I'm always sad the next two days because there's a break from gymnastics. But we've still got some great races in the pool with the second to last night of swimming competition and track and field starts up.
First up today is men's basketball vs. Serbia. Some might say Team USA had a "scare" the other night against Australia but they still won by 10. I suspect they'll keep up the winning ways.
The women's soccer quarterfinals get underway as the U.S. faces Sweden. The headline of this game is that the U.S. is facing former head coach Pia Sundhage, who coached them to gold in 2008 and 2012, and is now the Swedish head coach.
We've reached the round of 16 in beach volleyball, which means lose and go home. Tonight Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross play at 11 p.m. (EST) against Italy's Marta Menegatti and Laura Giombini.
The majority of the remaining individual swimming races are tonight with two relays and two individual events left on Saturday.
The fastest race of the whole meet happens tonight with the men's 50 free. Seriously, blink and you'll miss it. Some of these guys swim the whole time without taking a breath. This is one of those races where picking a favorite doesn't matter because anyone can win. The 2012 gold medalist Florent Manaudou of France grabbed the top spot in the semifinal. American Anthony Ervin and Ukraine's Andrii Govorov tied in their semifinal heat and into the final with the exact same time in the second spot. Ervin is also a previous gold medal winner in this event even if it was in 2000. He is 35-years-old and still one of the best sprinters in the world. Qualifying in fourth is USA's Nathan Adrian, who won bronze in the 100 free Wednesday. It's crapshoot. Just pick your favorite and cheer!
The women's 200m backstroke gives Hungary's Katinka Hosszu (aka The Iron Lady) her fourth chance to win gold after claiming the 200 IM, 400 IM and the 100m backstroke in Rio. She qualified in the top spot ahead of Canada's Hilary Caldwell. USA's Maya Dirado, who has had an incredible meet in Rio, qualified third and looks to win her fourth medal of the games. This race will be missing both the defending Olympic champion in Missy Franklin and defending world champion in Australia's Emily Seebohm as both failed to make the final.
Tonight is the last time we'll see Michael Phelps swim for an individual medal in the men's 100m butterfly. Like the 200 IM, he's the three-time defending Olympic champion in this race. He became the first person to ever win the same event four times in the Olympics and could do that again tonight, adding just a little more to that legacy. Phelps qualified in fifth after finishing second in his semifinal heat. Don't let fifth spot fool you. That was really just because he'd had about 30 minutes between the 200 IM and this semi. He was dead last at the turn and finished second in the heat. He really is unreal.
Singapore's Joseph Schooling qualified into the top spot to the final. The 19-year-old won bronze at the world championship last year and swims collegiately in the states at Texas. We'll see if South Africa's Chad Le Clos decides to do anymore crazy antics in this race, but he does have a few more competitors than in the 200m. Hungary's Laszlo Cseh and USA's Tom Shields qualified in fourth and sixth, respectively.
They should probably just save the eight minutes it takes for the women's 800m freestyle and just hand the medal to Katie Ledecky. She's a bigger favorite in this race than any of her other races and she's the defending Olympic champion. She already holds the world record and set a new Olympic record in the prelims. Also in the race is American Leah Smith, who was also a member of the winning 4x200 free relay.
As swimming winds down, that means the lights come on at the track. It's the start of the track and field event with only one final tonight in the women's shot put. Michelle Carter is the top thrower for Team USA. We'll also see the heats for the women's 100m and the men's 400m.
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