NBC Ratings Fall Again on Saturday

NBC’s ratings for the Sydney Olympics dropped to a new low for a second consecutive night.

Saturday’s show, which included four track relay finals and live coverage of the men’s basketball final on the East Coast, drew a 10.5 rating and 20 share.

That is a tenth of a point lower than Friday’s rating, dropping the cumulative Nielsen number to 14.

These are the lowest-rated Summer Olympics since 1964, when only 14 hours of the Tokyo Games were televised.

*

USA Track and Field continues to suppress details on at least 10 positive drug tests, including three for the same steroid allegedly used by C.J. Hunter, according to Arne Ljungqvist, medical commission chief of the International Amateur Athletic Federation. Doping lab reports indicate that four of the cases are for ephedrine or related stimulants, three for high testosterone-epitestosterone levels, and three for the steroid nandrolone, Ljungqvist said.

*

Corey Wilkes, an alternate for the U.S. weightlifting team, died after the motorcycle he was riding crashed late Friday night, police in Colorado Springs, Colo., said. Alcohol and speed were factors in the crash, which also killed a woman who was with Wilkes, Sgt. Jerry Steckler said.