WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS ALL-AROUND & SWIMMING GOLD MEDAL FINALS LIVE PRIMETIME THURSDAY ON NBC

USA's Johnson and Liukin Compete For Gymnastics All-Around Gold

Phelps Goes For Gold Medal No.6 With Teammate Lochte As His Biggest Threat in the 200m IM

BEIJING � August 13, 2008 � NBC's primetime coverage of the Beijing Olympics Thursday begins at 8 p.m. ET/PT featuring live women's gymastics individual all-around gold medal final and swimming gold medal finals. Tuesday in primetime, Team USA took silver in the women's team final, and both defending World All-Around Champion Shawn Johnson and nine-time World Champion medalist Nastia Liukin are favored to take home medals in the individual all-around. Live in swimming, Michael Phelps continues his undefeated quest for his sixth gold medal of the Games, with teammate Ryan Lochte as his fiercest competitor in the 200m individual medley. Lochte also competes in the 200m backstroke final against teammate Aaron Peirsol, who not only is the defending Olympic champion in the event, but has also won gold once already in Beijing in the 100m backstroke. In women's swimming, Natalie Coughlin should swim in the 100m freestyle live. Also in primetime, the USA competes in beach and indoor volleyball (USA vs. Bulgaria) and watch for the men's canoeing doubles whitewater gold medal final.

Thursday's coverage continues with the following:

NBC DAYTIME: Live in daytime, USA's Gibb and Rosenthal take on Japan (Asahi/Shiratori) in men's beach volleyball. In swimming preliminaries, Michael Phelps and Ian Crocker, the two fastest ever in the 100m butterfly, compete to advance to the semifinals. Also in daytime, rowing semifinals.

NBC LATENIGHT: Featured in latenight are women's swimming 200m backstroke semifinals, women's canoeing k-1 whitewater gold medal final and beach volleyball.

CABLE: Live on USA, the "Redeem Team" led by Kobe and LeBron, take on Greece. Also on USA, Roger Federer takes on Team USA's James Blake in men's tennis and in women's field hockey Team USA meets Germany. On MSNBC, Serena Williams takes on Elena Dementieva (RUS) in women's tennis. Also live on MSNBC, two live men's basketball games heat up cable with Russia vs. Lithuania and Argentina vs. Croatia. Live on CNBC, USA Softball takes on their neighbors to the north, Canada.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14 � DAY 6

NBC and NBC HD

10:00 a.m. � 1:00 p.m. Men's Beach Volleyball � Gibb/Rosenthal (USA) vs. Asahi/Shiratori (JPN) Swimming Rowing � Semifinals

8:00 p.m. � 1:00 a.m. Women's Gymnastics � Individual All-Around Gold Medal Final (LIVE) Swimming � Gold Medal Finals (LIVE) Men's � 200m Backstroke, 200m Individual Medley Women's � 200m Breaststroke, 100m Freestyle Beach Volleyball (LIVE) Men's Volleyball � USA vs. Bulgaria Men's Canoeing � Canoe Double Whitewater Gold Medal Final *Note: LIVE Swimming Semifinal Men's 100m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle

1:35 a.m. - 2:30 a.m. Swimming � Women's 200 Back Semifinal Women's Canoeing � Kayak Single Whitewater Gold Medal Final Beach Volleyball

CNBC and CNBC HD

Midnight � 4:30 a.m. Softball � USA vs. Canada (LIVE) Boxing � Elimination Bouts (69kg, 81kg) (LIVE)

5:00 p.m. � 8:00 p.m. Boxing � Elimination Bouts

USA and USA HD

2:00 a.m. � Noon Men's Basketball � USA vs. Greece (LIVE) Baseball � USA vs. Netherlands Men's Beach Volleyball � Xu/Wu (CHN) vs. Herrera/Mesa (ESP) Tennis � Quarterfinals Federer (SUI) vs. Blake (USA) Women's Field Hockey � USA vs. Germany Women's Fencing � Team Sabre Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Gold Medal Final Women's Archery � Individual Quarterfinals and Gold Medal Final

MSNBC

5:00 a.m. � 5:00 p.m. Men's Basketball � Argentina vs. Croatia (LIVE) Russia vs. Lithuania (LIVE) Men's Volleyball � Brazil vs. Russia Women's Tennis � Quarterfinals S. Williams (USA) vs. Dementieva (RUS) Wrestling � Greco Roman 84kg, 96kg, 120kg Competition & Gold Medal Finals Men's Beach Volleyball � Araujo/Luiz (BRA) vs. Barsouk/Kolodinsky (RUS) Men's Handball � France vs. Croatia Men's Water Polo � Hungary vs. Spain Badminton � Mixed Doubles Quarterfinals Great Britain vs. South Korea Table Tennis � USA vs. Nigeria

OXYGEN

6:00 p.m. � 8:00 p.m. Women's Tennis � Quarterfinals V. Williams (USA) vs. Li (CHN) Equestrian � Team Dressage Gold Medal Final Gymnastics on Oxygen

