Page 2B
OLYMPICS
East Oregonian
Olympics on TV
SATURDAY, AUG. 6
NBC — Rowing - Qualifying Heats (LIVE);
Men’s Cycling - Road Race (LIVE); Men’s
Water Polo - U.S. vs. Croatia (LIVE); Men’s
Cycling - Road Race (LIVE); Swimming -
Qualifying Heats (LIVE); Rowing - Qualifying
Heats; Men’s Beach Volleyball - Gibb/
Patterson (U.S.) vs. Jefferson/Cherif (Qatar)
(LIVE); Women’s Volleyball - U.S. vs. Puerto
Rico (LIVE), 5 a.m.-3 p.m. Men’s Gymnas-
tics -Team Competition; Swimming (LIVE):
Men’s 400m Individual Medley - Gold
Medal Final, Men’s 400m Freestyle - Gold
Medal Final, Women’s 400m Individual
Medley - Gold Medal Final, Women’s 100m
Butterly - Semiinals, Men’s 100m Breast-
stroke - Semiinals, Women’s 4x100m
Freestyle Relay - Gold Medal Final; Wom-
en’s Beach Volleyball - Walsh Jennings/Ross
(U.S.) vs. Artacho Del Solar/Laird (Australia)
(LIVE), 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Men’s Gymnastics
-Team Competition, 9:30-10:30 p.m.
NBCSN — Men’s Archery - Team Round
of 16 (LIVE); Women’s Shooting - 10m Air
Rile Gold Medal Final (LIVE); Beach Volley-
ball - Preliminary Round (LIVE); Women’s
Rugby - U.S. vs. Fiji (LIVE); Men’s Basket-
ball - Australia vs. France (LIVE); Beach
Volleyball - Preliminary Round; Men’s Water
Polo - Spain vs. Italy; Women’s Soccer -
U.S. vs. France (LIVE); Men’s Basketball
- U.S. vs. China (LIVE); Judo - Gold Medal
Finals; Women’s Weightlifting - 48kg Gold
Medal Final; Women’s Soccer - Brazil vs.
Sweden (LIVE); Table Tennis - Singles First
and Second Rounds; Boxing - Elimination
Matches, 6 a.m.-9 p.m.
MSNBC — Beach Volleyball - Preliminary
Round; Women’s Handball - Norway vs.
Brazil; Table Tennis - Singles First Round;
Men’s Archery - Team Gold Medal Final
(LIVE), 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
USA — Equestrian - Eventing, Dressage;
Women’s Field Hockey - U.S. vs. Argentina
(LIVE); Beach Volleyball - Preliminary Round
(LIVE); Women’s Fencing - Individual Epee
Gold Medal Final, Noon-5 p.m.
CNBC — Women’s Rugby - U.S. vs.
Colombia (LIVE), Preliminary Round match
TBA; Women’s Soccer - Germany vs.
Australia (LIVE), 2-5 p.m.
BRAVO — Tennis (LIVE), 6:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
TELEMUNDO — Boxing - Elimination
Matches; Volleyball; Swimming - Qualifying
Heats; Beach Volleyball - Preliminary Round,
8 a.m.-1 p.m.
NBC UNIVERSO — Women’s Soccer -
U.S. vs. France (LIVE); Basketball; Boxing
- Elimination Matches, 1-5 p.m.
NBC BASKETBALL CHANNEL — Men’s
Basketball - Australia vs. France (LIVE),
Australia vs. France Encore, China vs. U.S.
(LIVE), Venezuela vs. Serbia (LIVE); Wom-
en’s Basketball - Turkey vs. France (LIVE),
China vs. Canada, Brazil vs. Australia,
Belarus vs. Japan, 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
NBC SOCCER CHANNEL — Women’s
Soccer - Canada vs. Zimbabwe (LIVE), U.S.
vs. France (LIVE), Russia vs. China (LIVE),
Germany vs. Australia, Brazil vs. Sweden
(LIVE), Colombia vs. New Zealand, 11
a.m.-10 p.m.
