Rio 2016 #Olympics What to Watch For — Monday August 8

A daily guide to can’t-miss Olympic events and #TeamUSA action

The Rio 2016 Olympics are here at last! There’s lots to watch on a million channels, over 6500 hours in all, and it’s tough to keep track of everything — so I’ve put together a handy guide.

It’s not comprehensive; instead it should guide you through the highlights and can’t-miss events each day. It will focus largely on Team USA medal possibilities with an attempt to look in at other big names or interesting events as well. Each event is given 1 to 5 stars (★) to highlight importance. All television viewing times listed are Central Time and are approximate.

Please follow me here on Medium at Brandon Anderson and on Twitter at @wheatonbrando for daily updates as the Olympics continue.

Monday August 8th

★ Women’s field hockey — USA vs Australia — 8am (Central) NBCSN

The good news is USA is 1–0, fresh off a victory over former world best Argentina on Saturday. The bad news is they now face the current #1 in Australia. And the worst news is that this sport is low-key awful. It’s played on a huge wet field with little finesse, whacking a ball back and forth over 60 minutes with very little scoring. This may be our final field hockey check-in.

★★ Women’s tennis — Czech Republic vs Denmark, 8:45am Bravo

If you’re a tennis fan, this match features Petra Kvitova (Czech) and Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) in a tough second round draw. Both women are former world #1s so this should be a good one.

★★★★★ Women’s fencing individual sabre — NBCSN throughout the day beginning around 9am

You’ll need to tune in early if you want to catch Monday’s marquee event as Muslim-American Ibtihaj Muhammad makes history. Muhammad will become the first American ever to compete in the Olympics wearing a hijab. For a country being ripped apart politically, Ibtihaj Muhammad is a beacon of hope. Muhammad opens with round of 32 competition against Ukraine’s Kravatska early in the morning and will continue from there if victorious. Be warned though: fencing can be difficult to follow.

★★★ Women’s basketball — USA vs Spain — 10am NBCSN

Fresh off a 121–56 thrashing of Senegal Sunday morning, the women should face a tougher battle against Spain in their toughest group game. There may be no surer US gold medal in Rio than these women. Tune in and appreciate their awesomeness even against a top opponent.

★ Women’s volleyball — USA vs Netherlands — 1pm NBC

Speaking of awesome women’s teams, the US women are gold medal favorites in volleyball too. This is the indoor version, with 6 on the court, and it’s the opening game for the US. Just a check-in here.

★★ Women’s tennis — USA Serena Williams vs France, 1:15pm Bravo

Team USA has been incredibly disappointing so far in tennis. We went 3–5 in singles opening round with big upset losses by Venus Williams and Jack Sock, then saw Venus and Serena lose for the first time ever in 4 Olympics in doubles. Now a tired Serena faces France’s Cornet, who has beaten her twice in a row. Could USA tennis be shocked again?

★ Men’s beach volleyball — USA Gibb/Patterson vs Austria — 2:30 NBC

This lesser US men’s duo won their opener against Qatar, and they’ll advance safely out of group stage with a second victory here.

★ Men’s basketball — USA vs Venezuela — 5pm NBCSN

It’s always fun watching the newest version of the Dream Team, even if it’s not the most talented version if we’ve ever sent. You won’t need to tune in long — Venezuela is the worst team at the Olympics with nary a single NBA player.

★★★★ Olympic prime time on NBC — 7–11pm NBC

Not your most must-see night of US Olympics, if you need a night out. You’ll see synchronized diving, some swimming finals and semifinals, and coverage of the men’s team gymnastics with beach volleyball at the conclusion.

★★★★ Men’s team gymnastics — throughout prime time 7–11pm NBC

This is certainly the night’s marquee event and worth a watch — just don’t expect much from Team USA. Japan and China will likely compete for gold with Japan featuring 6-time world #1 Kohei Uchimora. The US are big underdogs but could inspire as they push for a medal with Jacob Dalton, Chris Brooks, Sam Mikulak, Alex Naddour, and Danell Leyva.

★★ Men’s diving synchronized 10m platform — NBC prime time

China typically dominates diving and may likely win gold again here, but USA has a rare chance for a medal with both David Boudia and Steele Johnson in the mix. Timing TBD sometime during prime time.

★ Swimming qualifying — somewhere during prime time NBC

Michael Phelps looks to qualify for the finals in the 200m butterfly while Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin both try to qualify for the 200m freestyle finals.

★ Men’s swimming 200m freestyle — 8:20pm NBC

Two Americans Conor Dwyer and Townley Haas advanced to the finals, but both are still long shots to grab a medal.

★★ Women’s swimming 100m backstroke — 8:30pm NBC

The Americans have two more chances to medal here. Kathleen Baker had the best qualifying time and Olivia Smoliga just squeaked into the finals, but both are underdogs for gold behind Hungary’s Hosszu.

★★★ Men’s swimming 100m backstroke — 8:35pm NBC

Both Ryan Murphy and David Plummer have a shot at gold for the US, but they’ll have to get past the favorite, Australia’s Mitch Larkin. Murphy and Plummer had the two best times in qualifying.

★★★★ Women’s swimming 100m breaststroke — 8:50pm NBC

This is Team USA’s best chance for swimming gold tonight, featuring Lilly King in her marquee event. She’s the favorite. USA’s Katie Meili could also push for a medal.

★★ Women’s beach volleyball — USA Walsh Jennings/Ross vs China — 10pm, NBC

Walsh Jennings and Ross dominated their first match and qualify for knockout with a second win here. Kerri Walsh Jennings and former partner Misty Mae Treanor actually beat Ross for gold in London and as the teams embraced and Kerri knew her partner was retiring, she apparently whispered in April Ross’s ear “Let’s go win in Rio.” Here they are 4 years later.

★ Men’s and women’s canoeing slalom — 11:30pm NBC

Late night gives us a chance to check in on canoeing, a surprisingly fun watch. Devan McEwan and Casey Eichfeld are in contention for the men while Ashley Nee could medal for the women.

Please follow me here on Medium at Brandon Anderson and on Twitter at @wheatonbrando for daily updates as the Olympics continue.

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Past Rio 2016 guides: Aug 6–7 … Aug 8

Follow Brandon on Medium or @wheatonbrando for more sports, humor, pop culture, and life musings. Visit the rest of Brandon’s writing archives here. Shout out to Aria and Wes for their help getting things together for this Olympics guide.