London Olympics: What to watch for on Friday

There are seemingly thousands of events in London each day. Here is what to keep an eye on Friday:

TRACK AND FIELD

The attention at track and field the next two days will be on the relays. It wouldn’t be unheard of for the U.S. to win all four, if they can keep from dropping the baton. The women’s 4 X 100 on Friday should feature Allyson Felix and Carmelita Jeter on two of the legs. The men’s 4 X 400 should be a little closer race. The U.S. and the Bahamas have equivalent season-best times.

BASKETBALL

The U.S. has certainly been at this point before. This will be the third straight Games in which the men have played Argentina in the semifinals. Argentina pulled the upset in Athens in 2004 but the U.S. got them back in 2008 in Beijing. Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs, Luis Scola of the Phoenix Suns and Carlos Delfino of the Milwaukee Bucks lead the Argentine team.

CYCLING BMX

There should be plenty of excitement as the men’s and women’s semifinals and finals will be held. The course at Olympic Park has been very challenging. In fact, there were more than 20 crashes during qualifying on Thursday. The U.S. has qualified Connor Fields and David Herman on the men’s side and Alise Post and Brooke Crain for the women.

SWIMMING

The men’s competition in open water swimming will be held. This is somewhat of a controversial sport in that U.S. star Fran Crippen died in a World Cup race two years ago. It caused the sport to look at itself and improve safety measures. They swim 10 kilometers and it will take under two hours. It is usually contested in an ocean or large body of water but this race will be in Hyde Park.