———
SUNDAY, AUG. 7
NBC — Women’s Beach Volleyball - Fen-
drick/Sweat (U.S.) vs. Kolosinska/Brzostek
(Poland) (LIVE); Rowing - Qualifying Heats
(LIVE); Women’s Cycling - Road Race (LIVE);
Swimming - Qualifying Heats (LIVE); Ca-
noe/Kayak - Whitewater Qualifying (LIVE);
Men’s Beach Volleyball - Dalhausser/Lucena
(U.S.) vs. Naceur/Belhaj (Tunisia) (LIVE);
Men’s Volleyball - U.S. vs. Canada (LIVE), 7
a.m.-3 p.m. Women’s Diving - Springboard
Synchronized Final; Women’s Gymnastics
- Team Competition; Swimming (LIVE):
Women’s 100m Butterly - Gold Medal
Final, Men’s 200m Freestyle - Semiinals,
Women’s 100m Backstroke - Semiinals,
Men’s 100m Breaststroke - Gold Medal Fi-
nal, Women’s 400m Freestyle - Gold Medal
Final, Men’s 100m Backstroke - Semiinals,
Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold
Medal Final, 4-9 p.m. Women’s Gymnastics
- Team Competition, 9:35 a.m.-10:35 p.m.
NBCSN — Beach Volleyball - Preliminary
Round (LIVE); Women’s Archery - Team
Round of 16; Women’s Basketball - U.S. vs.
Senegal (LIVE); Men’s Basketball - Brazil vs.
Lithuania (LIVE); Men’s Soccer - Germany
vs. South Korea (LIVE); Women’s Archery
- Team Gold Medal Final; Men’s Basketball -
Croatia vs. Spain (LIVE); Weightlifting - Gold
Medal Finals; Table Tennis - Singles Second
and Third Rounds; Men’s Soccer - Brazil vs.
Iraq (LIVE); Judo - Gold Medal Finals; Box-
ing - Elimination Matches, 6 a.m.-9 p.m.
MSNBC — Beach Volleyball - Preliminary
Round (LIVE); Men’s Fencing - Individual
Foil Quarterinals; Men’s Handball - Croatia
vs. Qatar (LIVE); Beach Volleyball - Prelimi-
nary Round; Men’s Fencing - Individual Foil
Semiinals and Gold Medal Final (LIVE);
Equestrian - Eventing, Dressage, 9 a.m.-2
p.m.
USA — Women’s Rugby - Preliminary
Round (LIVE); Men’s Volleyball - France vs.
Italy, 9-11 a.m.
CNBC — Women’s Rugby - Quarterinal
(LIVE); Men’s Soccer - Argentina vs. Algeria
(LIVE); Women’s Shooting - Trap Gold Medal
Final, 1-4 p.m.
BRAVO — Tennis (LIVE), 6:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
NBC BASKETBALL CHANNEL — Men’s
Basketball - Brazil vs. Lithuania (LIVE),
Croatia vs. Spain (LIVE), Nigeria vs. Argen-
tina (LIVE); Women’s Basketball - U.S. vs.
Senegal (LIVE), Serbia vs. Spain, U.S. vs.
Senegal Encore, Australia vs. Brazil, France
vs. Belarus, 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
NBC SOCCER CHANNEL — Men’s
Soccer - Fiji vs. Mexico (LIVE), Fiji vs.
Mexico Encore, Germany vs. South Korea
(LIVE), Argentina vs. Algeria (LIVE), Sweden
vs. Nigeria, Brazil vs. Iraq (LIVE), Honduras
vs. Portugal, Denmark vs. Russia, Japan vs.
Colombia, 9 a.m.-12:30 a.m.
