The 'Night Games' - Many Rio 2016 events end after midnight
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Rio de Janeiro is a late-night town, and the schedule for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil will cater to those who like to be up and about after dark.
The men's and women's beach volleyball finals on famous Copacabana Beach will wrap up about 1:30 a.m. - if everything runs on schedule. This sport goes for 13 days, and there is action at the venue nightly until at least 1 a.m. - even for preliminary, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.
This might be the hottest ticket in town. The beach, the sport and the late hour guarantee the kind of image Rio organizers want to portray - party hard, and party late.
The just-released competition schedule offers other meanderings for night owls. Late events in Brazil will generally suit the large North American television audience with Rio one hour ahead of New York, and four ahead of the U.S. west coast. It also suits Asia, where late-evening events in Rio happen in the morning the next day and may extend into the early afternoon.
The Olympics open Aug. 5, 2016 and close Aug. 21.
All times listed are local.
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LATE-EVENING SWIM
Evening swimming sessions will wrap up about midnight. Three of the eight days of competition are due to end even a few minutes later. To give swimmers - and fans - sufficient rest, the sessions for preliminary heats will start daily at 1 p.m. Those sessions at other Olympics have typically started in the morning.
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NIGHTLY BASKETBALL
There is basketball all 16 days of the Olympics, and much of it will end around midnight. A few overtime games could make it even later.
There is a session of basketball at the main basketball venue starting every night between 10:15 and 10:30. The only exceptions are the last four days of semifinals and finals. Men's and women's basketball on those days will wrap up in the early evening.
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RUNNING IN THE DARK
Track and Field will end most nights about 11 with most evening sessions starting at 8:15. For those expecting Usain Bolt to win his third consecutive gold medals in the 100 and 200, mark these dates and times. The 100-meter final is the last final of the session on Aug. 14 and starts at 10:25 p.m. The 200 final is four days later on Aug. 18, also the final event in the session, and starts at 10:30 p.m. This could be Bolt's final race of his Olympic career. Eight finals are also scheduled for morning sessions. Five other road-event finals will also start in the morning.
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NIGHT-OWL VOLLEYBALL
Volleyball is played all 16 days with every evening session set to end after midnight. Brazil's women have won the last two Olympic gold medals - defeating the United States each time. That final is Aug. 20 with the end expected about 12:30 a.m. at the Maracanazinho, the small indoor arena next to the famous Maracana football stadium. The men's final starts in the early afternoon on Aug. 21. Brazil has two consecutive silver medals here, losing the final to the United States in 2008, and to Russia in 2012 in London.
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EARLY BIRDS
No surprise here. Golf is the early starter. Play for the first three rounds of the men's and women's event starts at 8 a.m. The final round for both men and women begins at 7:30 a.m. Golf returns to the Olympics for the first time since the 1904 St. Louis Olympics. Men play Aug. 11-14. There's a two-day break with women playing Aug. 17-20. It's a stroke-play event, as are most golf tournaments - excluding the men's Ryder Cup and the women's Solheim Cup, which use a match-play format.
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Stephen Wade on Twitter: http://twitter.com/StephenWadeAP
