Madison
Everything goes up by six
Day 8, Saturday 3 August - 31 gold medals
Gold medal events:Archery (women's individual), artistic gymnastics(men's floor, women's vault, men's pommel horse finals), athletics (men's shot put, women's triple jump, mixed 4x400m relay, women's 100m, men's decathlon), badminton (women's doubles), equestrian (dressage grand prix special team), fencing (women's sabre team), judo (mixed team),road cycling (men's road race), rowing (women's single sculls, men's single sculls, women's eight, men's eight), sailing (men's and women's windsurfing finals), shooting (women's 25m pistol, men's skeet), surfing (men's and women's gold medal), swimming (men's 100m fly, women's 200m individual medley, women's 800m free, mixed 4x100m medley relay), table tennis (women's singles), tennis (women's singles, men's doubles).
Highlights
Britain’s fastest female sprinter, Dina Asher-Smith, will hope to line up in the 100m final at 20:20. Asher-Smith has changed coach and moved to train in Texas since a disappointing eighth place in last year’s world final. “I want to win the Olympics and I want to run really fast,” she said. Big rivals include US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson and Ivory Coast's Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith. Richardson has the year’s leading mark of 10.71 seconds, while Ta Lou-Smith was fastest in Friday's heats.
At 16:15, the pommel horse final is Max Whitlock’s chance to deliver on his aim of an unprecedented fourth consecutive medal on the same gymnastics apparatus. Ireland’s world champion and pommel horse specialist Rhys McClenaghan will also have his sights on gold. The women’s vault final (15:20) features Simone Biles, the Rio 2016 champion, returning to an event from which she withdrew in Tokyo.
This is the last day of rowing and the last final on the list is the men’s eight (10:10). Britain won this event in 2016 but New Zealand were the winners in Tokyo. GB have recovered to win the past two world titles. Defending champions Canada, Romania and the US are contenders in the women’s eight (09:50).
Dressage’s team event concludes from 09:00. GB have not been off the Olympic podium since a memorable victory at London 2012, but will they get back to the top step?
Brit watch
It is the penultimate night in the pool. GB smashed the world record to win the mixed 4x100m medley relay (20:58) when it was held for the first time at the Tokyo Games. This is a great relay to watch as there is plenty of strategy involved in looking at your team’s strengths and weaknesses, then deciding who you put on which leg. It is often not clear which team’s plan is paying off until the final moments.
Cycling returns with the men’s road race (10:00). GB have a full four-man team that features Tom Pidcock, who won the Olympic mountain bike title last week in thrilling fashion - and competed at the Tour de France this summer before Covid curtailed his involvement. The course reaches a climax with three laps of cobbled climb before a downhill stretch and a sprint towards the Trocadero.
Kayak cross is new to the Olympics. If you have seen snowboard cross at the Winter Olympics then - yes, that, except in whitewater. Instead of the usual Olympic slalom canoeing against the clock, paddlers race each other to the finish. They have to turn around in whitewater, flip their boats and perform all sorts of other manoeuvres along the way. The opening rounds begin at 14:30 and Team GB have some of the world’s best athletes.
Saturday’s hockey includes GB’s women versus Argentina at 09:00.
World watch
Serena Williams, Monica Puig and Belinda Bencic are the past three women’s singles tennischampions at the Olympics. China's Qinwen Zheng or Croatia's Donna Vekic will join that list. In the men's doubles final, Australia's Matt Ebden and John Peers face USA's Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
Elsewhere in the night’s swimming action, Katie Ledecky has a shot at a fourth consecutive gold in the women’s 800m freestyle (20:09). It could be close, though. Last time, in Tokyo, Ariarne Titmuswas just a second behind her - the first time anyone had been within four seconds of Ledecky in an Olympic final over this distance.
On the track, the men’s 100m heats (from 10:45) allows us a first look at world champion Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman, both representing the US, as well as GB trio Zharnel Hughes, Louie Hinchliffe and Jeremiah Azu. Keep an eye out for “Africa’s fastest man” Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya and Jamaican title challenger Kishane Thompson.
The decathlon concludes with the 1500m race at 20:45. After day one of competition, Germany's Leo Neugebauer is in the lead with Cuba's Ayden Owens-Delerme just behind in second.
Badminton’s women’s doubles is an all-Chinese affair.
Women football reaches the quarter-final stage with games kicking off at 14:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 20:00.
Expert knowledge
Ledecky is not the only athlete capable of racking up a fourth gold medal in an event on Saturday. Skeet shooter Vincent Hancock won gold in Beijing, London and Tokyo for the US, a remarkable record marred only by finishing 15th in Rio. This time around, Hancock is coming in ranked 17th in the world.
As of the start of Saturday, only six people have won the same individual event four times at the Olympics: Denmark’s Paul Elvstrom in sailing, Americans Al Oerter and Carl Lewis in athletics, Japan’s Kaori Icho and Cuba’s Mijain Lopez in wrestling, and Michael Phelps for the US in swimming.
Nobody has ever won the same individual event five times at the Olympics (although it could happen in Paris - see Tuesday, 6 August). Ledecky at LA 2028, anyone?
