Olympics
Sunday preview: Hamm back in action, Greene sprinting for gold

The Associated Press

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Let's begin in the village of Marathon, where the women's 26.2-mile race retraces the centuries-old steps of the doomed Greek distance runner, Pheidippides. Their trip ends at the marble Panathinaiko Stadium that hosted the 1896 games.

Then it's on to the new Olympic Stadium, where Maurice Greene will sprint 100 meters toward his destination: the record book. And finally a trip with gymnast Paul Hamm, who continues down a road where no American has traveled before.

The second weekend of the Athens Games, a pretty smooth ride so far, wraps up Sunday with 27 gold medals awarded. U.S. sprinter Greene, bidding to defend his Olympic title in the 100, plans to make sure one of them is draped around his neck — a victory that would land him in rarified Olympic company.

Greene will try to become only the second man to sweep back-to-back Olympic 100 titles, a feat accomplished by Carl Lewis in 1984 and 1988 — the latter after Ben Johnson's steroid disqualification in South Korea.

Greene won his Friday heat in 9.93 seconds, and he'll be joined by U.S. teammates Shawn Crawford and Justin Gatlin on Sunday.

The battle to claim the "world's fastest man" title is one of the featured events on NBC's prime-time coverage, expanded to five hours (7 p.m.-midnight EDT) on Sunday. "The Michael Phelps Show" finished its golden Athens run, so the network will turn instead to plenty of gymnastics, platform diving and the quarterfinals in women's beach volleyball.

For Hamm, the first American man to capture the Olympic all-around title, there's an opportunity to add two more gold medals. He'll compete in the finals of the pommel horse and the floor exercise — the latter against his twin brother, Morgan.

The brothers already shared silver medals in the team all-around, although Paul is more likely to get gold in the floor exercise; he's the reigning world champion in the event. The 21-year-old has a chance at becoming the first American to capture six gymnastics medals in a single Olympics.

On the women's side, Americans Courtney Kupets, Terin Humphrey and Annia Hatch will participate in the individual gold events. And at the diving venue, American Laura Wilkinson attempts to duplicate her gold medal performance from Sydney.

There's a bit of enticing bonus coverage on CNBC: The undefeated American basketball team — that would be the women — plays live at 1 p.m., putting its 4-0 Olympic mark on the line against China. The Americans are the two-time defending gold medalists, with no reason to believe they won't extend their run.
 
The marathon race — beginning at 11 a.m. — will air live during NBC's eight-hour daytime show, which opens at 10 a.m. and runs until 6 p.m. The best U.S. hope is Deena Kastor, the American record holder in the event.

The Chicago and New York marathons are offering $500,000 to any U.S. man or woman who wins the marathon at the Athens Olympics, but don't expect Kastor to collect. The only American woman to place in the top eight since the event debuted in 1984 is Joan Benoit, who won the inaugural race in Los Angeles.

Already guaranteed a medal in Athens is the powerhouse U.S. softball team, a dominating presence since arriving in Greece. The medal round starts with a game against their chief rival, Australia — but the Americans already clubbed the folks from the land down under 10-0 in round-robin play.

The U.S. team is rolling nothing but lucky sevens these days: Seven wins in Athens. Seven shutouts. A 77-game winning streak.

Under the Olympic system, the Americans are already guaranteed a medal. As the top seed, they play No. 2 Australia, with the winner automatically advancing to the finals. The loser of that game plays the winner of the game between No. 3 Japan and No. 4 China; the winner then plays for gold and the loser gets the bronze.

The softball squad plays live at 5 a.m. on CNBC, which will also air rowing, wrestling, women's volleyball, table tennis and women's water polo during 14 hours of Olympic programming.