TELEMUNDO — Beach Volleyball -
Preliminary Round; Boxing - Elimination
Matches; Men’s Soccer - Fiji vs. Mexico,
Honduras vs. Portugal, 7 a.m.-Noon
NBC UNIVERSO — Swimming - Quali-
fying Heats; Men’s Soccer - Argentina vs.
Algeria (LIVE); Beach Volleyball - Preliminary
Round; Boxing - Elimination Matches;
Men’s Soccer - Japan vs. Colombia (LIVE),
Noon-8 p.m.
———
MONDAY, AUG. 8
NBC — Rowing - Qualifying Heats (LIVE);
Men’s Water Polo - U.S. vs. Spain (LIVE);
Swimming - Qualifying Heats (LIVE); Ca-
noe/Kayak - Whitewater Qualifying (LIVE);
Women’s Volleyball - U.S. vs. Netherlands
(LIVE); Men’s Beach Volleyball - Gibb/Patter-
son (U.S.) vs. Huber/Seidl (Austria) (LIVE);
Canoe/Kayak - Whitewater Qualifying, 7
a.m.-2 p.m. Men’s Diving - Platform Syn-
chronized Gold Medal Final; Men’s Gymnas-
tics - Team Gold Medal Finals; Swimming
(LIVE): Women’s 200m Freestyle - Semii-
nals, Men’s 200m Freestyle - Gold Medal
Final, Women’s 100m Backstroke - Gold
Medal Final, Men’s 100m Backstroke - Gold
Medal Final, Women’s 100m Breaststroke
- Gold Medal Final, Men’s 200m Butterly
- Semiinals, Women’s 200m Individual
Medley - Semiinals; Women’s Beach Volley-
ball - Walsh Jennings/Ross (U.S.) vs. Wang/
Yue (China) (LIVE), 5-9 p.m. Canoe/Kayak -
Whitewater Qualifying, 9:35-10:35 a.m.
NBCSN — Women’s Field Hockey - U.S.
vs. Australia (LIVE); Women’s Fencing -
Individual Sabre Round of 32; Women’s
Basketball - U.S. vs. Spain (LIVE); Women’s
Fencing - Individual Sabre Quarterinals;
Women’s Rugby - Semiinals (LIVE); Table
Tennis - Singles Third Round; Women’s
Fencing - Individual Sabre Gold Medal
Finals (LIVE); Archery - Individual Elimina-
tions; Men’s Basketball - U.S. vs. Venezu-
ela (LIVE); Men’s Water Polo - Croatia vs.
Montenegro (LIVE); Weightlifting - Gold
Medal Finals; Women’s Volleyball - Brazil
vs. Argentina (LIVE); Boxing - Elimination
Matches, 6 a.m.-9 p.m.
USA — Equestrian - Eventing, Cross
Country (LIVE); Equestrian - Eventing,
Cross Country (LIVE); Table Tennis - Singles
Third Round; Beach Volleyball - Preliminary
Round (LIVE); Women’s Handball - Spain vs.
Romania, 6 a.m.-2 p.m.
MSNBC — Beach Volleyball - Preliminary
Round (LIVE); Women’s Volleyball - China
vs. Italy; Men’s Basketball - Serbia vs.
Australia (LIVE); Men’s Shooting - Trap
Gold Medal Final; Judo - Gold Medal Finals
(LIVE); Sailing, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
CNBC — Men’s Water Polo - Hungary
vs. Australia; Women’s Rugby - Bronze
Medal and Gold Medal Final (LIVE); Beach
Volleyball - Preliminary Round; Table Tennis -
Singles Fourth Round, 2-5 p.m.
GOLF CHANNEL — Golf Central Live
From the Olympics, 6 a.m.-Noon & 3-5 p.m.
BRAVO — Tennis (LIVE), 6:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
NBC BASKETBALL CHANNEL — Men’s
Basketball - Serbia vs. Australia (LIVE), U.S.
vs. Venezuela (LIVE), Nigeria vs. Argentina
(LIVE); Women’s Basketball - Spain vs. U.S.
