London 2012: Day 9.

(In the face of a dramatic turn in the overall medal count, Jon is currently arranging a boycott of every product known to man, just to be safe. Meanwhile, you can use this as your open thread for Sunday's primetime coverage and Monday's live... buffering... buffering... buffering...)

Today's Olympic WTF?: "WTF is up with all the weird splotches of bright colors some athletes seem to have randomly applied to their bodies?" You've seen it, I'm sure; British tracksters with the Union Jack spilling down their shin, beach volleyball players with bits of hot pink all over the place, and I first really noticed it yesterday during the heptathlon when one girl looked like she'd spilled a bottle of Pepto-Bismol in her lap before throwing the javelin.

It's called Kinesio tape, and it's allegedly supposed to provide muscle support -- either to relieve pain or improve muscle strength, depending on its application -- when properly applied by trained physiotherapists. There's only one problem: scientists are suggesting it doesn't work. Physios disagree, of course, and athletes claim science just hasn't caught up to reality, but then athletes also believe a lot of really stupid things based on confirmation bias, don't they?

And now, after we jar your senses by placing this brief interruption in your feed, perhaps we can get through the recap of Day 9 and your guide to day 10 without a little spinny thing popping up in the middle of your screen:

Athletics: In qualification events, T'Erea Brown, Lashinda Demus, and Georganne Moline all earned entry into tomorrow's women's 400m Hurdles semifinals. In the men's 1500 semifinals, Leonel Manzano and Matt Centrowitz advanced to the final, but Andrew Wheating was eliminated. Both Tony McQuay and Bryshon Nellum were eliminated in the men's 400m semifinals. In the men's high jump, don't look now but K-State's Erik Kynard is in first place after qualifications. Jesse Williams and Jamie Nieto also advanced.

The medal events kicked off first thing in the morning with the women's marathon, won by Ethiopian Tiki Gelana. Priscah Jeptoo of Kenya won silver, while the bronze went to Russian Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova. Shalane Flanagan was tenth to lead the Americans, with Kara Goucher in eleventh only 16 seconds behind her. Desiree Davila did not finish. Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan won gold in the women's triple jump, outdistancing silver medalist Caterine Barguen of Colombia and Olha Saladhuha of Ukraine, who took bronze. Team USA took USA GOLD and bronze in the women's 400, as Sanya Richards-Ross won the race ahead of teammate DeeDee Trotter; just ahead of Trotter was Great Britain's Christine Ohuruogu.

Usain Bolt broke the Olympic record in the men's 100, blazing to a 9.63 time and beating his teammate Yohan Blake to the tape. Justin Gatlin won USA bronze; Tyson Gay and Ryan Bailey finished fourth and fifth. Krisztian Pars of Hungary took the gold in men's hammer, beating Slovenian Primoz Kozmus and Japan's Koji Murofishi; Kibwe Johnson was ninth overall. Finally, Kenyans Ezekiel Kemboi and Abel Kiprop Mutai took gold and bronze in the men's 3000m steeplechase, with the silver going to Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad of France.

Badminton: Chen Long of China won in three sets over Hyun Il Lee of South Korea to claim the bronze in men's singles; Long's teammate Lin Dan took the gold in three sets over Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei. In men's doubles, South Koreans Jae Sung Chung and Yong Dae Lee defeated Malaysians Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan in straight sets for the bronze. The doubles gold went to China's Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, 21-16/21-15 winners over Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark.

Basketball: Women's group B saw France get by Russia 65-54, Australia beat Canada 72-63, and Brazil has a comfortable lead in the fourth quarter over Great Britain in a game that doesn't matter as they're the two teams in this group not moving on to the quarterfinals, and I have to get out of here so can't wait for the final score. In group A the Czechs wiped out Angola 82-47, Turkey slipped by Croatia 70-65, and Team USA pounced all over the Chinese 114-66; the three winners will be joined by China in the quarters.

