FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 17th, 2016

2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES – AUG. 16 PRIMETIME HIGHLIGHTS ON THE NETWORKS OF NBCUNIVERSAL

“It’s Simone’s party and everyone else is just a guest.” – Tim Daggett on floor gold medalist Simone Biles

 “If she was going to compete with Simone, she absolutely needed the best routine of her life, and I think that was it.” – Daggett on floor silver medalist Aly Raisman

RIO DE JANEIRO – August 17, 2016 – NBC Olympics’ primetime coverage of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, continued Tuesday night on the networks of NBCUniversal.

Primetime host Bob Costas opened up Tuesday night’s coverage on NBC from NBC Olympics’ studio located inside the International Broadcast Center in Rio. Day 11 was highlighted by women’s gymnastics, with “Final Five” teammates Simone Biles and Aly Raisman capturing gold and silver, respectively, in the floor exercise. Biles has collected five medals in Rio, four gold, including in the all-around competition, while Raisman has three. In addition, Danell Leyva won silver in men’s gymnastics for parallel bars.

Coverage on NBC also featured the women’s 1500m final, where Team USA’s Jenny Simpson took bronze, the first ever medal for the U.S. in the event, Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon of Kenya won gold, and Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia earned silver. Track and field coverage also included the men’s 110m hurdles, where Omar McLeod won Jamaica its first gold medal in the event; the gold medal final in men’s high jump; and the semifinals in women’s 200m, women’s 400m hurdles, men’s 400m hurdles, and men’s 200m, which took place earlier that afternoon.

During the broadcast, Costas spoke about the issue of doping in track and field. A link to Costas’ interview with IOC President Thomas Bach, during which they discussed this issue at length, can be found here.

Coverage on NBC concluded with the women’s beach volleyball semifinals, where Brazil’s Agatha and Barbara captured a victory against Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross. Agatha and Barbara will play Germany in the gold medal final, while Walsh Jennings and Ross will compete against Brazil’s Larissa and Talita in the bronze medal match, today, Wednesday, August 17.

This evening’s Olympic action also featured the U.S. women’s basketball team’s victory over Japan to advance to the semifinals, and men’s boxing on NBCSN; women’s track cycling finals, and Serbia’s victory over Russia in women’s indoor volleyball, both on CNBC.

Following are highlights from tonight’s evening and primetime coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games on the networks of NBCUniversal:

GYMNASTICS – NBC

Analyst Tim Daggett on gold medalist Simone Biles’ floor routine: “Power and dynamics that take your breath away. You’ll see other people that do similar elements. Nobody does it with as much difficulty packed in, but more than that nobody does them anywhere near like this.”

Daggett on Biles: “It’s Simone’s party and everyone else is just a guest.”

Play-by-play commentator Al Trautwig on Biles’ floor routine: “Obliterate seems like the right word.”

Daggett on Biles: “She sets herself apart because she makes everything look so easy.”

Trautwig on Biles’ floor routine: “When she nails it, which she normally does, it’s just fun in every way; from a gymnastics stance, from a dance stance, from a choreographic stance, from a music stance.”

Daggett on silver medalist Aly Raisman’s floor routine: “You dream of going to the Olympics, you dream of winning a gold medal, she’s already gotten three, and you dream of doing a routine of a lifetime. If she was going to compete with Simone, she absolutely needed the best routine of her life, and I think that was it.”

Daggett on Raisman: “Jam-packed with difficulty, such a powerful opening run, and that she can fit it on a 40×40 floor…tremendous.”

Daggett on Danell Leyva’s silver medal winning routine in parallel bars: “He sent out a shot around the world right here that this is a contending routine because there are so few errors in it…that was really a tremendous set, I don’t know if I’ve seen him do quite that good ever!”

Analyst Nastia Liukin on Leyva’s parallel bars routine: “Danell won a bronze medal four years ago in London but he said, “Yes, it was great I won an Olympic medal, but it wasn’t the color I wanted.”

Daggett on the U.S. men’s gymnastics team’s struggles in Rio: “I don’t think anyone on this team would say that it’s been all rosy and exactly the way they planned.”

Biles to Costas on competing in Tokyo 2020: “I’m going to take a really long break, I just want to go on vacation and kind of have fun. I think we all deserve it, we’ll see what happens.”

Raisman to Costas on whether she’ll return to competition: “If you had asked me a few months ago if I was done, I would have said yes, and I think (my coach) Mihai (Brestyan) would have said the same thing. Yesterday we were talking, and I’m going to take a break, and never say never. I thought I was in the best shape of my life in 2012, and it’s even better here, so maybe I just get better with age.”

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TRACK & FIELD – NBC

Analyst Craig Masback as Team USA’s Jenny Simpson crossed the line to win bronze in the 1500m: “That’s the first medal ever for the United States in women’s 1500m running. She’s always been a great finisher. This is how she won her 2011 world championship.”

Masback on 1500m gold medal winner Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon of Kenya: “Kipyegon authored a wonderful last lap. She let Dibaba do all the work until the next-to-last lap – stayed on her tail, and then ran by her.”