(LIVE), Serbia vs. Canada, Japan vs. Brazil,
Senegal vs. China, 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
TELEMUNDO — Beach Volleyball -
Preliminary Round; Boxing - Elimination
Matches; Basketball; Boxing - Elimination
Matches, 7:30 a.m.-Noon
NBC UNIVERSO — Volleyball; Basketball;
Boxing - Elimination Matches, 11 a.m.-5
p.m.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Gymnastics
Douglas eager to prove critics wrong
By WILL GRAVES
Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO —
Gabby Douglas tried to
block out the criticism when
national team coordinator
Martha Karolyi named the
reigning Olympic champion
to the 2016 gymnastics team
last month despite a so-so
performance at trials.
Emphasis on tried.
Yes, Douglas wasn’t
crisp on beam either night
in San Jose. Yes, there were
a handful of other athletes
Karolyi could have chosen
instead with minimal effect
on the Americans’ chances
of steamrolling their way
to gold in Rio. And yes,
Douglas understands every-
thing she does now will be
compared to that euphoric
summer four years ago
when she rapidly morphed
from prodigy to superstar.
Yet Karolyi chose her
anyway, conident there was
nothing wrong with Douglas
that a little quality time at the
Karolyi Ranch in the southeast
Texas woods couldn’t ix. The
second-guessing on social
media came anyway. Douglas
heard it loud and clear.
“I mean everyone makes
mistakes and after trials
it was hard because there
was a lot of negativity, but
whatever,” Douglas said
Thursday after inishing
a solid round of podium
training inside the Olympic
Arena. “I feel like shutting
it all the way (down) and I
have to prove myself.”
Funny, but the poised and
professional gymnast that
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
United States’ Gabrielle Douglas trains on the un-
even bars ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016.
always seems to turn it on
when it is absolutely neces-
sary was back just three days
before team qualifying.
There was Douglas
working the beam Thursday
evening without so much
as a wobble. There was
Douglas gliding over the
uneven bars. It’s a testament
to how much Douglas has
improved over the last
month — much of that time
spent under Karolyi’s close,
personal supervision — that
she’s assured of a spot in the
all-around with three-time
world champion Simone
Biles while Aly Raisman
and Laurie Hernandez
are ighting for the third
all-around spot even though
both inished well ahead of
Douglas at trials.
That’s how quickly
Douglas seems to respond
when she’s able to retreat
into the sanctity of the ranch.
“She kind of has us in a
little bubble,” Douglas said.
“It’s great we all get to go
down there and she whips us
into shape.”
It’s exactly what Karolyi
had in mind when she
selected Douglas over
alternates MyKayla Skinner,
Ashton Locklear and Ragan
Smith and 2015 world
championship team member
Maggie Nichols.
It would be a stretch to
call Karolyi sentimental,
but she’s uniquely attuned
to what makes Douglas
work. It happened last fall
when Douglas struggled in
training ahead of the world
championships
before
coming alive once the team
got to Britain, where she
inished runner-up to Biles in
the all-around and qualiied
for the bars inal. Karolyi
believes it can happen again.
“I know Gabby for many
years,” Karolyi said. “Like I
said, she’s peaking a little bit
later and she deinitely needs
organized and structured
training system installed
before competitions and
she reacts well to that. She
responds very, very well.
I feel that she is ready to
compete.”
Nowhere is her renewed
conidence more visible
than on beam. After hopping
off once during both nights
at trials — mistakes that
overshadowed
largely
clean routines elsewhere
— Douglas attacked it
during training in the green-
splashed arena. Podium
training is basically a dress
rehearsal, a chance for the
gymnasts to get a feel for
the equipment, the lighting
and the energy. No wonder
she looked so at home. She’s
been here before.
