Jill Craybas has only a slight chance of being named to the U.S. OlympicTeam.

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AP / Chris Carlson

The 2008 Olympics will open in eight days, and three Rhode Island natives will watch closely from vastly different perspectives.

Tennis pro Jill Craybas, who grew up in East Greenwich, will probably watch from U.S. soil because time is running out on her chance to be named to the main draw. She remains the third alternate, behind Edina Gallovits of Romania and Akiko Morigami of Japan.

Hammer thrower Thomas “Jake” Freeman, who also grew up in East Greenwich and went to Bishop Hendricken, made a strong bid for a spot on the U.S. team by finishing third at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., this month, but he did not reach the Olympic qualifying distance. Only the winner, A.G. Kruger of Ashland, Ohio, is bound for Beijing.

Sports journalist Harry Cicma, a Providence product who played tennis for Classical, will get an inside view of the Olympics from the NBC studios in New York City. He will host a highlight show on nbcolympics.com.

Craybas should learn in the next day or two if she should pack her bags for China. The United States is sending Venus and Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport to play singles, and Liezel Huber to play doubles with Davenport. The Williams sisters will also play doubles.

Each nation is allowed four singles players, but the Williamses and Davenport were the only Americans with rankings high enough to qualify for direct acceptance. Craybas was No. 75 in the world in the June 9 rankings that were used to determine the order of acceptance. That made her the fifth alternate. Fellow American Ashley Harkleroad was fourth but withdrew from consideration, preferring to focus on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

Freeman, the 2004 NCAA champion in the hammer as a student at Manhattan College, has continued to train under Jaspers head coach Dan Mecca and was ranked sixth among U.S. throwers heading into the Olympic Trials at the University of Oregon with a qualifying heave of 74.39 meters at Indianapolis last July. The 6-foot-5, 320-pounder threw his personal best, 74.41 meters, on June 20 at West Point, N.Y.

Freeman spent the last year focusing on and training for the Olympics. He broke his leg during the indoor season, when he throws the 35-pound weight, and that set back his preparations for the outdoor campaign.

At the trials July 4, his fourth throw was his best, 73.59 meters, or 241 feet, 5 inches. Kruger won with a throw of 75.81 meters, or 248-09. Kevin McMahon of Ashland, Ohio, was second with a throw of 74.49 meters, or 244-05.

Kruger is the only one of the top three who met the Olympic “A” qualifying mark of 78.50 meters, which is why he is the only U.S. hammer thrower with a ticket to Beijing. His qualifying throw went 78.68 meters.

Nevertheless, he said, “I knew I had to win to get in regardless of the “A” standard. In the back of my mind, I knew all it would take is for one of these guys to get one big throw to surpass me, so the pressure was always there.”

One big throw is what Freeman tried to produce.

“I knew I had to beat A.G. I needed to get to the “A” mark, so I went after it,” he said in remarks posted on usatf.org, the U.S. Track and Field Web site.

He fell short but was still satisfied.

“I’m happy. How can you not be happy with third place?” he said. Third was also worth $2,000.

Instead of flying to Beijing, Freeman, 27, flew to Mexico yesterday for a vacation. The early word out of Manhattan is that he may try again for the 2012 Olympics at London.

Cicma, a producer, reporter and anchor for NBC10 in Providence, is “very excited” about his upcoming role with nbcsports.com. He will work with Tiffany Simons, an NBC national sports reporter, on a highlights show that will originate from NBC headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.

Cicma is carving an Internet niche. As a student and varsity tennis player at Rutgers, he covered the U.S. Open for usopen.org. He has done work for tennisliveradio.com. He writes “Tennis Talk with Harry Cicma” on nbcsports.com and offers his opinions on tennisrecruiting.net. He got the “Tennis Talk” assignment after describing to NBC officials the need for more tennis coverage on nbcsports.com.

“Everybody was talking about how the Internet is the new media, the new wave … and there was no tennis on nbcsports.com,” he said.

There is now — Cicma was tabbed for a one-on-one interview with Roger Federer when he played Pete Sampras in their exhibition — and NBC officials must have remembered because they called Cicma about the Olympics assignment.

“I think it’s a real honor,” he said.

He will work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday during the Games and will return to Providence and Channel 10 for the rest of the week.

“I’d love to do the whole event, but you have to go with what you can get,” he said. His first day will be Aug. 10.

The 2004 Rutgers grad said his dream jobs were working for Channel 10 and for NBC. He is doing both now, which leads him to dream of “more exciting events to come.”

mszostak@projo.com