2008 Olympics TV Schedule

Reprinted from RBR Newsletter No. 354


NOTE: We've located a more specific schedule for televised cycling events: http://tinyurl.com/5admtn


Olympic Cycling Event Schedule

Olympic cycling begins on Saturday, Aug. 9, the day after the Opening Ceremony in Beijing. It starts with a bang -- first up is the premier event, the men's road race.

For the full list of cycling events with start/finish times, including the numerous rounds on the track, see the Wikipedia page "Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics" at http://tinyurl.com/5a3y7w

Olympic Cycling TV Schedule (North America)

The full NBC Universal 2008 Olympics TV broadcast schedule (compiled by the Associated Press) can be found at http://tinyurl.com/5qglmw. It includes all Olympic events that will be shown on NBC and its partners: CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo (in Spanish), USA Network, Oxygen, Universal HD and sport-specific channels for basketball and soccer.

The printout takes 17 pages. Broadcasting will be virtually around-the-clock from the Opening Ceremony on Friday, Aug. 8, to the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, Aug. 24.

Most cycling events will be shown on tape delay. (BMX, new to the Olympics, appears to get the only live coverage.) So the exact times that bike racing will be on TV aren't certain. It appears that even the networks can't say for sure.

But we can tell you the time blocks when cycling coverage is scheduled. These are all U.S. Eastern Daylight Time and subject to change:

Aug. 9 -- Men's Road Race. NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Aug. 10 -- Women's Road Race, NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Aug. 13 -- Women's Individual Time Trial, NBC and NBC HD, 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Aug. 13 -- Men's Individual Time Trial, MSNBC, 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Aug. 15 -- Track Cycling gold medal finals (men's team sprint), USA and USA HD, 2 a.m. to noon

Aug. 16 -- Track Cycling gold medal finals, NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Aug. 16 -- Track Cycling gold medal finals, USA and USA HD, 2 a.m. to 2 p.m.
This day includes the men's 40-km points race and finals in the men's 4,000-meter individual pursuit and the men's keirin.

Aug. 17 -- Track Cycling gold medal finals, NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Aug. 17 -- Track Cycling gold medal finals, USA and USA HD, 2 a.m. to 2 p.m.
This day includes the women's 3,000-meter individual pursuit finals.

Aug. 18 -- Track Cycling gold medal finals, MSNBC, 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This day includes the men's 4,000-meter team pursuit finals.

Aug. 19 -- Men's BMX (live), NBC and NBC HD, 12:35 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Aug. 19 -- Track Cycling gold medal finals, USA and USA HD, 2 a.m. to noon
This day includes the men's 50-km Madison and men's and women's sprint finals.

Aug. 20 -- BMX gold medal finals (live), NBC and NBC HD, 8 p.m. to midnight

Aug. 22 -- Women's Mountain Bike, MSNBC, 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Aug. 23 -- Men's Mountain Bike, NBC and NBC HD, 12:30 a.m. to 5 a.m.
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NBC's cycling page is at http://www.nbcolympics.com/cycling/index.html. You'll find video clips and perhaps be able to see highlights of races.
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American Olympic Cyclists

Men's Road
George Hincapie, 35 (Greenville, SC.) Road Race
Levi Leipheimer, 34 (Santa Rosa, CA) Road Race, Time Trial
Jason McCartney, 34 (Coralville, IA) Road Race
Christian Vande Velde, 32 (Boulder, CO) Road Race
David Zabriskie, 29 (Salt Lake City, UT) Road Race, Time Trial

Women's Road
Kristin Armstrong, 34 (Boise, ID) Road Race, Time Trial
Amber Neben, 34 (Irvine, CA) Road Race
Christine Thorburn, 38 (Sunnyvale, CA) Road Race, Time Trial

Men's Track
Michael Blatchford, 22 (Cypress, CA) Team Sprint, Match Sprint
Adam Duvendeck, 26 (Santa Barbara, CA) Team Sprint
Michael Friedman, 25 (Pittsburgh, PA) Madison
Bobby Lea, 24 (Mertztown, PA) Points Race, Madison
Giddeon Massie, 26 (Zionhill, PA) Team Sprint
Taylor Phinney, 18 (Boulder, CO) Individual Pursuit
(The U.S. also has one start position in the Keirin. Rider to be announced.)

Women's Track
Sarah Hammer, 24 (Temecula, CA) Individual Pursuit, Points Race
Jennie Reed, 30 (Kirkland, WA) Match Sprint

Men's Mountain Bike
Adam Craig, 26 (Bend, OR)
Todd Wells, 32 (Durango, CO)

Women's Mountain Bike
Georgia Gould, 28 (Ketchum, ID)
Mary McConneloug, 37 (Chilmark, MA)

Men's Bicycle Motocross (BMX)
Kyle Bennett, 28 (Conroe, TX)
Mike Day, 23 (Santa Clarita, CA)
Donny Robinson, 25 (Napa, CA)

Women's Bicycle Motocross (BMX)
Jill Kintner, 26 (Seattle, WA)