try that, too.'”

Then NBC switched to the commercial with the small, widely grinning monkey on the rings. Blacks in the past have been disparagingly referred to as monkeys to the point where it is considered a common slur.