Sport

The Olympics are more than just the world’s premiere sporting event—they’re big, big media business. Just a few years ago, the closing ceremonies at the London 2012 Olympics attracted a staggering 900 million viewers, with more than 219.4 million Americans tuning into the games at one point or another. But what if you want to watch the Olympics without paying for cable television? There are options. Although NBC is offering…

Athletes marching in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio today will be joined by the first refugee team ever to compete in the Olympics. The 10 athletes on the refugee team will march immediately before participants from Brazil, the 2016 Olympics host country. The refugee athletes will not walk under the flag of their nations or march to the sound of their own national anthems –- instead…

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Play Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed autoplay autoplay U.S. intelligence has assigned more than 1,000 spies to Olympic security as part of a highly classified effort to protect the Rio 2016 Summer Games and American athletes and staff, NBC News has learned. Hundreds of analysts, law enforcement and special operations personnel are already on the ground in Rio de Janeiro, according to an exclusive NBC News review of a highly…

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The Olympics bring out the most casual of sports fans, for a variety of reasons. Some of those fans are blatantly enthralled by the storylines that network television will beat into viewers’ heads. (Underdog? History-making? A comeback for the ages? We’re bringing it to you every two years, snow or sunshine!) Others are actually thrilled to see the incredible athletic achievements in sports that rarely earn exposure in an online…

The Olympics are more than just the world’s premiere sporting event—they’re big, big media business. Just a few years ago, the closing ceremonies at the London 2012 Olympics attracted a staggering 900 million viewers, with more than 219.4 million Americans tuning into the games at one point or another. But what if you want to watch the Olympics without paying for cable television? There are options. Although NBC is offering…

There have been few moments in my life as memorable as competing in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The chance to represent my country was a distinct honor, as was being part of the community of the Olympics — an event with the rare power to unite the world in the common spirit of competition and athletic excellence. The attention, hopes and energies of the global community uniquely fall…

Russia will be able to have a boxing team at Rio 2016, which starts in Brazil on 5 August Russia will have 271 athletes eligible to compete at the Rio Games, says the International Olympic Committee (IOC). This is more than two-thirds of their original entry list of 389 athletes, despite the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) recommending a blanket ban after a state-sponsored doping scandal. Russia’s Olympic Committee president Alexander…

No TV? No problem! NBC is making 4,500 hours of Olympics coverage available at NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app, starting with preliminary soccer events on Wednesday, two days before Friday’s formal start of the Olympics. The online coverage includes every single event live, as NBC continues a practice begun with the London Olympics in 2012 under new owner Comcast Corp. For the first time, NBC is also offering some…

When a new elevated bike path in Rio collapsed in April, hit by a fluke wave, the deaths of two people weren’t just seen as a tragedy. The collapse became an irresistible metaphor for the state of Olympic readiness in Brazil. As Rio prepares for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, which open Friday night, the bike path is not the only disaster to serve that purpose. There were also the…

Michael Phelps has discussed the demons that followed him from his historic 2008 Beijing Olympics to his second DUI arrest in September 2014, in profiles by Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine. But rarely, if ever, has he opened up on camera the way he just did with Bob Costas on NBC Sports. In a 23-minute extended interview, Phelps wrestled again with those demons, covering at length his six-week stay at Arizona’s…

Olympic men’s soccer is kind of weird. The World Cup is obviously the biggest international competition in the sport and while the Olympics is still a big deal because it’s the damn Olympics, it’s not for the best of the best in men’s soccer. The competition is limited to players 23 years old or younger. So it’s kind of like the U-20 World Cup or U-17 World Cup — a youth…

In a file photo from Aug 2, 2012, Team USA women’s eight crew Erin Cafaro (bow) Zsuzsanna Francia (2) Esther Lofgren (3) Taylor Ritzel (4) Meghan Musnicki (5) Eleanor Logan (6) Caroline Lind (7) Caryn Davies (stroke) and Mary Whipple (cox) celebrate their gold medal victory at the London Olympics.(Photo: John David Mercer, USA TODAY Spor) It’s all about that medal count … right?  T-minus one day until the opening…

Katy Perry inspires athletes to ‘Rise’ up at the Rio Olympics. (Photo: Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY) Like competing on the balance beam or sprinting to the finish line, writing a song can be an Olympic-caliber feat. Every two years, artists are called upon to record a tune that will capture the mood of the summer and winter Olympic games. Before Friday’s opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro (NBC, 7:30 ET/PT), we look back at the…

Michael Phelps has discussed the demons that followed him from his historic 2008 Beijing Olympics to his second DUI arrest in September 2014, in profiles by Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine. But rarely, if ever, has he opened up on camera the way he just did with Bob Costas on NBC Sports. In a 23-minute extended interview, Phelps wrestled again with those demons, covering at length his six-week stay at Arizona’s…

Image: Sam Woolley The Olympics is a once every four-year event testing the limits of humanity’s athletic ability—more so this year as competitors compete in raw sewage. It’s safer for viewers at home, but for those without cable, it’s also a marathon of ingenuity and clever thinking to even watch it. Watching the Olympics without cable is easier than ever, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some hurdles that need…

i Kelley O’Hara (top) joins her American teammates in celebrating a second-half goal by Alex Morgan in the U.S. women’s soccer team’s Group G first-round win over New Zealand in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Wednesday. Pedro Vilela/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Pedro Vilela/Getty Images Kelley O’Hara (top) joins her American teammates in celebrating a second-half goal by Alex Morgan in the U.S. women’s soccer team’s Group G first-round win over…

Cesspools, Zika, trash fires, and cat burglars: Rio may well make the world long for the stray dogs of Sochi. This is the International Olympic Committee’s fault, not Brazil’s. It’s unfair and unrealistic to expect a country with far bigger problems to put on a spectacular, mistake-free show. The IOC’s research into Rio’s bid for the 2016 Games apparently consisted of listening to “The Girl From Ipanema” while enjoying a…

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan scored a goal in each half as the U.S. women’s soccer team defeated New Zealand 2-0 in its debut at the Rio Games on Wednesday, getting off to a solid start in its attempt to win a fourth straight Olympic gold medal. Lloyd put the Americans ahead with a header in the ninth minute and Morgan added to the lead…