It's sadly the last night of gymnastics competition. It was somewhat shocking to not see Simone Biles at the top of the podium in the beam final yesterday. But that's why it's the beam. You never know. Nevertheless, she can close out the Olympics with another medal, likely gold, tonight. And she's still solidified as the "the best ever." Biles blew away the competition in qualifying with the top spot by half of a point over Aly Raisman in second. She bested the third spot by almost a point. It's easy to see Biles and Raisman going 1-2, once again, here. They are easily the best in the world on this event. If Biles wasn't in the competition, Raisman would win gold. Laurie Hernandez qualified in fourth, but of course is left out with two per country, and don't we all wish we could see that floor routine again? She could easily medal as well if allowed to compete. Italy's Vanessa Ferrari qualified in third and is a former world champion in the all-around and floor. At 25, she's considered a veteran as this is her third Olympics. Everyone else qualified at least a point behind Biles and a half a point behind Raisman.
We'll finally see another American male compete tonight, beginning with the parallel bars and Danell Leyva. He qualified sixth and won the silver at the world championships in the event two years ago. Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev (we've seen a lot of him) has his best chance at finally winning a gold these games in this event. He qualified in the top spot and is the reigning world silver medalist after winning the title in 2014. Russia's David Belyavsky and Cuba's Manrique Larduet earned the second and fourth spots, respectively, in qualifying. The Chinese are great on this event and qualified three with only two getting to compete. Deng Shudi won bronze at worlds last year and qualified third, while Hao You qualified fifth as the reigning world champion
My favorite event, men's high bar, is also tonight. This is always so fun to watch because the gymnasts through everything out there with reckless abandon to try and win. The winning routines are always awesome! Both Leyva and Sam Mikulak will compete in the final with Leyva qualifying fourth and Mikulak sixth. Leyva won silver on the event at worlds in 2015, while Mikulak doesn't always qualify for this event. Mikulak took some of the skills he's struggled on out of the routine for qualifying and it paid off. We'll see if he sticks with that or put it all in there to go for it. On of the favorites is Germany's Fabian Hambuechen, who qualified first, and has won bronze and silver on the event in the last two Olympics. He is itching for that gold. Great Britain's Nile Wilson qualified in second but the other favorite is Netherland's Epke Zonderland who is the reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion since then. There's also Brazilian Franscisco Barretto Junior and we'll see again Verniaiev (UKR) and Larduet (CUB).
At 1 p.m. (EST) the women's volleyball team faces Japan in the quarterfinals, while the USA women's basketball team looks to secure a spot in the semifinals by also taking on Japan at 5:45 (EST).
The final round of the men's 3m springboard takes place today. China's Cao Yuan, who finished third in the synchro event, is the leader after the prelims followed by Mexico's Rommel Pacheco. American Kristian Ipsen, who claimed bronze in the synchro in London, sits in third, while Michael Hixon, a silver medalist from synchro in Rio, is currently in sixth.
In track and field tonight is the finals for the men's high jump, the women's 1500m and the men's 110m hurdles, along with the first rounds of the men's 200m and more Usain Bolt. I don't have much information on the high jump or the 110 hurdles at posting time. Other than that one of the top Americans in the 110m hurdles is also a wide receiver at Oregon. But go USA!
Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba is the favorite in the women's 1500m with the top time in the semifinals. USA's Shannon Rowbury and Jenny Simpson qualified sixth and seventh, respectively, to the final and hope to best those placings as no American has ever finished higher than sixth in the event.
At the end of the night, we'll see Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross face their toughest test yet. Not only are they facing the top-ranked team but that team also happens to be Brazilian. This match against Agatha/Barbara determines who goes on to the gold-medal match.
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