Olympics: Day 8 on Nine

At the Olympic stadium it will be all about the men’s 100m event as the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, makes his first appearance at the Games. Also, the women’s triathlon event will be raced and rowing finals continue, with plenty of medal chances for Australia.

Karl Stefanovic presents all the action from London on Day 8.

This session may include:

Hockey – 5.30pm*
The Hockeyroos take on South Africa in a preliminary match. It’s shaping as a must-win match for the Aussie women if they want to remain in contention for the medal rounds.

Athletics
At the Olympic Stadium athletics continues, highlighted by the first appearance of Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt. He will be on the track for less than 10 seconds in the classification heats for the 100m, and return a little later for the first round. The women’s heptathlon concludes, where a win for Great Britain’s Jessica Ennis would be hugely popular with the 80,000-strong crowd.

Australian pair Liz Parnov and Alana Boyd make their first appearance in the women’s pole vault. In the men’s 400m, Australia’s exciting teenager Steven Solomon makes his Games debut. The women’s long jump and javelin features, and Australia’s Genevieve LaCaze starts in the heats of the women’s 3000m steeplechase.

Rowing
Australia has a chance to finish the rowing program with gold. Drew Ginn will be aiming at a fourth Olympic gold when he contests the men’s four, joining Josh Dunkley-Smith, James Chapman and Will Lockwood in what promises to be a great clash with the favourites, Great Britain.

Hannah Every-Hall and Bronwen Watson are through to the women’s lightweight double sculls final.

Kim Crow seeks a remarkable medals double when she rows for gold in the women’s single scull final after winning a silver medal with Brooke Pratley in the women’s double scull yesterday.

Triathlon
A huge crowd will pack Hyde Park for the women’s triathlon. Australia has a great record in this event, having won four of the nine women’s triathlon medals decided since the event entered the Games program in 2000
Representing Australia in the 55-women field are 2008 bronze medallist Emma Moffatt, Erin Densham and Emma Jackson.

Equestrian
Edwina Tops-Alexander, Julia Hargreaves, James Paterson-Robinson and Matt Williams contest the jumping qualifying round. Lucinda Green and Dwayne Russell will be calling the action for Nine.

Diving
Australia’s Jaele Patrick and Sharleen Stratton are through to the semi-final in the women’s 3m springboard.

Cycling
Shane Perkins takes to the track for the men’s sprint qualifying while Glen O’Shea contests the flying lap for the omnium.

Shooting
The women load up at the Royal Artillery Barracks, with two gold medals to be won. Beijing Olympian and Oceania champion Robyn Van Nus is joined by Commonwealth Games gold medallist Alethea Sedgman in the 50m rifle three position event.

Meanwhile, Olympic gold medallist Susie Balogh returns in the women’s trap. The women will shoot three rounds of 25 targets, with the top six advancing to the gold medal final.

Boxing
The second round bouts in men’s boxing continue. Men’s light heavyweight Damien Hooper fights Egor Mekhontcev of Russia. And in the men’s welter-weight Jeffrey Horn takes on Abderrazak Houya of Tunisia.

12.00am London Live continues
Ken Sutcliffe takes over the hosting duties.

This session may include:

Swimming
After a week of racing, the final session of swimming at the Aquatics Centre should provide some thrilling racing. All four events are finals.

– Women’s 50m freestyle: The women’s splash and dash, with the fastest female swimmers in the world taking less than 24 seconds to reach the end of the pool.

– Men’s 1500m freestyle: This 30-lap endurance test provides a chance for Sun Yang of China, gold medallist in the men’s 400m freestyle, to prove himself the distance king of London.

– Women’s 4 x 100m medley relay: Australia enters this event as defending champions, after a memorable win in Beijing. The Aussie girls have qualified second fastest for this final.

– Men’s 4 x 100m medley relay: The last chance for glory in the pool for our men – and an opportunity to end the domination of the United States in this event. Australia were second in this event at the 2011 world championships. Having extended his medals record to 17 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze, American legend Michael Phelps may be having the last swim of his competitive career in this race.

Athletics – 3am*
There are four gold medals to be decided at the Olympic Stadium as the athletics program continues, with two in the field and two on the track in a big session for the Aussies.

The men’s 20km walk features Australia’s Beijing bronze medallist Jared Tallent, who will be joined by team-mates Chris Erickson and Adam Rutter. The Russians will be expected to dominate, with world champion Valeriy Borchin hard to beat. Dave Culbert will call the race for Nine.

Australia’s great hopes lie with Mitchell Watt and Henry Frayne as they attempt to win our first Olympic gold medal in the men’s long jump. Watt has been a medallist in this event at the last two world championships, scoring a 2009 bronze and 2011 silver. The man to beat will be reigning world champion Christian Taylor of the United States.
Dani Samuels, the 2009 world champion, will be competing for gold in the women’s discus final.

On the track, Australian record holder Ben St Lawrence will test himself against the mighty African champions from Kenya and Ethiopia in the final of the men’s 10,000m.

The final gold medal event is the women’s blue riband 100m sprint. The Jamaicans produced a clean medal sweep in Beijing in 2008 and will again be hard to beat, with defending champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in strong form. American Carmelita Jeter is the current world champion.

Brendan Cole and Tristan Thomas are both through to the semi-finals of the men’s 400m hurdles.

The program also features semi-finals in the women’s 400m, and the women’s heptathlon concludes with an 800m race. Should Great Britain’s Jessica Ennis win, it would prove one of the most popular victories of 2012.

Basketball
The Aussie Boomers face home nation Great Britain in their fourth preliminary game. While Australia is ranked in the world top ten, the locals are ranked in the 40s. Point guard Patty Mills will feature, as GB looks to its own NBA star, Luol Deng.

Cycling
Just one gold medal is up for decision at the velodrome tonight. The Aussie women will be seeking to ride strongly and secure a place in the final of the team pursuit.

Volleyball
The young Aussie men take on one of the powerhouse nations in volleyball, Italy. The Italians have finished in the top four at every Olympics since 1996.

Water Polo
The Aussie men’s team, the Sharks, are back in the pool facing Croatia, which won bronze at the 2011 world championships. Australia must finish in the top four of their six-nation group to advance to the quarter-finals of the men’s tournament.

6.00am-9.00am on Nine and GEM
As day eight of competition continues, Cameron Williams and Leila McKinnon host the morning shift. It will include live action and a review of major events.

9.00am-11.00am London Gold on Nine and GEM
Mark Nicholas looks back on the highlights of another great day at London 2012. The program features the best gold medal action and a wrap of the Aussies at the Olympics.

2.00pm-4.00pm London Gold (replay) (Syd & Bris), 4.00pm-6.00pm (Melb) on Nine
4.00pm-6.00pm (Syd & Bris) on GEM
Mark Nicholas looks back on the highlights of another great day at London 2012. The program features the best gold medal action and a wrap of the Aussies at the Olympics.

*All times states are for the East Coast

*As with all major sporting events there can be unforeseen changes to the schedule and times are subject to change.