Summer Olympics 2016: Things to Watch for on Day 6 in Rio
The 2016 Rio Olympic Games have already hit plenty of high notes. And we're only five days deep.
American fans have enjoyed great times in the pool and the gym, with men's swimming GOAT Michael Phelps, women's swimming GOAT Katie Ledecky and a possibly GOAT women's gymnastics team taking turns one-upping one another en route to Fort Knox-level gold-medal hauls.
As of this moment, Team USA leads second-place China, 32-23, in total medals and 11-10 in golds.
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When things get going Thursday, big medal numbers—and the otherworldly athletic moments that make them possible—could come pouring in anew.
Yes, Team USA is poised for more glory on Day 6, but that's not to suggest only stateside competitors are worth watching or capable of transcendence.
With all this in mind, let us run down the most compelling activities and athletes on tap for Thursday in Brazil.
Phelps and Ledecky Hit the Pool for Trademark Events
"She's the queen of freestyle."
That's a quote from none other than Sarah Sjostrom, the Swedish swimmer who took a silver medal Monday behind the great Katie Ledecky, who won the 200-meter freestyle event.
The 19-year-old phenom already has three gold medals at Rio, and on Thursday, she'll start her move toward a fourth in the 800-meter freestyle. Ledecky is the world-record holder and defending world and Olympic champ for the event. So, yes. Prepare for domination.
Did someone say domination? Michael Phelps now has 21—twenty-one!—Olympic golds. And he's still taking names. Thursday, he races in the preliminary heats of the 100-meter butterfly; he hasn't failed to net gold each of the three times he's competed in this event under the five rings.
He's favored to win his fourth and put gold medal No. 22 in the vault. So go ahead, young buck! Shadowbox in front of him and see what happens.
Biles Vies for Individual All-Around Title
Welcome to the coronation of Simone Biles.
With a Rio team gold (and plenty of non-Olympic hardware) already in her pocket, Biles is roundly viewed as the best female gymnast on planet Earth. At the same time, it's just as evident she needs the individual all-around Olympic championship to really sink that status into the cement.
We'll all find out together Thursday whether she has the stuff to do it. She'll have plenty of competition—including Russia's Aliya Mustafina and American teammate Aly Raisman—but nothing so far has suggested this is anything but a formality.
I mean, did you see her floor exercise in the team competition? Her vault? She's incredible. Thursday will be either a day of high drama if Biles falters or, far more likely, mind-bending athletic spectacle if she performs to expectations.
Nadal Pulls Triple Duty
With Novak Djokovic having been upset, Spain's Rafael Nadal and Great Britain's Andy Murray are easily the biggest names remaining in the men's singles field.
Both men will see action Thursday in the event's third round. Nadal faces Gilles Simon of France, while the defending Wimbledon champ takes on Italy's Fabio Fognini.
The draw is such that Nadal and Murray won't face each other unless it's for the gold medal. That's a pretty good storyline.
But hold the phone.
What really makes things interesting is Nadal will compete not once, not twice, but three times Thursday.
Rainouts are to blame for the cramped schedule. After Nadal plays Simon, he'll join partner Marc Lopez to face Canadians Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil in the men's doubles semifinals. Then, as if that wasn't enough, he'll take the court again, this time with Garbine Muguruza, for the first round of mixed doubles play.
And for that final dramatic flourish, the 14-time Grand Slam tourney winner will do all of this with a bothersome wrist injury.
If Nadal gets this done, he's doing it the hard way.
Kayla Harrison Goes for Back-to-Back Golds
At this point, Kayla Harrison is probably the most famous judo player in American history—non-Ronda Rousey division.
The thing is, if Harrison stopped competing today, she'd be substantially more accomplished than Rousey in a pure judo context. Harrison already has an Olympic gold medal from 2012, which she won despite competing with a dislocated knee; Rousey won bronze in 2008.
Harrison has a chance to further buttress that legacy when she goes for a second gold in Rio. The journey begins Thursday with her first match in the 78-kilogram division, where she ranks No. 1 in the world.
"As Billie Jean King says, 'Pressure is a privilege,'" Harrison said in a July interview with Laura Pfahler of the Journal-News. "So I am looking forward to getting to Rio, being with the team and other athletes and being in the Olympic moment."
Golf Gets Going Amid Ongoing Debate
The first Olympic golf shot in 112 years launches into orbit Thursday when the men tee up for the first round of individual play.
The high-profile defections from top players like Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy were followed by hot takes about how golf doesn't belong in these Games.
What it boils down to, pundits say, is it just doesn't mean that much in the golf world. As Michael Rosenberg of Sports Illustrated put it:
"The Olympics just don’t mean that much to the world’s best male golfers. If they want gold, they can fly the ol’ private jet to Saudi Arabia, get paid crazy money for an event that means nothing, then use the payout to buy big blocks of gold."
There's still plenty of celebrity in the mix, with names like Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler, among others, set to tee it up. We'll see how the golf ball bounces.
Ki Bo-Bae Aims for History Books
No one has ever successfully defended an individual Olympic gold in the sport of archery.
On Thursday, South Korean Ki Bo-Bae will try to rewrite that line item in the sport's history.
Bae, ranked third in the world heading into Rio, begins the day in the round of 16. It all culminates in the gold-medal match, which also happens Thursday.
South Korean teammate and world No. 1 Choi Misun is in the field as well. It won't be easy for Bae, but if she can do it, she'll be in a category of one.
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