PITTSBURGH -- The Countdown has begun! The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are almost here and WPXI-TV will be the place to catch all the action. NBC Universal plans to present more than 3,600 hours of the Olympic Games and Channel 11 will be hosting this coverage.

It will begin on Aug. 6—two days before the opening ceremony—with soccer and end with the Closing Ceremony on Aug. 24. Coverage will air daily starting at 10 a.m. and evening coverage will begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise stated below.

The Opening Ceremony will be held in the Beijing National Stadium on Friday, Aug. 8 beginning at 8 p.m. With this, 205 countries are expected to march in the Parade of Nations. The order of the march will be determined by Chinese characters with two exceptions following Olympic tradition with Greece marching first and host nation China last.

Day one of Beijing Olympics Games Coverage will start on August 9 with a live Women’s Volleyball—USA against Japan, followed by Swimming and a USA Beach Volleyball Match. The Men’s Cycling Road Race will take place beginning in the center of Beijing passing through Tiananmen Square and other historic sites before reaching the finish line at the Great Wall of China. It will be followed by Women’s Fencing, and Rowing.

The first night of competition will be held in the National Aquatics Center. Evening coverage will include live Gold Medal Finals for Men’s 400m Freestyle, 400m Individual Medley and Women’s 400m Individual Medley, 4X100m Freestyle Relay in Swimming followed by a live USA Beach Volleyball Match, Men’s Team Gymnastics Competition and a late night live showing of Men’s Volleyball—USA against Venezuela at 12:30 a.m.

Day two on Aug. 10 commences with live Men’s Basketball coverage—USA against China—along with Swimming, Beach Volleyball, Men’s Water Polo—USA versus China, Women’s Cycling, Women’s Weightlifting, Men’s and Women’s Badminton and concluded by Rowing.

Night coverage will include Gold Medal Finals for Swimming along with Women’s Team Gymnastics Competition, Women’s Diving, Men’s and Women’s Rowing. A late night presentation of the USA vs. Cuba in Women’s Volleyball will start at 12:35 a.m.

Monday, Aug. 11, will be day three of Olympic Games coverage beginning with live Beach Volleyball followed by Swimming, Rowing and the Whitewater Canoeing Competition.

Live night coverage of the Team Gold Medal Finals for Men’s Gymnastics and Gold Medal Finals for Swimming—Men’s 200m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke and Women’s 100m Backstroke and 100m Breaststroke—along with a USA Beach Volleyball Match followed by Platform Synchronized Gold Medal finals for Men’s Diving. Late night coverage will start at 1:05 a.m. and include a live Men’s Volleyball Match—USA against Italy—and Swimming Semifinals.

On Aug. 12, coverage will start with live Beach Volleyball then Swimming, a USA versus Italy Men’s Water Polo Game and Whitewater Gold Medal Finals for Canoeing.

Evening coverage will start with live Team Gold Medal Finals for Women’s Gymnastics, Finals for Men’s 200m Butterfly, 4x200m Relay and Women’s 200m Freestyle, 200m Individual Medley for Swimming. Along with this will be live Beach Volleyball coverage followed by Platform Synchronized Gold Medal Final in Women’s Diving and ending with Rowing.

USA against Venezuela in Women’s Volleyball and the Semifinals for Women’s 200m Butterfly and Men’s 200m Breaststroke for Swimming will start at 12:35 a.m.

Day five on Aug. 13 begins with live Beach Volleyball, Swimming and Women’s Water Polo—USA facing off against Italy.

Evening coverage will start live with Individual All-Around Gold Medal Finals for Men’s Gymnastics followed by live Swimming Finals for Men’s 200m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle and Women’s 200m Butterfly and 4x200m Relay. This will be followed by a live USA Beach Volleyball Match, Men’s Diving Springboard Synchronized Gold Medal Final and Women’s Individual Time Trial for Cycling.

Women’s 200 Breaststroke Semifinals in Swimming and Men’s Water Polo—USA versus Serbia will kick off at 1:35 a.m.