TELEMUNDO

2:00 a.m. � 6:00 a.m. Swimming � Gold Medal Finals Men's Basketball � Spain vs. Qualifier Men's Gymnastics � Individual All-Around Competition

8:00 a.m. � 10:00 a.m. Diving � Synchronized Gold Medal Final Women's Beach Volleyball � Talita/Renata (BRA) vs. Karantasiou/Arvaniti (GRE)

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. Men's Qualifying Round 2:30 a.m.- 4:15 a.m. Angola vs. China (LIVE) 4:45 a.m. � 6:30 a.m. Lithuania vs. Russia (LIVE) 6:30 a.m. � 8:00 a.m. Spain vs. Qualifier 8:00 a.m. � 9:45 a.m. USA vs. Qualifier (LIVE) 10:15 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. Argentina vs. Qualifier (LIVE) 12:00 p.m. � 1:45 p.m. Australia vs. Iran 1:45 p.m. � 2:30 p.m. USA vs. Qualifier (2nd half re-air)

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL

5:00 a.m. � 5:00 p.m. Best of Men's & Women's Soccer

NBCOlympics.com - LIVE STREAMING BROADBAND COVERAGE:

Women's Archery � Individual Competition, Semifinals & Final Men's Archery � Individual Competition Men's & Women's Badminton � Competition & Semifinals Baseball Women's Fencing � Team Sabre Competition & Gold Medal Final Men's Fencing � Team Epee Competition Men's & Women's Field Hockey Men's Judo � 100kg Competition & Gold Medal Finals +100kg Competition Women's Judo � 78kg Competition & Gold Medal Finals +78kg Competition Sailing Women's Shooting � Skeet Gold Medal Final Men's Shooting � Skeet Competition 50m Rifle Prone Competition & Gold Medal Final 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Competition Men's & Women's Basketball Canoeing � Whitewater Gold Medal Finals Equestrian � Team Dressage Men's & Women's Handball Rowing � Semifinals & Competition Softball Men's & Women's Table Tennis � Team Competition Men's & Women's Tennis Wrestling � Greco Roman Gold Medal Finals Women's Weightlifting � 75kg Men's Weightlifting � 85kg Water Polo

NBC PRIMETIME HIGHLIGHTS:

It's perhaps the most anticipated and compelling event of any Olympic Games � the women's all-around gold medal final-and it's live in primetime. In Beijing, two American women will look to join Mary Lou Retton and Carly Patterson as Olympic all-around champions: Shawn Johnson, the 16-year-old wonder from West Des Moines, Iowa, who is coached by former Chinese gymnasts and is the reigning world champion, and nine-time world medalist Nastia Liukin, who was born in Moscow and raised in Texas. Liukin's coach is her father, Valery Liukin, who won all-around silver for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

It's a huge night at the Water Cube on day six of swimming finals, where world record holder Michael Phelps seeks potential Beijing gold medal number six, this time in the 200m Individual Medley where his toughest competition is expected to come from teammate Ryan Lochte. Phelps also renews his rivalry with teammate Ian Crocker in the 100m butterfly semifinals, while Lochte has a "Mission Impossible" kind of night, as he also takes on defending Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol in the 200m backstroke (Lochte and Peirsol are co-world record holders). Plus multi-medal threat Natalie Coughlin if she advances through the semifinal; the Americans will try to chase down the favorite, Australia's Libby Trickett.

NBC DAYTIME HIGHLIGHTS:

Americans Michael Phelps and Ian Crocker, the two fastest ever in the 100m butterfly, renew their rivalry as they swim to advance to the semifinals. For Phelps, this is a key event in his chase for history. Also, rowing semifinals and beach volleyball.

NBC LATENIGHT HIGHLIGHTS:

It's all a splash and dash in latenight as Olympic gold is determined in whitewater and 2007 world champion Margaret Hoelzer leads the USA charge in the women's 200m backstroke semifinals, which also features Zimbabwe's star swimmer Kirsty Coventry.

USA NETWORK HIGHLIGHTS:

The womens' team sabre event will be held for the first time at the Olympics and Team USA should be a factor. Individually, Mariel Zagunis won Athens gold (the first fencing Olympic gold for an American in 100 years). Rebecca Ward, Zagunis and Sada Jacobson won gold, silver and bronze, respectively, at the 2006 World Championships, making the USA as deep as any team in the world.

CNBC LATENIGHT HIGHLIGHTS:

The usually dominant USA Softball Team plays its North American neighbor Canada. Plus, full coverage of elimination bouts in boxing.

MSNBC HIGHLIGHTS:

Greco-Roman Super Heavyweight gold is at stake as Dremiel Byers wrestles on this day. Byers is competing in his first Olympics after years battling his longtime teammate, rival and training partner, Sydney Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner. Gardner, new as an NBC Olympic analyst, will call the match.

In Men's Basketball, defending Olympic champion Team Argentina look to continue their quest for a second Olympic gold medal.

OXYGEN HIGHLIGHTS:

Team USA has won a team dressage medal in each of the past four Olympics and should challenge again in Beijing. Plus everything you need to know about the women's all-around gold medal final, featuring USA gold medal contenders Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, coming up tonight live in primetime.