Rio Olympics viewer’s guide: Friday, Aug. 12
The Olympics continue Friday with a litany of big swimming races in primetime.
Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky will compete for gold medals Friday night, with Ledecky racing in the 800-meter freestyle and Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly.
In addition to the pool, you can watch USA on the court, where Kevin Durant and America’s all-time leading Olympic scorer Carmelo Anthony will lead the red, white and blue against Serbia.
Also on the docket: Weightlifting finals, track cycling, badminton and much, much more.
Here are a few things to watch for on Friday:
First track and field medal to be awarded (Starts at 9:30 a.m. ET)
Track and field gets underway at the Olympics on Friday and the first medal awarded will be in the women’s 10,000 meters. Tirunesh Dibaba looks to become the first woman to win three consecutive gold medals in an individual track event, yet the favorite will be another Ethiopian in Almaz Ayana, who holds the fastest time in the world for 2016 with her 30:07.00 from June.
Deep U.S., controversial favorites highlight women’s track and field in Rio
The biggest medal hope for the Americans will be Molly Huddle, who won the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Former Georgetown Hoya Emily Infeld surprised many last summer when she earned the bronze medal.
Kim Rhode targets history (Starts at 3 p.m. ET)
Kim Rhode chases her sixth Olympic medal. Rhode has won three Olympic gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze. She is the first American to win medals at five consecutive Olympics in an individual sport and could add one more. If she does, she would tie Italian luge star Armin Zöggeler for most consecutive individual Olympic medals won by a single athlete.
USWNT’s Alex Morgan finding fun amidst business at Rio Olympics
Teddy Riner’s dominance continues (Starts at 3:30 pm. ET)
The reigning Olympic heavyweight (100+kg) champion has not lost a match since 2010. Despite some shoulder issues in 2016, he looks to go three-for-three in Olympic competition. He has a gold from London and a bronze medal from Beijing. He has four match-ups to get through on Friday.
USA Basketball to rebound after close call vs. Australia (Starts at 7 p.m.)
USA does not want another close call like Wednesday night’s 98–88 win over Australia, where the Americans trailed at halftime for the first time since 2004. Look for a statement win over Serbia that will bring them back to their commanding victories.
On precipice of Olympic history, Katie Ledecky building toward an even brighter future
Ledecky’s most dominant race to come (Begins at 10 p.m. ET)
At the 2012 Olympics, Ledecky narrowly missed the world record in the 800-meter freestyle. She has since lowered the mark to 8:06.68 and on Thursday, she set an Olympic record of 8:12.86 in the preliminary round. She was still seven seconds ahead of her next competitor and the gap will only get bigger in the final. She could sweep the 200, 400 and 800-meter freestyle events for the first time since the 1968 Mexico City Games.
Viewer's guide
Note: Not all events listed below are live, but you can watch every Olympic event live on NBCOlympics.com.
All times Eastern.
6:30 a.m.
Golf: Men’s second round - Golf Channel (coverage until 3 p.m.)
8:00 a.m.
Archery: Men's individual Round of 16 - NBCSN
Track and Field : Men's discus (qualifying), women’s heptathlon, women's shot put (qualifying), men's 800m (round 1), women's 10,000m (final), women's 100m (prelim) - NBCSN
9 a.m.
Shooting: Men’s 50m rifle prone final - USA
Fencing: Men's team foil fencing Round of 16 - USA
10:00 a.m.
Track and Field: Women’s 10,000m final – NBC
Beach Volleyball: Round of 16 elimination match – NBC
(10:40 a.m.) Water Polo: United States vs. Montenegro – USA
11 a.m.
Tennis: Men’s doubles finals, men’s singles semifinals, mixed doubles semifinals - Bravo (coverage until 7 p.m.)
Noon
Swimming: Men’s and women’s 4x100m medley relays, men’s 1500m free, women’s 50m free - NBC
Rowing: Finals - NBC
Track and Field: Qualifying Rounds - NBC
Soccer:Women’s quarterfinal - NBCSN
Fencing: Men's team foil semifinal - USA
Volleyball: China vs. Serbia preliminary-round match - USA
Badminton:Men’s and women’s singles and doubles - MSNBC
Handball: Sweden vs. Netherlands - MSNBC
Shooting:Women’s skeet final - MSNBC
Soccer:Women’s quarterfinal: USA vs. Sweden - Telemundo
Beach Volleyball: Round of 16 - Telemundo
2 p.m.
Swimming: Qualifying-round competition – NBC
Volleyball: USA vs. Italy, women’s pool play – NBC
Rowing: Finals – NBC
Track and Field: Qualifying-round competition – NBC
Trampoline: Women’s finals – NBC
(2:30 p.m.) Women’s basketball: Canada vs. USA, prelim – NBCSN
3 p.m.
Women’s soccer: China vs. Germany quarterfinal – MSNBC
4 p.m.
Archery: Men’s individual final – NBCSN
Beach volleyball: Men’s quarterfinal – NBCSN
5 p.m.
Cycling: Track finals – CNBC
6 p.m.
Men’s basketball: USA vs. Serbia, prelim – NBCSN
Women’s soccer: Quarterfinal match – CNBC
8 p.m.
Track and Field: Women’s shot put final – NBC
Swimming: Women’s 800m freestyle finals, women’s 200m backstroke finals, men’s 100m butterfly finals, men’s 50m freestyle finals – NBC
Diving: Women’s 3m springboard qualifying – NBC
Beach volleyball: Elimination round matches – NBC
Fencing: Men’s team foil final – NBCSN
9 p.m.
Soccer: Brazil vs. Australia, women’s quarterfinal – NBCSN
11 p.m.
Weightlifting: Men’s 85kg final, women’s 75kg final – NBCSN
Boxing: Women’s elimination round bouts – NBCSN