Beach Volleyball: Misty May and Kerri Walsh took down Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti of Italy in straight sets; Jennifer Kessy and April Ross also advanced in straight sets over Czechs Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova.

Boxing: Quanitta Underwood lost to Britain's Natasha Jonas in the women's lightweight round of 16. There were also round of 16 bouts in women's fly and middleweight, with Americans already passed through to the quarterfinals. Speaking of quarterfinals, the men's bantam and heavyweight quarters were also today, and we just don't care because men's boxing is dead to us. Until the semifinals, anyway.

Canoe/Kayak: off day.

Cycling: On Day 2 of the Men's Omnium, Bobby Lea was 11th in 4km Individual Pursuit and 7th in the 15km Scratch Race, which dropped him from medal contention. Lea finished 13th in the medal-deciding 1km Time Trial, and finished 12th overall. The gold went to Denmark's Lasse Norman Hansen, who bears a frightening resemblance to comic artist Rob Liefeld. Bryan Coquard of France won the silver, and the bronze was taken by Great Britain's Edward Clancy. In men's Sprint, Jimmy Watkins lost 2-0 in his quarterfinal match with Australian Shane Perkins, and finished in sixth place overall; the medal rounds are tomorrow. The women's sprint was reduced to its quarterfinalists today.

Diving: The Americans were shut out of the women's 3m springboard, with Cassidy Krug and Christina Loukas finishing in 7th and 8th. China's Wu Minxia took gold, while her teammate He Zi won silver; the bronze went to Mexican Laura Soto Sanchez, and don't look now but the Mexicans are getting pretty damned good at this sport.

Equestrian: Rich Fellers riding Flexible is one of 12 riders still to have not committed a fault after two days of jumping eliminations; he and Mclain Ward on Antares (tied for 17th with four faults) are still alive in individual jumping. Reed Kessler aboard Cylana was eliminated today after a horrible 8-fault day. Those three, along with Beezie Madden on Via Volo, barely avoided elimination from the team competition after one round; they're tied for seventh with Brazil.

Fencing: Team USA (Miles Chamley-Watson, Race Imboden, Alex Massialas, and Gerek Meinhardt) took down France 45-39 in the quarterfinals of the men's team foil before falling 45-24 to Italy in the semifinals. The Americans then lost the bronze medal match to Germany 45-27. Italy went on to win the gold, beating Japan 45-39.

Football: off day.

Gymnastics: Jacob Dalton finished fifth in the men's floor exercise, which was won by China's Zou Kai. Kohei Uchimura of Japan won the silver, and Russian Denis Abilyazin took bronze. McKayla Maroney is, apparently, mortal; she won USA silver but was beaten out for the gold by Sandra Raluca Izbasa of Romania. Maria Paseka of Russia won the bronze. There was no American in the pommel horse final, but our former imperial overlords managed to snag the silver and bronze via Louis Smith and Max Whitlock. The gold went to Hungarian Krisztian Berki.

Handball: Women's group A: Brazil slipped by Angola 29-26, Montenegro tied Russia at 25, and Croatia trounced Great Britain 37-14; the three winners move on to the quarterfinals along with Russia. In group B, South Korea beat Sweden 32-28, Spain got by Norway 25-20, and France downed Denmark 30-24. France, South Korea, Spain, and Norway all advanced.

Hockey, Field: In men's group A, Pakistan survived a 5-4 shootout with South Africa, Great Britain tied Australia at 3, and Spain dispatched Argentina 3-1. The GBR/AUS tie threw the group into chaos, and turns two of Tuesday's games into effective quarterfinal matches. In group B New Zealand knotted Belgium at 1-all, South Korea spanked India 4-1, and the Netherlands repelled Germany 3-1 in a match between the two teams which had already secured their berths in the semis.

Sailing: Finally, some sailing medals.

