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The 2008 Summer
Olympics in Beijing
Games of the XXIX Olympiad - August 8 to August 24 |
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NBC plans to broadcast and archive 17 days of the Olympics on their site, resulting in 2,200 hours of video which users may watch live and call up on-demand for free. NBC will not offer computer users live video of any events also delivered live via traditional TV broadcast methods.
Sports
the US did not Gold medal in last time out
| Handball Two events - 1 Men's tournament - 1 Women's tournament. There is a first round of 12 men's and 12 women's teams which is split into two qualifying groups who play all other group members for points. Steve Roush, chief of sport performance for the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), admits there's no real excuse for the America's dismal Olympic handball record, which is 4 wins, 26 losses, 1 tie and yet another seat on the bench in '08. "I'm absolutely on the same wavelength," says Roush. "There's an athlete pool out there we can tap into to be successful. We have struggled for decades to figure out a formula." |
Judo 14 Events - Men (7 events): 60kg, 66kg, 73kg, 81kg, 90kg, 100kg, +100kg - Women (7 events): 48kg, 52kg, 57kg, 63kg, 70kg, 78kg, +78kg. Contestants are split into two knockout groups, the winners of the two groups then face off for the gold. Those Judokas beaten by the finalists then play off for two bronze medals. Men's judo contests last a maximum of five minutes, while women's last a maximum of four. The first Olympic appearance was in 1964 (men) and 1992 (women). The "Golden Score" rule will be used for the first time at the 2004 Olympic Games. If the match has no winner after the period, the referee will extend the match for an extra period with the score returning to zero. The athlete who scores the first point wins the match. Team USA Photo Gallery News and Results |
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Pentathlone Athletes compete in running, swimming, show jumping, fencing and shooting, with medal sets going to the top male and female finishers. The modern pentathlon has been part of the Olympic games continuously since 1912. A team event was added to the Olympic Games in 1952 and discontinued in 1992. The women's event was added for the 2000 Olympic Games. |
Rhythmic Gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics (performed with an apparatus) is strictly a women's competition. The gymnasts, accompanied by music, perform on a 13-metre-square floor area with rope, hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon. In the individual event they perform different routines with four of the five apparatus. In the team competition, teams of five perform together once using clubs and once with two using hoops and three using ribbons. Rhythmic Gymnastics Videos |
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| Synchronized Swimming First demonstrated in 1952, synchronized swimming has been an official sport at the Summer Olympic Games since 1984. Olympic and World Championship competition is not currently open to men, but other international and national competitions allow male competitors. Both USA Synchro and Synchro Canada allow men to compete with women. Teams consist of eight swimmers and perform one technical and one free routine. Routines are scored on artistic interpretation and technical difficulty, with each assessment marked on a 10-point scale by five judges. |
Table Tennis For starters, it's not 'Ping Pong'. The first thing you learn from table tennis players is that you do NOT call it ping-pong. It is table tennis. In previous Olympics (1988-2004), there have been four events contested in table tennis, all of which were individual events: Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, and Women's Doubles. For the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Men's Doubles and Women's Doubles have been eliminated, and have been replaced with a Men's Team and Women's Team competition instead, in which three players from the same country make up a team. Results and Videos |
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| Trampoline For the first time, the U.S. will be represented in both men's and women's trampoline in an Olympic Games. Blanchard of Lafayette, La., and Chris Estrada of Colorado Springs, Colo., were nominated to the U.S. Olympic Trampoline Team, pending U.S. Olympic Committee approval. Rules of Olympic Trampoline - Skills include twists and somersaults in a variety of positions with degrees of difficulty. The number of them in each skill dictates its difficulty rating. Failing to hit the trampoline with both feet at the same time costs 0.3 of a point. Highest and lowest scores are discarded and the others are totaled. Clips from the Trampoline Olympics in Athens 2004 |
Volleyball Volleyball and basketball were invented at the same college and within a few years of one another. Volleyball quickly spread around the world and became more popular in other countries than in the United States. Volleyball has been contested as an indoor sport at the Summer Olympic Games since 1964. Beach volleyball was introduced at the 1992 Games, and has been an official Olympic sport since 1996. |
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| Water Polo It has been 20 years since the U.S. medaled in this sport, and U.S. men's water polo Coach Terry Schroeder hopes that will change in Beijing. Men's and women's teams from around the globe qualify for the Olympic Tournament. Water polo requries good swimming ability, teamwork, and hand-eye coordination. Prohibited from touching the bottom or side of the pool through four seven-minute quarters, water polo players swim up to five kilometres in a game. |
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