Aug. 14 will mark the sixth day of the Olympic Games. Coverage will commence with Swimming, Beach Volleyball, Rowing Semifinals and the Whitewater Gold Medal Finals in Canoeing.

Evening coverage will include live showings of the Individual All-Around Gold Medal Final for Women’s Gymnastics and the Gold Medal Swimming Finals for Men’s 200m Backstroke, 200m Individual Medley and Women’s 200m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle. This will be followed by Beach Volleyball and a Men’s Volleyball Match—USA against Bulgaria.

Women’s 200 back Semifinal for Swimming and Whitewater Gold Medal Finals for Canoeing will start at 1:35 a.m.

Day seven on Aug. 15, will begin with Swimming, Track and Field, Beach Volleyball, and Women’s Water polo—USA against Russia. Evening coverage will include live Swimming Gold Medal Finals for Men’s 100m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle and Women’s 200m Backstroke, 800m Freestyle. Then they will cover the Men’s 100m competition and Men’s Shot Put Gold Medal Final in Track and Field along with live Beach Volleyball Coverage and a Men’s Volleyball Match—USA versus China.

Women’s Track and Field 10,000m Gold Medal Final and Women’s Spring Board Competition for Women’s Diving will begin at 12:35 a.m.

Aug. 16, day eight, will start off with live Men’s Basketball—USA against Spain followed by Track and Field, Men’s and Women’s Trampoline Competition in Gymnastics, Beach Volleyball, Women’s Diving Springboard Semifinals, Men’s Water Polo—USA versus Croatia, Gold Medal Finals in Rowing Track Gold Medal Finals for Cycling and Singles Gold Medal Finals in Women’s Badminton.

Evening coverage will start at 7:30 p.m. with live coverage of the Gold Medal Finals in Swimming—Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay, 1500m Freestyle and Women’s 50m Freestyle, Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay. It will be followed by like Marathon for Women’s Track and Field along with the Women’s 100m Competition, Gold Medal Finals, Men’s 100m and Women’s Heptathlon and Shotput.

At 12:30 a.m., USA will have a Beach Volleyball Match and Women’s Track and Field 800m Semifinals will be shown.

Day 9 on Aug. 17 will kick off with live Women’s Basketball Coverage—USA against New Zealand—followed by the Quarterfinals in Beach Volleyball, Women’s Volleyball—USA against Poland—and Track Gold Medal Finals in Cycling. After that will be Team Gold Medal Finals for Woman’s Table Tennis, Team Jumping Competition in Equestrian and Gold Medal Finals for Rowing.

Evening Coverage will begin at 7 p.m. with Gymnastics—Individual Event Gold Medal Finals, Men’s Floor and Pommel Horse and Women’s Floor and Vault—along with Gold Medal Finals in Track and Field, Women’s Diving Springboard Gold Medal Final and Eight Gold Medal Finals for Rowing.

The Track and Field Gold Medal Finals, Men’s 10k and Women’s Triple Jump in Track and Field will start at 12:35 a.m. Following that will be the Quarterfinals in Men’s Beach Volleyball and the Women’s Triathlon.

Live coverage of USA against Japan in Men’s Volleyball will start off day 10 on Aug. 18. This will be followed by Track and Field, Springboard Competition in Men’s Diving and Men’s Beach Volleyball.

Evening coverage will begin at regular time and will include Individual Event Gold Medal Finals, Men’s Rings and Vault, and Women’s Uneven Bars in Gymnastics as well as Gold Medal Finals for Track and Field—Men’s Steeplechase, 400m Hurdles, Long Jump and Women’s 800, Discus Throw, and Pole Vault. After that will be the live Semifinals for Women’s Beach Volleyball followed by Trampoline Gold Medal Finals for Women’s Gymnastics.

Men’s Springboard Semifinal in Diving and Men’s Triathlon will start at 12:35 a.m.

Day 11 of the Olympic Games coverage will start live with Women’s Volleyball followed by Track and Field and the Semifinals for Women’s Water Polo.

