Summer Olympics 2016: What to Watch for on Day 9 in Rio
Huge Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and tiny American gymnast Simone Biles seek to add to their fame in events with gold medals on the line in Day 9 on Sunday.
The 6'5", 207-pound Bolt has won the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4x100-meter relay each of the past two Olympics, and he plans to do it again.
"I'm going to win the 100," Bolt told CNN's Amanda Davies this month. "I never try to predict times, I avoid that because you never know. I'll win all three gold; there's never anything else for me when it comes to a championship."
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The 4'8", 105-pound Biles has already won two gold medals but starts her bid for more on Sunday.
Men's golf, tennis, boxing and basketball also feature significant competitions on Day 9.
The Bolt-Gatlin Duel for Sprinting Supremacy
Usain Bolt has dominated men's sprinting like no other person in history. He is attempting to win all three sprints (100, 200 and 4x100 relay) for the third consecutive Olympics, something that has never been done.
His bid to win the first, and most prestigious, of those gold medals in these Olympics takes place Sunday evening in the 100-meter finals. That is the race that bestows upon the winner the mythical title of world's fastest human.
But USA's Justin Gatlin offers a significant challenge. He won the 100 at the 2004 Olympics but has twice tested positive for banned substances, leading to a four-year ban from competition, as noted in a CBSNews.com report.
Eligible again, Gatlin has recorded the two fastest times in the 100 this year, and the third-best time was achieved by American Trayvon Bromell, who is also a contender for gold.
However, it was Bolt who beat Gatlin by a hundredth of a second at the 2015 World Championships. The 100-meter final on Sunday may be that close again.
This may be the last Olympics for both Bolt, who turns 30 on August 21. and Gatlin, who is 34.
A bit overshadowed are two other intriguing finals: the men's 400 meters, in which American LaShawn Merritt will try to match the gold medal he won in 2008, and women's triple jump.
Biles Continues Quest for More Gymnastics Gold
Simone Biles, who has already captured gold medals in the team competition and the all-around, will bid for her third gold medal of these Olympic Games on Sunday as the finals in individual events begin.
She is quickly becoming the story of the Olympics, along with Bolt and Michael Phelps, as she noted in a tweet last week:
Biles is the favorite to take the gold in Sunday's vault finals, but she didn't qualify for the uneven bars, the other event to be contested Sunday.
American Madison Kocian had the best qualifying score in the uneven bars, making her the favorite in that competition.
However, 2012 all-around gold medalist Gabby Douglas was third in qualifying in the uneven bars, and she has a shot at gold too.
The finals in the balance beam will be held Monday, with the floor exercise final scheduled for Tuesday.
American men are trying to atone for what has been a disappointing Olympics so far. They failed to medal in the team competition and individual all-around competition.
The United States' best gymnast, Sam Mikulak, is one of three Americans who qualified for Sunday's finals in either the floor exercise or the pommel horse (Mikulak is in the floor final). Any American medal in those two events will be a cause for celebration.
Del Potro Rescues Men's Tennis Event
With Roger Federer not participating and Novak Djokovic losing in the first round, the Olympic men's singles tournament seemed destined to be a bore. Juan Martin del Potro changed that by following his upset of Djokovic with more excellent tennis, including his semifinal win over Rafael Nadal. He'll take on Andy Murray, the No. 2-ranked player in the world, in Sunday's gold-medal match.
Since winning the 2009 U.S. Open title, del Potro has been stricken with persistent wrist problems that have waylaid his career and sent his ranking tumbling to its current position at No. 141. However, the Argentine has raised his game in front of electric crowds in this Olympic event, which carries no ranking implications or prize money.
Murray will be bidding to duplicate his gold-medal-winning performance of 2012, but instead of playing in front of an encouraging crowd in London as he did four years ago, the Scottish star will face a pro-del Potro crowd Sunday.
The gold medal in women's doubles will also be decided Sunday, but Serena and Venus Williams, who won the 2012 Olympic gold medal, lost in the opening round.
America's Teenage Boxing Dynamo Makes His Debut
The United States has already won a medal in men's boxing, something it failed to do in 2012, but the hunt for the first men's boxing gold medal since 2004 continues after Nico Hernandez's semifinal loss in the light flyweight division left him with a bronze.
The tradition of U.S. Olympic boxing excellence had been a precursor to professional success, as represented by the gold-medal performances of Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay), among others. That tradition has all but disappeared.
The American male boxer with the best shot to capture a gold medal this year has yet to make his first Olympic appearance. That boxer is Shakur Stevenson, a 19-year-old bantamweight from Newark, New Jersey, and he will make his Olympic debut Sunday in a preliminary-round bout.
Named after rapper Tupac Shakur, Stevenson is 23-0 in international competition, according to TeamUSA.org.
Andre Ward is the last American male boxer to win an Olympic gold medal, winning his weight class at the 2004 Summer Games, and he thinks Stevenson may be the one to break the Americans' drought, as Steve Politi of NJ.com reported.
Stevenson will have the crowd against him, because he will fight Robenilson Vieira de Jesus of Brazil in his opening bout.
The First Golf Gold Medal
An Olympic gold medal will be awarded in golf for the first time in more than 100 years on Sunday, when the final round of the men's golf competition is played.
The field is somewhat diluted, because a number of of the top players, including Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson, are not competing. Nonetheless, golf deserves some attention in its debut in the Olympics.
Justin Rose of England holds a one-shot lead over Henrik Stenson of Sweden after three rounds, with Bubba Watson being the top American threat, six strokes off the lead.
U.S. Men's Basketball Looks to Regain Dominance
After the United States' close calls against Australia and Serbia in men's basketball this past week, the invincibility of the American team has been called into question. The Americans are unbeaten but have not looked unbeatable, as they barely extended their streak of consecutive victories in international play to 49 with a three-point win over Serbia, which is 1-3 in group play.
The U.S. has assured itself a berth in the quarterfinals, but Sunday's final preliminary-round game against France will be worth watching, because the Americans' margin of victory has shrunk in each successive game. France features Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum, Boris Diaw and Rudy Gobert. It is 3-1, including a victory over Serbia.
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