10 Must Watch Olympic Events This Week (8/15)
By Ryan Mayer
One full week of Olympic competition is in the books. Hard to believe, right? The first week gave us plenty of memorable moments in the pool and the gymnastics arena. Now, track and field takes center stage and the gymnastics event finals continue while the basketball and soccer tournaments get into the knockout stages.
Here are the 10 events to watch for this week of competition.
1. Monday, August 15th (2:46 p.m. ET) - Women's Gymnastics Balance Beam Final
Simone Biles is 3-for-3 in her chase for five gold medals at this Olympic Games after picking up gold in the vault final yesterday. Today, she attempts to make it 4-for-4 as she competes in the beam final along with teammate Laurie Hernandez. Biles has established herself as a star of these Games and this will be one of the last times you get to watch her on this stage.
2. Tuesday, August 16 (1:47 p.m. ET) - Women's Gymnastics Floor Exercise Final
Defending floor exercise gold medalist Aly Raisman goes up against her teammate Simone Biles as the two look to bring home two more medals for this historic USA women's gymnastics team. Biles got the better of Raisman in the All-Around Final, can Raisman turn the tables in the floor exercise? Or will Biles' greatness continue?
3. Thursday, August 18th (9:30 p.m. ET) - Men's 200m Final
Usain Bolt defended his 100-meter title on Sunday night in spectacular fashion and became the first athlete to win the 100 in three consecutive Olympics. Now, on Thursday night he will attempt to do the same in the 200 meters looking for his eighth gold medal of his Olympics career. The Jamaican sprinter is always a spectacle to behold and that will surely be the case once again in primetime on Thursday.
4. Monday, August 15th (9:45 p.m. ET) - Women's 400m Final
Allyson Felix is looking to add to her medal collection as she already has four golds in her Olympic career. This would be her first in this event, however, and she is the defending world champion at this distance. Her big competition will come from Bahamas' Shaunae Miller (silver at worlds) and Jamaica's Shericka Jackson (bronze at worlds). This should be a fun event as Felix looks to continue building her legacy.
5. Friday, August 19th (9:35 p.m. ET) - Men's 4X100m Final
This is likely the final event of Usain Bolt's Olympic career and his Jamaican team is the heavy favorite. Attempting to add both this and the 200m to his gold medal collection, the Jamaicans have dominated this event winning gold medals in each of the last two Olympics.
6. Saturday, August 20th (9:00 p.m. ET) - Women's 4X400m Relay Final
The American women have dominated this event in its Olympic history. They've taken home the gold medal in each of the last five Olympics dating back to the 1996 Atlanta games. However, the Americans were beaten at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing by Jamaica by .34 seconds. The third place team, Great Britain, was a full four seconds back, so this is really a two country race. Can the Americans keep their remarkable streak going? We'll find out on Saturday night.
7. Sunday, August 21st (2:45 p.m. ET) - Men's Basketball Gold Medal Game
The men's basketball tournament has been slightly more interesting over the past couple of games as we've seen Team USA pushed to the limit by both Australia and France. It's no longer a foregone conclusion based off of the US' performances in each of those contests that they will make the final. It will be interesting to watch the quarterfinals (Wednesday) and semifinals (Friday) to see if the USA gets upset at any point but, this is the prized event with the gold medal on the line.
8. Thursday, August 18th (10:59 p.m. ET) - Men's Beach Volleyball Final
One American team is still left in the competition and it's the pairing of Nicholas Lucena and Phil Dalhausser. You may remember Dalhausser from previous Olympics as he won gold in Beijing with Todd Rogers before the two failed to get out of the Round of 16 in London. With a new partner now in Lucena, Dalhausser looks to avenge that loss and so far the pair is looking good as they won their pool. Now, they have a quarterfinal matchup with the Brazilian pairing of Bruno Schmidt and Alison Cerrutti later today before a possible semifinal match tomorrow.
Keep an eye on this one as the pair that knocked Dalhausser out in London, Italy's Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo are on the other side of the bracket and the two teams could meet in the final.
9. Wednesday, August 17th (10:59 p.m. ET)- Women's Beach Volleyball Final
Kerri Walsh-Jennings and new partner April Ross have dominated the women's draw on their way to the semifinals so far dropping just one set. Their semifinal opponents is one of the two Brazilian pairings left in Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas. While the Brazilians have the home advantage, Walsh-Jennings has looked dominant as ever and would be chasing her fourth straight gold medal if she and Ross make the final on Wednesday.
10. Saturday, August 20th (2:30 p.m. ET)- Women's Basketball Gold Medal Game
Okay, so one for two in terms of competitive basketball tournaments isn't bad, right? The USA women have outscored their opponents by an average of 40 points per game. They play China in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, a team that they previously beat 105-62. They're likely to advance to the final and win the gold, it's really just a matter of how big the margin of victory will be.
Ryan Mayer is an Associate Producer for CBS Local Sports. Ryan lives in NY but comes from Philly and life as a Philly sports fan has made him cynical. Anywhere sports are being discussed, that's where you'll find him.