The evening coverage will begin with Track and Field events—Gold Medal Finals, Women’s 400m, 100m Hurdles and Men’s 1500m, High Jump and Discus Throw—followed by Gymnastics events—Individual Event Gold Medal Finals, Men’s Parallel Bars and High Bar and Women’s Balance Beam. This will be followed b the live Semifinals of Men’s Beach Volleyball along with Springboard Gold Medal Finals in Men’s Diving.

Starting at 12:35 a.m., Men’s Trampoline Gold Medal Finals in Gymnastics followed by live coverage of Men’s Cycling—BMX Competition.

Aug. 20 will begin with live coverage of the Quarterfinals in Men’s Volleyball followed by Women’s Platform Competition in Diving. Evening coverage of day 12 will begin with Track and Field—Gold Medal Finals, Men’s 200m and Women’s 400m Hurdles—followed by Gala in Gymnastics and live coverage of the Gold Medal Match in Women’s Beach Volleyball and the Platform Semifinals in Women’s Diving along with BMX Gold Medal Finals in Cycling.

Women’s Volleyball Semifinals, Women’s Track and Fiend Hammer Throw Gold Medal Finals and Women’s Beach Volleyball Bronze Medal Match will begin at 12:35 a.m.

Day 13 will start with Men’s Marathon in Swimming followed by the Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition, the Gold Medal Match in Women’s Water Polo, the Individual Jumping Gold Medal Final in Equestrian and the Gold Medal Game Report for Softball.

Evening coverage will start with Track and Field events—Gold Medal Finals, Men’s 400m, 110m Hurdles, Triple Jump, Women’s 200m, Javelin Throw and day one of the Decathlon. This will be followed by the Platform Gold Medal Final in Women’s Diving and live coverage of the Gold Medal Match in Men’s Beach Volleyball.

Live coverage of the Semifinal in Men’s Volleyball and the Bronze Medal Match for Men’s Beach Volleyball will begin at 12:35 a.m.

Aug. 22 will kick off day 14 of the Beijing Olympic Games, beginning with live coverage of the Men’s Basketball Semifinals, Gold Medal Finals for Canoeing and Gold Medal Finals for Women’s Table Tennis.

Track and Field events will kick off the evening coverage, including the Gold Medal Finals, Men’s 4x100m Relay, Pole Vault, Women’s 4x100m Relay, Long Jump, 5000m and Decathlon 1500m. Following that will be the Platform Semifinal and Platform Competition in Men’s Diving along with the Rhythmic Competition for Gymnastics.

Live coverage of the Bronze Medal Match in Women’s Volleyball will air at 12:35 a.m.

Day 15’s opening events will include live coverage of the Gold Medal Game in Women’s Basketball along with the Synchronized Swimming Team Gold Medal Final, Canoeing Gold Medal Finals, Gymnastics Rhythmic Individual Gold Medal Final, a Gold Medal Match in Women’s Volleyball and the Gold Medal Finals in Boxing.

Evening coverage will start at 7:30 p.m. with live feed of the Men’s Track and Fiend Marathon followed by other Track and Field events—Men’s 800m, 5000m, Javelin Throw, 4x400 Relay and Women’s 1500m, 4x400 Relay and High Jump—and the Platform Gold Medal Final in Men’s Diving.

The live Men’s Basketball Gold Medal Game will kick off the late night coverage at 12:30 a.m., followed by Men’s Mountain Bike and a Gold Medal Match for Men’s Table Tennis.

On Aug. 24, coverage will commence at 12:00 p.m. for day 16 coverage. It will include Six Gold Medal Finals in Boxing, a Gold Medal Match in Men’s Water Polo, and the Rhythmic Group Gold Medal Final in Gymnastics.

Evening coverage will begin at 7:00 p.m. with the Gold Medal Match for Men’s Volleyball and the Closing Ceremony. The Closing Ceremony will be a celebration for the athletes where the torch will be passed to London for the 2012 Summer Games. It is promising that China will make the Beijing Closing Ceremony one of the grandest in history.

For complete information on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as well as video, images and much more visit our Olympics section.