Another day, another chance at gold! The 2016 Rio Olympics are far from over, with U.S. athletes still competing in sports such as boxing, beach volleyball and basketball.
Here are five matches you shouldn’t miss on day 12 on Wednesday, August 17:
1. Boxing: Women’s Quarterfinal 75 KG
Livestream: 1:30 p.m.
Fists up! Team USA’s Claressa Shields will battle it out in the ring with Russian powerhouse Yaroslava Yakushina. Whoever wins will advance to the semifinals on Friday.
Shields became the first American woman to win Olympic gold in boxing when she competed at the 2012 London Games. The Flint, Michigan, native opened up about the historic moment in an interview with ESPN in April.
“When I got back to Flint, I would carry my medal everywhere. I never left it at the house: I kept it in my book bag,” she said. “I just thought it was the most beautiful, most valuable thing I had. I didn’t train hard, and fight hard, just to put it on a shelf. I wanted to show people: This is what I did. Not everybody can win a gold medal, especially in boxing.”
2. Beach Volleyball: Women’s Bronze Match
NBC: 9 p.m. ET
Last shot. U.S. teammates Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross will compete in their matchup against Brazilians Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes for bronze. On Tuesday, Jennings and Ross lost their chance at gold in the semifinals.
“We had so many opportunities to take the match, to take it into our hands and do what we wanted, do what we came to do and we didn’t do that. And that was the hardest thing to swallow. They played really well,” Jennings told Us Weekly and other reporters. “You gotta pass the ball to win matches and I don’t even know many aces they got, four per game on me? That’s acceptable and inexcusable. I’ve been served this whole tournament aggressively when people serve me, and so has April, and we’ve handled it in every other situation and it’s really, really disappointing and heartbreaking to not do that tonight.”
3. Track and Field
Livestream: 8:30 a.m.
It’s about to go down! Defending champion long jumper Brittney Reese and fellow American Janay DeLoach Soukup will go head to head with other competitors on the field. Soukup previously won bronze in the event at the 2012 London Games.
Reese has remained confident leading up to the big day. “I’m not pressured at all,” she said in July, via Oregon Live. “I know I’m the one to gun for.”
4. Basketball: Men’s Quarterfinals
Livestream: 10 a.m.
NBC: 5:45 p.m.
Layup time! The U.S. team will face Argentina’s athletes. Other games on Wednesday include Australia vs. Lithuania, Croatia vs. Serbia and Spain vs. France. If the U.S. advances, they will head to the semifinals on Friday and compete against either Spain or France.
5. Golf: Women’s First Round
Livestream: 6:30 a.m.
Fore! The Olympics will officially kick off the first round of women’s golf on Wednesday with 60 athletes. Some participating golfers include Americans Lexi Thompson and Stacy Lewis, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, and South Korea’s Inbee Park.
“Winning an Olympics would be better than any major. Any time I get to represent my country that’s bigger than anything,” Thompson told ESPN in March. “But to say that you’re an Olympian is the highest honor.”
“Pro female golfers seem to be getting more hype than the guys right now. I’m not so sure why, but I think the media attention will even out once the Games begin. Golf in the Olympics, in general, is a big story,” she added. “I think the men will be good about sharing the spotlight.”