• Men's Star Medal Race: Sweden's Fredrik Look and Max Salminen took the medal race, vaulting themselves from third place into a gold medal. Great Britain's Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, the leaders coming into the day, finished eighth in the medal race but still managed the silver, while the bronze went to today's seventh-place finishers, Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada, who had been in second to start the day.
• Men's Finn Medal Race: Great Britain's Ben Ainslie finished today's race in ninth place, but his lead in the standings coming into the day was so commanding that he still managed to capture the gold medal. Jonas Hogh-Christensen of Denmark took silver despite finishing in dead last today, while Frenchman Jonathan Lobert won today's race to win the bronze, making up a five-point deficit to today's fifth-place skipper, Dutchman Pieter-Jan Postma.
• Women's RS-X (9-10): Farrah Hall posted a pair of 16th-place finishes, and did not qualify for Tuesday's medal race. Five skippers are still mathematically capable of taking the gold on Tuesday and seven may medal, though Spain's Marina Alabau Neira need merely finish eighth or better in the ten-vessel field for the gold.
• Men's RS-X (9-10): Rob Willis came in 11th and 30th, finishing 22nd and out of Tuesday's medal race. Regardless of Tuesday's outcome, Dutchman Dorian van Russelberge -- who didn't even finish today's race -- is guaranteed the gold, as he already had a twenty-point lead in the standings over Britain's Nick Dempsey. Dempsey, Germany's Toni Wilhelm, and Przemislaw Miarczynski of Poland are the only skippers capable of taking silver and bronze.
• Men's 49er (12-13): The American crew of Erik Storck and Trevor Moore finished 20th and 17th in today's races, dropping them to 15th overall. Still an outside shot at making the medal race after tomorrow's runs, but an actual medal is out of reach. The Aussies and Kiwis could suffer horrible days tomorrow and reel back into the pack, but it seems unlikely.
• Women's 470 (5-6): Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan struggled through race 5, finishing 19th; it got worse in race 6, as they were 20th and last. They drop from fourth overall to eighth, and although they're still in position for the medal race life just got a whole lot more difficult. On the bright side, the field has more balance than in some other events. Everyone is still stuck with at least two fifth-place-or-worse finishes even after deducting their worst placing, so even the gold medal is still not yet out of sight for the American duo.

Shooting: Nickolaus Mowrer finished 15th and Daryl Szarenski 28th in this morning's qualifications for men's 50m pistol, and did not qualify for the final. South Korea took both the gold and silver courtesy of Jongoh Jin and Young Rae Choi; China's Wang Zhiwei claimed bronze. The first day of men's Trap qualification saw Australia's Michael Diamond leading the way with a perfect 75. There's no American in the event.

Swimming: Swimming is off the calendar until the ultra-distance races start Thursday.

Synchronized Swimming: Mary Killman and Maryia Koroleva are tenth after the qualification technical routine, well off the pace set by the leaders, Russians Svetlana Romashina and Natalia Ishchenko.

Table Tennis: In the men's team quarterfinals, Hong Kong getting past Japan in five sets, as did South Korea to defeat Portugal. China swept Singapore, and Germany blanked Austria. In the first of the women's team semifinals, Japan blanked Singapore.

Tennis: The Williams sisters won USA GOLD in women's doubles, beating Czechs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4/6-4; the bronze went to Russians Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova, who beat Americans Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in three sets. In men's singles, Croatia's Novak Djokovic was shocked by Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro 7-5/6-4 in the bronze medal match. Andy Murray continued the British assault on the medal table, beating Roger Federer in straight sets to capture the gold. In mixed doubles, Raymond and Mike Bryan took the bronze 6-3/4-6/1-0 over Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Kas of Germany; Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi of Belarus won the gold, beating Murray and Laura Robson 2-6/6-3/1-0.

