What’s happening at the Olympics on Sunday?
The US came out of the gates roaring in the first full day of Rio's games, with shooter Ginny Thrasher bringing home the first gold medal for Team USA. Today, all eyes will be on gymnast Simone Biles, widely considered the best in the world, and 18-time gold medalist Michael Phelps, but with a total of 22 sports competing and 14 gold medals up for grabs throughout the day, there's plenty else to keep you watching, too.
Here are a list of events to watch on NBC-TV or livestream. All times are in Eastern Time.
Gymnastics: The qualifying round for women's gymnastics events takes place today, and the US has an incredibly strong team to show off, a team whose planned routines are so weighted in difficulty that even multiple falls wouldn't halt their dominance. Simone Biles, three-time defending world champion in the all-around, will be making her Olympic debut when the US women take their turn at 4:30 p.m., until 6 p.m. Gabby Douglas, the reigning Olympic all-around champion, hopes to come back from a disappointing Olympic trail, and to secure a spot in the final for the all-around. The US can send only two competitors for the all-around, and team captain Aly Raisman is another strong competitor for a slot. The first group of gymnasts began at 8:45 a.m. and included 41-year-old Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan attempting to qualify for the vault final in her seventh Olympic games.
Tennis: Men’s and women’s singles and doubles first round will kick off at 9:45 a.m. Serena Williams will compete in both singles and doubles, when she'll be teamed up with her sister Venus Williams, who lost her opening single match Saturday, to face off against another tough pairing, Lucie Šafářová and Barbora Strýcová. Serena is the defending gold medalist in both events. 2012 gold medalist Andy Murray, 2008 gold medalist Rafael Nadal, and No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic will hit the court for the men's team.
Beach Volleyball: After a full day of preliminaries yesterday, the American women’s beach volleyball team will face Poland in a preliminary match starting at 10 a.m., and the American men's beach volleyball team team will face off against Tunisia's at 3:30 p.m.
Volleyball: The USA v. Canada men's volleyball match will take place at 4:00 p.m. The Iranian men will make their Olympic debut at 9:35 p.m., potentially Iranian women's first chance to see their team since they've been banned from the games in their own country.
Basketball: The American women, led by Chicago Sky star Elena Delle Donne will face Senegal at 11:00 a.m in what is expected to be an easy victory, pitting the team that has won the last 5 Olympic golds against one that has yet to win an Olympic women's basketball match.
Swimming: Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, will likely be swimming in the men's 400 relay at 10:52 p.m, hoping to add to his 22 medals. Katie Ledecky, the teenager who has set 11 world records, will take the pool before him, swimming in semifinals in the women's 400 meter freestyle at 1:51 p.m, and, if all goes as expected, again at the 10:00 p.m finals. As a 15-year-old in London, she took home the gold. She'll have another shot at gold at her race today, and there are 2 more swimming golds to be awarded, the women's 100 meter butterfly and men's 100 meter breaststroke.
Archery: Women's team quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal matches will all take place today. South Korea's Kim Woojin set a world record when the men competed Friday, and South Korea has brought home half the all-time Olympic golds in archery, so the women take their turn to keep up their country's tradition of dominating the sport starting at 1:00 p.m. today.
Diving: Starting at 3:00 p.m., each team of women's synchronized divers will be judged off their 5 dives and China is heavily favored to win. China's Wu Minxia won the gold in the past three consecutive Olympics and hopes to break her own record, making it four today.
Cycling: The US women's road racers, chosen by committee rather than trials, will set off on their course at 11:15 a.m. The grueling men's race saw quite a few bumps along the cobblestone road yesterday, and the women will compete on a slightly shorter version of the same course, at 85 miles long.
Fencing: Medal matches start today at 5:15 p.m. The American to watch in the individual foil competition is Alexander Massialas, who was America's youngest male athlete in 2012 in London and the country's best shot at a gold.
