Let the games begin! The 2008 Summer Olympics will kick off this weekend with the opening ceremony set to air Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Bob Costas and Matt Lauer will host the event, which will introduce athletes representing 205 countries. The Parade of Nations, which according to tradition will begin with Greece and end with athletes from the host country (China) will take place at the National Stadium in Beijing.
NBC posted the listings for the various events set to take place over the next couple of days. Theyre spread out over a number of channels and some are available streaming live on NBCOlympics.com.
If youre going to try to watch as much as possible, better clear your schedule on Saturday and stock up on provisions (chips, soda, beer and in the spirit of the host country, maybe some egg rolls?) because theres a lot going on! Heres the schedule for the next two days:
NBC and NBC HD
10:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m.
Women's Volleyball USA vs. Japan (LIVE)
Swimming
Men's Beach Volleyball Rogers/Dalhausser (USA) vs. Samoilovs/Plavins (LAT)
Women's Beach Volleyball Branagh/Youngs (USA) vs. Kadijk/Mooren (NED)
Men's Cycling Road Race
Rowing
8:00 p.m. Midnight
Swimming Gold Medal Finals (LIVE)
Men's 400m Freestyle, 400m Individual Medley
Women's 400m Individual Medley, 4x100m Freestyle Relay
Women's Beach Volleyball May-Treanor/Walsh vs. Saiki/Kusuhara (JPN) (LIVE)
Men's Gymnastics Team Competition
*Note: LIVE Swimming Semifinals Men's 100 breaststroke & Women's 100m Butterfly
12:30 a.m. 2:00 a.m.
Men's Volleyball USA vs. Venezuela (LIVE)
USA and USA HD
2:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m.
Women's Soccer USA vs. Japan (LIVE)
Canada vs. China
Women's Basketball USA vs. Czech Republic (LIVE)
Equestrian Eventing Dressage (LIVE)
Men's Beach Volleyball Nummerdor/Schuil (NED) vs. Laciga/Schneider (SUI)
Women's Beach Volleyball Barnett/Cook (AUS) vs. Uryadova/Shiryaeva (RUS)
Women's Fencing Women's Sabre Quarterfinals
Women's Shooting Air Rifle Gold Medal Final
Women's Badminton Lee (USA) vs. Rice (CAN)
Women's Weightlifting Flyweight Gold Medal Final
CNBC and CNBC HD
2:00 a.m. 5:00 a.m.
Boxing 75kg, 81kg Competition (LIVE)
MSNBC
5:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m.
Women's Soccer Nigeria vs. Germany (LIVE)
Brazil vs. North Korea (LIVE)
Women's Volleyball Italy vs. Russia
Poland vs. Cuba
Women's Fencing Individual Sabre Gold Medal Final
Women's Handball France vs. Angola
Russia vs. South Korea
Badminton Singles competition
TELEMUNDO
7:30 a.m. 2:00 p.m.
Women's Soccer USA vs. Japan (LIVE)
Men's Beach Volleyball Heyer/Heuscher (SUI) vs. Conde/Baracetti (ARG)
Boxing
Women's Volleyball Poland vs. Cuba
6:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m.
Beach Volleyball
Boxing
Midnight 1:00 a.m.
TBA
UNIVERSAL HD
24-hour MSNBC & CNBC HD Simulcasts and Coverage
NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL
2:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m.
Women's Qualifying Round
2:30 a.m. - 4:15 a.m. Spain vs. China (LIVE)
4:45 a.m. 6:30 a.m. Brazil vs. S. Korea (LIVE)
6:30 a.m. 8:00 a.m. Belarus vs. Australia
8:00 a.m. 9:45 a.m. USA vs. Czech Republic (LIVE)
10:15 a.m. 12:00 p.m. Russia vs. Latvia (LIVE)
12:00 p.m. 1:45 p.m. Mali vs. New Zealand
1:45 p.m. 2:30 p.m. USA vs. Czech Republic 2nd half re-air
NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL
5:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m.
Women's Preliminaries
5:00 a.m. 6:45 a.m. USA vs. Japan (LIVE)
7:45 a.m. 9:30 a.m. Brazil vs. N. Korea (LIVE)
9:30 a.m. 11:00 a.m. Nigeria vs. Germany
11:00 a.m. 12:30 p.m. China vs. Canada
12:30 p.m. 2:00 p.m. Sweden vs. Argentina
2:00 p.m. 3:30 p.m. New Zealand vs. Norway
3:30 p.m. 5:00 p.m. USA vs. Japan (re-air)
NBCOlympics.com - LIVE STREAMING BROADBAND COVERAGE:
Men's Archery
Women's Archery Competition & Quarterfinals
Badminton
Women's Fencing Individual Sabre Semifinal & Gold Medal Final
Men's Fencing Individual Epee Competition
Women's Field Hockey
Men's Judo 60kg Competition & Gold Medal Final, 66kg Competition
Women's Judo 48kg Competition & Gold Medal Final, 52kg Competition
Sailing
Men's Shooting 10m Air Pistol Gold Medal Final, Men's Trap Competition
Women's Shooting 10m Air Pistol Competition & Gold Medal Final
Women & Men's Basketball
Equestrian Team Dressage
Women's & Men's Handball
Rowing
Women's Soccer
Men's & Women's Tennis
Women's Weightlifting 53kg
Men's Weightlifting 56kg
Cycling Road Race
Men's Water Polo
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