Volleyball: Women's group play has concluded. In group A, the Dominican Republic blanked Algeria, Japan swept Great Britain, and Russia beat Italy 3-2. The three winners advanced to the quarterfinals, as did Italy. In group B, China needed five sets to escape South Korea, Brazil made short work of Serbia in straight sets, and Team USA whitewashed Turkey. Team USA, China, South Korea, and Brazil advanced.

Water Polo: In the women's quarterfinals, Team USA advanced with a 9-6 win over Italy, Hungary edged Russia 11-10, Australia beat China 20-18 after a 4-2 penalty shootout, and Spain had some trouble but eliminated the British 9-7.

Weightlifting: Zhou Lulu won the women's +75kg for China, with Russia's Tatiana Kashirina taking silver and the bronze going to Armenia's Hripsime Khurshudyan. Sarah Robles finished seventh and Holley Mangold came in tenth.

Wrestling: In men's 55kg Greco-Roman, Spencer Thomas Mango was eliminated in the 1/8 finals by Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan. Mango qualified for the repechage when Bayramov advanced to the final (which Bayramov lost to Iranian Hamid Mohammed Soryan Reihanpour), but lost to eventual bronze medalist Mingiyan Seminov of Russia. The other bronze went to Peter Modos of Hungary. Benjamin Provisor had to wrestle in a qualifying bout of the 74kg, defeating Cuba's Alexei Bel, but then also went out in the 1/8 finals, losing to Zurabi Datunashvili of Georgia. He was eliminated for good when Datunashvili lost in the quarterfinals to Azeri Emin Ahmadov, who went on to win one of the two bronze medals, the other going to Aleksandr Kazakevic of Lithuania. The gold was won by Russian Roman Vlasov, who beat Armenian Arsen Julfalakyan in the final.

MEDAL COUNT: The Chinese are back out in front on both... fronts. In overall medals, the Chinese lead with 61, Team USA just behind with 60; the British have 37, Russia 35, and Japan 27. China has 30 golds to take a two-medal lead over the Americans; the British are charging hard with 16, South Korea with 10, and France with 8. Don't worry, Kazakhstan is still right there with in sixth with six, tied with Italy.

Tomorrow (all times Central):

Remember, all events available live streaming if you can get it to stop buffering. The broadcast details I give here are TV-specific. They also don't necessarily imply coverage of any particular competitor or team matchup unless specified.

Athletics: Tomorrow's slate:

• 4:00am: Men's Discus Qualification (Jason Young, Jarrod Rome, Lance Brooks)
• 4:05am: Women's 100m Hurdles Round 1 (Kellie Wells, Dawn Harper, Lolo Jones)
• 4:45am: Women's Shot Put Qualification (Jillian Camarena-Williams, Michelle Carter, Tia Brooks)
• 4:50am: Men's 800m Round 1 (Khadevis Robinson, Nick Symonds, Duane Solomon)
• 5:45am: Women's 1500m Round 1 (Shannon Rowbury, Jennifer Simpson, Morgan Uceny)
• 1:00pm: Women's Pole Vault Final (Jennifer Suhr and Becky Holliday)
• 1:15pm: Women's Shot Put Final
• 1:20pm: Women's 200m Round 1 (Allyson Felix, Carmelita Jeter, Sania Richards-Ross)
• 2:15pm: Women's 400m Hurdles Semifinals (T'Erea Brown, Lashinda Demus, Georganne Moline)
• 2:45pm: Men's 400m Hurdles Final (Kerron Clement, Angelo Taylor, Michael Tinsley)
• 3:05pm: Women's 3000m Steeplechase Final (Emma Coburn and Bridget Franek)
• 3:30pm: Men's 400m Final (no Americans)

(tape delay: NBC 9-9:30am, 12:15-12:45pm, 3:30-4pm, Primetime, and Late Night)

Badminton: Gone, hopefully taking all its scandal with it.

