London 2012 Olympics: Friday viewer’s guide

By Lindsay Applebaum

In case you were wondering whether Michael Phelps is still a superhuman, Thursday’s results seemed to answer that question. Phelps led from start to finish in the 200-meter individual medley, collecting his second gold medal of these Games and the 16th of his career. That makes it a record 20 Olympic medals total.

Michael Phelps

Gallery: Click on the above image for highlights from all of Thursday’s action. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)

Oh, and after that race, Phelps was back in the pool 30 minutes later to win his seminfinal heat for Friday’s 100-meter butterfly. Superhuman status confirmed. (Silver medalist Ryan Lochte, conversely, is decidedly a mere mortal who is very good at swimming.)

Sixteen-year-old Gabby Douglas, AKA “The Flying Squirrel,” was the other U.S. star of the day, winning gold in the individual all-around with a daring, high-energy performance. Catch up on all the action from Thursday, including a first-ever U.S. gold medal in judo, by checking out our live blog of Day 6.

Friday marks the debut of track and field in these games, and 10 other sports will hand out medals as well. Yep, you’ll have to make some choices again. Get started by checking out our Day 7 primer below. (And for a full look at today’s TV schedule, check our listings here.)

Going for the gold

Here is the list of sports that will hand out medals on Friday, along with their respective times and channels on NBC’s coverage platforms:

Rowing – men’s single, quadruple sculls; men’s pair; women’s single, double sculls (streaming at 4:30 a.m., replay at 10:30 a.m. on NBC): D.C. duo Margot Shumway and Sarah Trowbridge sprint for gold in the women’s double sculls final. Cornell alum Ken Jurkowski won the single sculls Olympic trials in June by nearly seven seconds, and he’ll go for his first medal in Friday’s finals. He finished 11th in the same event in Beijing. Other Americans up for medals:  Tom Peszek and Silas Stafford in double sculls, Gevvie Stone in single sculls.

Shooting – men’s 50m rifle (streaming at 6:55 a.m., replay at 9 a.m. on NBC Sports), 25m pistol (streaming at 9:30 a.m.): Named USA Shooting’s male athlete of the year in 2011, Eric Uptagrafft returns to the Olympics after a 16-year absence and will complete along with fellow American Michael McPhail in the 50-meter rifle. Later Friday, Keith Sanderson looks for redemption in the 25-meter rapid fire pistol after narrowly missing out on a medal during the 2008 Beijing Games.

Trampoline – men’s qualification and final (streaming and MSNBC at 9 a.m.): Three-time national champ Steven Gluckstein won all three U.S. trials events to qualify for his first Olympics. With a win Friday, he’d become the first U.S. athlete to medal in trampoline since the sport was added in 2000.

Judo – women’s +78kg, men’s +100 kg (streaming, 9 a.m.)

Badminton – mixed doubles (streaming at 10 a.m., replay at 3:45 p.m. on MSNBC)

Archery – men’s individual matches (streaming at 10:21 a.m., replay  at 11:15 a.m. on NBC Sports)

Weightlifting – women’s 75kg (streaming at 10:30 a.m., replay at 2 p.m. on MSNBC) and men’s 85 kg (streaming at 2 p.m., replay at 3 p.m. on MSNBC): Kendrick Farris, the only male weightlifter representing the U.S. in London, looks to improve on his eighth-place finish in 2008 in Beijing.

Cycling – men’s team pursuit, women’s Keirin (streaming at 1 p.m.)

Fencing – men’s team sabre matches (streaming, 1 p.m.): En route to earning a medal, the eighth-seeded U.S. men’s team will first have to overcome top-seeded Russia in the quarterfinals.

Swimming – (all streaming):

  • Women’s 200m backstroke (2:30 p.m.): Missy Franklin is again the favorite as the 17-year-old goes for her fourth Olympic medal. Fellow American Elizabeth Beisel, who won silver, in the 400 IM, will also compete.
  • Men’s 100m butterfly (2:38 p.m.): Michael Phelps looks to add to his embarrassment of riches Friday in the 100-meter butterfly, his last solo event of these Games. He won his semifinal heat for the event shortly after his gold-medal swim in the 200 IM. Fellow American Tyler McGill will also compete.
  • Women’s 800m freestyle (2:45 p.m.): Bethesda’s own Katie Ledecky, just 15 years old, won her heat Thursday with the third-best overall time in five heats.
  • Men’s 50m freestyle (3:09 p.m.): Anthony Ervin has what may just be the most hipster-ish photo ever on the official Olympics website. More impressive: London marks his first return to the Olympics since he won gold in this event at the Sydney Games in 2000, later auctioning off the medal to help Tsunami victims. Cullen Jones, a member of the world record-setting 400 free team that won gold in Beijing, will also compete.

Track – men’s shot put (streaming at 3:30 p.m.) and women’s 10,000m (streaming and NBC at 4:25 p.m.): Track and field events finally get underway Friday. Beijing silver medalist Christian Cantwell, Reese Hoffa and Ryan Whiting compete in shot put, while first-time Olympians Lisa Uhl, Amy Hastings and Janet Cherobon-Bawcom race in the 10,000 meters.

Best of the rest

Serena and Venus Williams

(Luis Acosta/Getty Images)

Tennis:

  • Men’s singles semifinals: No. 1 Roger Federer (SUI) vs. No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) at 7 a.m. and No. 3 Andy Murray Andy Murray (GBR) vs. 2 Novak Djokovic (SRB) at 11 a.m. (Bravo and streaming)
  • Women’s singles semifinals: No. 1 Victoria Azarenka (BLR) vs. No. 4 Serena Williams (USA) at 9 a.m. and No. 3 Maria Sharapova (RUS) vs. 14 Maria Kirilenko (RUS) at 9 a.m. (Bravo and streaming)
  • Women’s doubles semifinals: No. 1 Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond (USA) vs. Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka (CZE) at 7 a.m. and unseeded Williams/Williams (USA) vs. No. 3 Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova (RUS) – 3 p.m. (streaming)

Soccer: The American women play New Zealand in the quarterfinals (NBC Sports and streaming at 9 a.m.)

Basketball: The U.S. women’s team faces the Czech Republic. (NBC Sports and streaming at 5:15 p.m.)

For a full look at today’s TV schedule, check our listings here.

Tweets from our fleet across the pond

 

And some columnist-to-columnist trash talk:

 

Burn.