“It’s not really feeling any
different (than in London),”
Douglas said. “We’ve done
so many routines we’re kind
of like on autopilot right
now. It’s go, go, go, go.”
It’s a sense of urgency
that Douglas has long
thrived on. A pep talk with
Christian Gallardo — who
took over as her full-time
coach between U.S. Cham-
pionships and Olympic
Trials — helped, too.
“The biggest thing we
talk about is going out and
doing her gymnastics,”
Gallardo said. “Her gymnas-
tics are beautiful, consistent,
clean. She doesn’t have to
worry about anything other
than going out and being
Gabby Douglas.”
When she steps into the
arena on Sunday, she’ll be
the irst reigning Olympic
champion to return to the
ensuing games since Nadia
Comaneci in 1980. It’s heady
territory and despite her occa-
sionally uneven route back to
this point, Douglas is trying
to enjoy it. That doesn’t
mean it’s easy. The crown
she’s worn for four years has
proven heavy at times.
“I’m not going to go out
here and listen to any nega-
tive thing,” she said. “Just
shine bright and do what I’m
capable of doing.”
Las Vegas
Sevens tipped to change the game taking
Rio bets
Rugby
By FOSTER NIUMATA
Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO — It’s taken
rugby 92 years to get back in the
Olympic Games, and yet Argentina
great Agustin Pichot called it the right
moment.
Pichot, a key member of the team
which got rugby sevens approved
for Olympics inclusion in 2009 and
who has become vice chairman of
World Rugby, could barely contain his
excitement on Friday, the day before
the competition begins.
In terms of modern milestones,
he puts rugby’s return up there with
the irst Rugby World Cup in 1987
and the game going professional in
1995, and he predicted big things,
especially outside of its Anglo-Saxon
strongholds.
“Being here, in a Latin country, in
South America (where rugby wasn’t
very popular), is a great statement,”
Pichot said. “The challenges are big
but change will come.
“We’re speaking English here
(in the news conference), but many
nations do not speak English, and
what we will see now, from these
games, is a lot of countries that are
not Anglo-Saxon are going to start
looking at rugby as a different option.
I’ve seen it in Colombia, Mexico,
many countries. We have an opportu-
nity to grow rugby really, really big.”
Growth has already been massive
since the IOC voted 81-8 to approve
rugby for the 2016 and 2020 Games.
In the seven years since, global partic-
ipation has doubled to 7.73 million,
and the percentage of female players
has risen from 10 percent to more
than 30, according to World Rugby.
So sure in the product was World
Rugby, that chairman Bill Beaumont
Associated Press
AP Photo/Martin Meissner
South Africa men’s rugby sevens captain Kyle Brown holds a ball with
the olympic rings during a training session ahead of the 2016 Summer
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016.
expects a huge upsurge in interest
from the Olympic TV coverage.
“I’m hoping, I’m pretty conident,
that clubs will be inundated at the start
of next season in Europe, with girls
wanting to play rugby. You’ll ind in
schools, there will be a knock on the
door of the PE teacher, and saying
‘Look, we want to play this game,”’
Beaumont said. “This is the biggest
kickstart the game’s ever had, espe-
cially for women and girls, and it’s up
to clubs, if they are sensible, to realize
this is a fantastic opportunity for them
to create a new market beyond the
traditional Saturday afternoon, 15-a-
side rugby club.”
Beaumont wasn’t fazed by the lack
of star power in the lineups. Stars of
the 15s game such as Bryan Habana
and Quade Cooper, and former NFL
running back Jarryd Hayne failed to
make their national squads, but Beau-
mont said new stars will emerge.
World Rugby was also conident of
ticking all the boxes needed to stay in
the Olympics after 2020, boxes such as
attendance, stadium atmosphere, TV
ratings, and impact on social media.
The Olympic competition follows
the most successful annual rugby
sevens world series, which started in
1999. The series drew 715,000 fans
over the 10 tournaments, 6,000 hours
of action broadcast to more than 100
countries for the irst time, 61 million
video views, and a 250 percent
audience increase across all media
platforms.