Basketball: Men's group play concludes. In group B, Australia faces Russia, Great Britan hosts China, and Spain meets Brazil; Russia, Brazil, Spain, and the Aussies are already on their way to the quarterfinals. Group A includes Tunisia-Lithuania, France-Nigeria, and at 4:15 Team USA takes on Argentina. That game doesn't really matter as both teams are already through along with France, but the other two group A games will decide the fourth quarterfinalist between Lithuania (most likely, given the matchups) and Nigeria. (All games LIVE on NBC Specialty; Australia-Russia NBCSN 3am, Spain-Brazil MSNBC 2:30pm, USA-Argentina NBC 4:15pm)

Beach Volleyball: Men's quarterfinals at noon and 1pm (the latter being the match pitting Jason Gibb and Sean Rosenthal against Latvians Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins), and the other two quarterfinals at 4 and 5pm. (LIVE: MSNBC 12-1pm, NBC 1-2pm, MSNBC 4-5pm; tape delay: NBC Primetime)

Boxing: The morning sessions include quarterfinals in women's fly, lightweight, and heavyweight classes. American flyweight Marlen Esparza takes on Karlha Magliocco of Venezuela at 7:45am; Claressa Shields faces Swede Anna Laurell in a heavyweight bout at 9:45. The afternoon session consists of the quarterfinals in men's lightweight, middleweight, and super heavyweight, and you already know Team USA's not involved. (LIVE: NBCSN 7:15-8:45am; tape delay: NBC 12:45-1:45pm, CNBC 4-7pm)

Canoe/Kayak: The sprint events begin today, with no Americans in any of today's four events. The men's 1k K1 heats start at 3:30am, semifinals at 4:58, while the men's 1k C1 heats are at 3:54am, semifinals at 5:14. The men's 1k K2 begins at 4:18, with semis at 5:30, and the women's 500m K4 is at 4:39/5:51. (tape delay: NBC 10:30-11am, 12:45-1pm)

Cycling: In men's sprint, tomorrow's semifinals begin at 10am, with the medal matches at 11:43; American Jimmy Watkins was eliminated today. Sarah Hammer, bronze medalist in the Worlds, competes in the women's Omnium, with day one events including the 250m Time Trial at 10:08am, 20km Points Race at 11:06, and the Elimination race at 12:18pm. The women's Sprint quarterfinals are at 10:43am, with 5-8 placement races at 12:41pm; no American in that event. (tape delay: NBC 3:15-3:30pm, Primetime, Late Night)

Diving: Chris Colwill and Troy Dumais attempt to qualify for the men's 3m springboard semifinals starting at 1pm. (tape delay: NBC Primetime)

Equestrian: Tomorrow is the third individial qualifier, with Rich Fellers riding Flexible and Mclain Ward on Antares still breathing; they're joined by Reed Kessler aboard Cylana and Beezie Madden riding Via Volo for the final round of team jumping. (tape delay highlights: NBC 11-11:45am)

Fencing: We're all done with the swordplay for these games.

Football: The women's semifinals are today, with France meeting Japan and Team USA engaging in a little border war with the Canadians. (Both games LIVE on NBC Specialty AND NBCSN; France-Japan at 11am and USA-Canada at 1:45pm; each game will be replayed twice later on NBC Specialty, FRA-JAP at 4pm and 7:30pm, USA-CAN at 5:45pm and 9:15pm)

Gymnastics: Three more individual events wrap tomorrow, as the men's Rings final begins at 8am without American involvement. The women's uneven bars are at 8:50, with Gabby Douglas going for another gold. At 9:41, Sam Mikulak goes for gold in the men's vault. (tape delay: NBC Primetime)

Handball: Men's group play concludes. In group A, we get Argentina-Tunisia (winner advancing along with Iceland, France, and Sweden), Iceland-Great Britain, and France-Sweden; group B includes Hungary-Serbia (deciding the fourth quarterfinalist, joining Croatia, Spain, and Denmark), Denmark-South Korea, and Spain-Croatia. (Not televised today.)

