BEIJING 2008

VIEWERS GUIDE

TIMING: Beijing is 15 hours ahead of Los Angeles. That means as you grab your morning paper at 8 a.m. today, it’s already 11 p.m. in Beijing. Much of the action takes place from about 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. Pacific time. The Times’ daily special section Beijing 2008 has all the information from events that conclude by about 10 p.m. Los Angeles time.

CATCHING UP: For up-to-the-moment news with your morning cup of French roast, go to latimes.com/olympics and pull up the “While you were sleeping” entry on The Times’ Olympic blog, Ticket to Beijing. Times Sports Editor Randy Harvey will fill you in on the big events that took place after you finally turned off coverage of women’s handball and hit the sack.

LIVE TV? Because of the time difference, virtually no competition we see on NBC on the West Coast is live. When you see “Live” in the upper right of your TV screen, that means it’s live on the East Coast, so it’s three hours delayed here.

COMING UP

TRACK AND FIELD: Yelena Isinbaeva, the world-record holder, scoffs at the prospect of losing to the U.S.-record holder, Jenn Stuczynski. But anything can happen in Olympic pole vaulting. Ask Sergei Bubka, who won the gold medal on the men’s side in 1988 and then failed to advance to the final in ‘92, ’96 and 2000.

MEN’S BASKETBALL: Pau Gasol couldn’t lead an upset of the United States. Dirk Nowitzki isn’t likely to, either, even with Chris Kaman on his side, when the Germans take their shot at Kobe, LeBron, Dwyane and friends.

GYMNASTICS: It’s your next-to-last chance to see women’s all-around champion Nastia Liukin. She’s in the final of the uneven bars competition.

-- Randy Harvey