Two-thirds of tickets for the
Olympic sevens have been sold, said
Brett Gosper, the World Rugby CEO.
He said he was conident there will
not be the disappointing gaps in the
stadium crowds that have been seen
at soccer matches.
RIO DE JANEIRO —
The odds are good the U.S.
will win the gold medal count
once again in the Olympics.
The odds are even better
this year that there will be
some money bet on it.
Bookmakers in Las Vegas
are making the U.S. the
favorite to defend the gold
medal crown from the London
Olympics, with an over/under
of 43.5 gold medals for the
Americans. China is the only
other country close to the U.S.,
with bookies putting that coun-
try’s gold medal line at 36.
It’s the irst time since the
2000 Olympics in Sydney
that bettors in Nevada have
been able to put money on the
games. So far, they haven’t
exactly caught Olympic fever.
“We’ve probably had 10
people come to the counter to
bet it,” said Jimmy Vaccaro,
who sets odds at the South
Point hotel sports book.
Betting on the Olympics is
nothing new. Betting parlors
in Britain did good business
four years ago for the London
Olympics, and have posted
odds for years on both big and
obscure events at the games.
But bettors in the U.S. have
been shutout since the 2000
Olympics because of an agree-
ment Nevada gaming authori-
ties made not to offer betting on
amateur sports. The prohibition
was lifted in Nevada last year.
Boxing
Balderas, Hernandez try to boost US fortunes in opener
By GREG BEACHAM
Associated Press
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
This photo taken March 9, 2016, shows
USA Boxing team member Carlos Bal-
deras posing for photo at the 2016 Team
USA Media Summit in Beverly Hills, Calif.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Carlos
Balderas qualiied for the Olym-
pics nearly nine months ago, and
he has been waiting anxiously for
his next ight ever since.
The American lightweight
only has to wait a few more hours
after the opening ceremonies
in Rio. Balderas ights in the
opening session of the grueling,
16-day Olympic boxing tourna-
ment on Saturday morning.
“It’s everything I’ve been
thinking about since November,”
Balderas said. “The only thing
that’s been in my mind is bringing
back a medal.”
His friend and roommate,
light lyweight Nico Hernandez,
also ights on a big irst day for
the eight-person U.S. team. After
the American men failed to win
any Olympic medals for the irst
time in London, the new U.S.
ighters believe their teamwork
can help them exceed relatively
low outside expectations in
Brazil.
“We’re deinitely close,
because we’re all young,”
Hernandez said. “I’m the oldest
one on the team, and I’m 20.
We’ve all been on the same team
since juniors, so we’ve been
traveling together for a couple
of years now. We’re really close,
like family. I think that helps us
a lot. We all support each other.”
Balderas and Hernandez are
key parts of the tight-knit core
on a U.S. team that has bonded
through years of shared competi-
tion. All six American men were
born less than two years apart.
“The vibe is really, really
cool,” Balderas said. “Because
me, Nico, Tony (Vargas), Shakur
(Stevenson), we’ve pretty much
been together since the youth
team. We were always around
each other. It’s not like somebody
came out of nowhere and just took
a spot. Everybody was always
very cool with each other.”
The U.S. men could use all the
good vibes they can get.
They haven’t won a gold
medal since Andre Ward
triumphed in Athens in 2004.
They claimed just one bronze
medal in Beijing — and none at
all in London, an embarrassment
for the most successful boxing
nation in Olympic history.
USA Boxing hired veteran Irish
coach Billy Walsh last year, but
his plans are necessarily focused
on Tokyo in 2020. He hopes
the current team’s talent will be
enough to counteract their oppo-
nents’ years of centralized training.
“It’s a massive challenge,”
Walsh said. “There deinitely is a
skill level that we need to change.
It’s a Tokyo project.”