Hockey, Field: Likewise, women's group play comes to an end. In group A, Japan meets China, South Korea faces Belgium, and Great Britain squares off with the Netherlands. The Dutch are secure; either the British or Chinese will join them in the semifinals. Group B has New Zealand-Germany, Argentina-Australia, and at 4:45am Team USA bids farewell against South Africa. A New Zealand loss and an Australian win would send both Argentina and Australia through; if New Zealand wins, they're in as is the winner of the Argentina-Australia game. (LIVE: USA-South Africa NBCSN 4:45am)

Rowing: We bid farewell to Eton Dorney for good after today's medal events.

Sailing: The breakdown, as the schedule starts to ease up: we've got the medal race in women's Laser Radial at 7am, with Paige Railey in the field but with no hope of a medal, and men's Laser at 8am with no American in the fleet. At 6 and 7:15am are races 7-8 of the men's 470, while the final two preliminary races of the men's 49er are at 9 and 9:45. (Not televised today.)

Shooting: At 3am Matthew Emmons and Jason Parker will shoot the qualification rounds for men's 50m 3-position rifle; the final will be at 7:45. Day 2 of men's Trap qualification also begins at 3am, with the final at 10; no Americans involved in that one. (tape delay: NBCSN 10:30-11am, MSNBC 1-1:30pm)

Swimming: The pool events are all complete now, and swimming is off the calendar until Thursday.

Synchronized Swimming: Mary Killman and Mariya Koroleva continue on to the women's duets qualification free routine at 9am. (tape delay: NBC 11:45am-12:15pm, 2-2:30pm)

Table Tennis: The second women's semifinal, pitting China against South Korea, was rescheduled to 4am tomorrow. The men's semifinals have China meeting Germany at 8:30am, while Hong Kong faces South Korea at 1pm. (tape delay: MSNBC 9:30-10:15am, 11:15am-noon)

Tennis: A fond farewell to Wimbledon, though at least we'll be back here next year rather than never.

Volleyball: Men's group play ends; in group A, we've got Poland-Australia, Italy-Bulgaria, and Great Britain-Argentina; Poland, Italy, and Bulgaria are safe, and so is Argentina so long as they don't lose in three or four sets while Australia wins. In group B, Russia meets Serbia, Brazil faces Germany, and at 2pm Team USA takes on Tunisia. Should Serbia win while Germany loses in 3-4 sets, Serbia joins Team USA, Russia, and Brazil in the quarterfinals; otherwise, the fourth team is Germany. (LIVE: Russia-Serbia NBCSN 6:15am; Italy-Bulgaria NBCSN 8:45am; tape delay: Brazil-Germany NBCSN 6:15-7pm)

Water Polo: Seven of the eight quarterfinal spots are secure, with Croatia, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary, and the USA all advancing. The question is in group A, where the match between Greece and Australia will determine the eighth slot; Greece moves on with a win or a tie, otherwise it's the Aussies. The other group A games are Kazakhstan-Croatia and Spain-Italy. In group B, we get Romania-Serbia, Great Britain-Montenegro, and at 9:30 am Team USA meets Hungary. (LIVE: Romania-Serbia MSNBC 8am; USA-Hungary NBC 9:30am)

Weightlifting: There is no American in the men's +105kg final, which begins at 9:30am and concludes at 1pm. (tape delay highlights: NBCSN 3:45-4:15pm)

Wrestling: Three men's Greco-Roman events today, all beginning with qualifications at 7am, 1/8 finals at 7:30, quarterfinals at 8:30, semifinals at 9, and repechage/bronze matches at 11:45. The 60kg event, featuring American Ellis Coleman, concludes at 12:46. Chas Bettis competes in the 84kg, with its final at 1:21, and Dremiel Byers will hope to be in the 120kg final at 1:56. (LIVE: MSNBC 1:30-2:30pm; tape delay: MSNBC 10:15-11:15am)