Costas on the issue of doping in track and field prior to the women’s 1500m final: “The favorite in (the 1500m) is world record holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia. Two months ago her coach, Jama Aden, was suspended, or arrested I should say, in Spain on doping charges as part of an investigation to his training group. Aden has yet to be convicted of any crime, and he has denied any wrongdoing. Dibaba, who is a member of an accomplished distance running family, has never tested positive in her career. Still, given Aden’s arrest and the current environment in track and field, Dibaba’s presence in tonight’s race has rankled some people. This is yet another reminder of the ever-present specter of performance enhancing drugs in track and field, and in sports in general.”

Click here for Costas’ interview with IOC President Thomas Bach, where he discusses doping in Olympic sports.

Analyst Ato Boldon on men’s 110m gold medalist Omar Mcleod of Jamaica: “That’s some history for Jamaica! They’re very first Olympic gold medal in the 110m hurdles. Omar Mcleod, who started this year on an absolutely amazing pace, ends the year as an Olympic champion…that’s as easy as you will win an Olympic final in Rio.”

Hammond on the men’s 110m hurdles: “The U.S. shut out for the first time in Olympic history.”

Boldon on the men’s 110m hurdles: “When you make the U.S. team in the 110m hurdles, you are expected to come to the Olympics and not just make the finals – but get a medal.”

Boldon on Usain Bolt winning his 200m heat: “You saw what he always does in 200m races. He does not look around on that turn. He makes sure that he comes off with a lead so that he can control the race from way in front.” *Note: This event took place in the afternoon

Boldon on Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands who easily won her heat in the women’s 200m semifinals: “The world champion reminding everyone that she is the third-fastest woman to have ever run this event.”

Boldon on Team USA’s Kerron Clement in the men’s 400m hurdles semifinal: “Not a great start in terms of the first four or five hurdles, but I tell you what, the way he looked over the hurdles nine and 10, people are not going to beat him in these finals.”

Boldon on Sydney McLaughlin in the 400m hurdles semifinals: “She’ll have lots of experience for the next time that she comes back to the Olympic Games. We’ll expect that she’ll come back. She’s just simply too good at this age to not be in the Olympic Games sometime in the future.”

Analyst Trey Hardee on high jump gold medalist Derek Druin of Canada: “The crowd loves this man. He’s the Olympic gold medalist, the best in the world. Now it’s just a matter of, how high is he going to jump tonight? This track, I’m telling you, there’s something on the surface, because guys are jumping out of the stadium.”

Hardee on Mutaz Barshim of Qatar in the high jump: “I think his favorite quote is ‘What gravity?’ I don’t think gravity really applies to these guys, especially that man.”

Play-by-play commentator Todd Harris on the height of the bar in the fourth attempt of the high jump: “7’ 7” and ¾” – to put that in perspective, they are basically jumping over Shaquille O’Neil with another few inches to spare.”

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BEACH VOLLEYBALL – NBC

Analyst Kevin Wong on the Brazilian team: “The way that Brazil is covering the court right now, it seems like there are four players out there instead of two. The U.S. giving them everything they got. They bring the heat, it’s controlled.”

Wong: “This is a matchup between the two best offenses in the draw. Both teams doing a really good job of passing, setting, and hitting. The Brazilians, surprisingly, how they score points is from the service line. They are by far the best serving team of the Olympic Games.”

***

BASKETBALL – NBCSN

Analyst Ann Meyers Drysdale on what the Olympics mean to the U.S. women’s team, which defeated Japan: “This team really knows what it means to win the gold medal. They are so focused. They’ve had a couple of days off but they’ve also been practicing and it’s been very efficient.”

***

BOXING – NBCSN

Analyst B.J. Flores on what makes 19 year old U.S. Boxer Shakur Stevenson so dominate: “He can beat you a lot of different ways. He can beat you on the outside with his boxing ability, he likes to get inside. He knows how to work those angles. He can work the body, come up the middle with those upper cuts. He has a very high ring IQ.”

Play-by-play commentator Kenny Rice on Stevenson winning by unanimous decision: “The most heralded on the men’s team for the U.S. coming into these games continues to live up to the billing. Shakur Stevenson has secured himself a medal in these Olympic games, the first for a U.S. boxer in this division since 2000.”

Rice on Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan’s decision victory over Gary Russell of the U.S.: “Gaibnazarov will advance to the medal round. This is one that really hurts for the U.S., a strong performance by Gary Russell, but the judges didn’t see it that way.”

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TRACK CYCLING – CNBC

Play-by-play announcer Paul Sherwen on the omnium: “It’s an event that looks for all of the different assets of what makes an overall good bike rider, speed, strength, endurance. And in this race, really the knowledge of knowing how to make a move.”

Analyst Christian Vande Velde on the emotions of the cyclists and bronze medalist Jolien D’Hoore of Belgium: “Nothing compares to the emotion of an Olympic Games. These sort of things do not happen at the world championships. You see the emotion right there in that woman making history for Belgium.”

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INDOOR VOLLEYBALL – CNBC

Analyst Kevin Barnett on Serbia: “This is what makes Serbia so much fun to watch and dangerous. They just rip balls all night.”

ABOUT NBC OLYMPICS

A division of NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal’s Olympic coverage. It is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history. The 2012 London Olympics were watched by 217 million Americans across the networks of NBCUniversal, making it the most-watched event in U.S. television history.

-RIO 2016-