Aug. 14, 2008

BEIJING, China -

Five athletes with ties to Baylor will begin their quests for Olympic gold as track and field begins on Friday at the Beijing National Stadium.

Jeremy Wariner will look to defend his Olympic gold medal in the men's 400 meters beginning on Sunday. The No. 1-ranked quartermiler in the world will run preliminary heats of the 400 meters on Sunday night at 8:49 p.m. CDT. The event semifinals will take place on Tuesday at 8:59 a.m. CDT, with the finals on Thursday at 8:20 a.m. CDT.

Bayano Kamani will compete in the men's 400-meter hurdles for Panama, with preliminaries starting on Friday. Following Saturday's semifinals, the event finals will take place on Monday at 9 a.m. CDT.

Darold Williamson, an Olympic gold medalist as the anchor of the 4x400-meter relay in 2004, and Reggie Witherspoon, along with Wariner, are in the 4x400-meter relay pool for the United States. Preliminaries for the relay will be on Aug. 22 at 7:20 a.m. CDT, with the finals taking place at 8:05 a.m. CDT on Aug. 23.

In addition, Sanya Richards, who trains under Clyde Hart, will be competing in the women's 400 meters with preliminaries starting on Friday at 11:52 p.m. CDT. Semifinals will be on Sunday at 8:16 a.m. CDT and the event finals will take place on Tuesday at 9:10 a.m. CDT.

Complete coverage can be found on the NBC family of networks as well as NBCOlympics.com.

Men's 400 Meters
Aug. 17, 8:49 p.m. - First Round
Aug. 19 8:59 a.m. - Semifinals
Aug. 21, 8:20 a.m. - Finals

Women's 400 Meters
Aug. 15, 11:52 p.m. - First Round
Aug. 17, 8:16 a.m. - Semifinals
Aug. 19, 9:10 a.m. - Finals

Men's 400-Meter Hurdles
Aug. 15, 9:27 a.m. - First Round
Aug. 16, 8:24 a.m. - Semifinals
Aug. 18, 9 a.m. - Finals

Men's 4x400-Meter Relay
Aug. 22, 7:20 a.m. - First Round
Aug. 23, 8:05 a.m. - Finals