Simone Biles is back. Can she bring home the gold?
The US gymnastics star announced she will make her 2020 Olympics return for the women’s balance beam final Tuesday morning. It remains to be seen if she has solved her “twisties” problem, though the balance beam surely requires the least flying through the air of any event.
Elsewhere in Tokyo, there’s track and field, basketball and much more on Day 11 of the Games.
Here are the major Olympic events that will take place on Tuesday, August 3:
Gymnastics: 4:00 AM, NBCOlympics.com
It took until the very last day of gymnastics at the Tokyo Games, but Simone Biles is returning to Olympic competition. America’s most famous Olympian will compete in the women’s balance beam final (4:50 AM) early Tuesday, an event she won bronze in at the 2016 Olympics. Set those alarms (and coffeemakers).
The balance beam will clearly be the main event, but the last two men’s finals will also take place Tuesday: the parallel bars (4:00 AM) and horizontal bar (5:39 AM), both of which will feature Americans (Sam Mikulak and Brody Malone, respectively).
Track and field: 8:00 PM (Monday) and 6:00 AM (Tuesday), NBC/Peacock
Track and field is fully underway, and we’ve got a whole mess of finals on the docket for Day 11. The women’s long jump (9:50 PM) and men’s 400 meter hurdles (11:20 PM) will come to a conclusion on Monday night during prime time, each with one American in the field: Brittney Reese and Rai Benjamin, respectively. On Tuesday morning, the men’s pole vault (6:20 AM), women’s hammer throw (7:35 AM) and women’s 800m (8:25 AM) will conclude before the grand finale: the women’s 200m final (8:50 AM), which will feature Jamaican stars Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah matched up against American Gabrielle Thomas.
An added treat on Monday night: Allyson Felix, the most famous American runner, will be in heat 3 of the women’s 400m at 9:00 PM.
US men’s basketball: 12:40 AM, Peacock
It’s about to get real for the men’s basketball team, which will face Spain, a team it defeated in the gold medal match in both 2008 and 2012 (and then again in semi-final in 2016). Once again, the two teams are at the top of the FIBA international rankings, and it should be the toughest test yet for a US team that isn’t exactly in great form.
After losing to France in their opening game, the Americans won their next two games, crushing an inferior opponent in Iran and defeating the Czech Republic handily. But Spain is a much tougher opponent, with NBA players Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio and Willy Hernangomez. If you’re willing to stay up, it may be a stressful game.
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Diving: 9:00 PM (Monday) and 2:00 AM (Tuesday), CNBC
The men’s springboard will conclude between Monday night and Tuesday morning, with the semifinals starting at 9:00 PM Monday and the finals at 2:00 AM on Tuesday. American Andrew Capobianco barely made the semifinal cut, finishing 17th of 18 qualifiers, while the Chinese duo of Wang Zongyuan and Xie Siyi should continue to dominate.
