United States–China Gold Medal Race Comes Down to Final Day of Paris Olympics

The battle for the most victories at the 2024 Games remains on the line. Plus, the closing ceremony bids adieu to the host city.

A'Ja Wilson will look to lead Team USA to gold in women's basketball for the eighth straight Olympics. / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

It’s Day 16, and the end of the line for the 2024 Paris Olympics. I hope you’ve had as much fun as I have had writing these daily posts and hosting Sports Illustrated’s Daily Rings, my daily podcast with Dan Gartland. This is my final viewing guide, but we’ll have two more episodes of the podcast looking back at the entire Olympics.

The Paris Games aren’t quite over yet, though. We still have one more day of sports. The U.S. and China are also battling for the most gold medals, with China ahead 39 to 38. China’s Li Wenwen is the defending champion in the lone remaining weightlifting competition. But the U.S. has a great chance to nab golds in the women’s basketball game and in Kennedy Blades’s wrestling final. It could very well come down to the women’s volleyball final, in which the U.S. is the defending Olympic champion but Italy, its opponent, is ranked No. 1 in the world.

Here’s what I’ll be watching Sunday, August 11.

This is not a comprehensive list; visit Olympics.com for a full schedule. All events will stream live on Peacock. I’ve also been tweeting out a schedule of medal events, Team USA games and other favorites each day.

One last time:

My Day 16 Olympics viewing guide!

People have been very nice about these, and I appreciate it. I will say a little more about that tomorrow. Enjoy Day 16 🥇 pic.twitter.com/HYZZjSuMfj

— Mitch Goldich 🐙 (@mitchgoldich) August 10, 2024

Women’s basketball

Team USA’s women are back in the gold medal game, as expected. 

This team is going for its eighth straight Olympic gold medal. It has now won 60 straight Olympic games, without a loss since Barcelona in 1992. It has won the past seven gold medal games by an average of more than 23 points.

The U.S. will face France in front of those home fans at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Volleyball

There’s another U.S. women’s team playing for gold on the final day of the competition. The U.S. failed to bring home any medals in the beach volleyball competition, but the women’s indoor team will play against Italy at 7 a.m. ET. 

Team USA has already clinched a medal for the fifth straight Olympics. This team is also the defending champ, trying to go for back-to-back golds, but, as mentioned above, Italy is ranked No. 1 in the world.

Lightning round

The U.S. will have two medal bouts in wrestling. The session starts at 5 a.m. ET. I can’t give the exact times of the bouts, because it depends how long the matches take, but the 11th match of the day will be Kyle Snyder going for bronze and the 15th match of the day will be Kennedy Blades going for gold. 

Blades represents one of Team USA's last best chances to win gold in Paris. / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

The U.S. men’s water polo team will play for a bronze medal against Hungary at 4:35 a.m. ET. The team has not won an Olympic medal since a silver in 2008. The men’s gold medal game will be between Serbia and Croatia at 8 a.m. ET.

The men’s handball tournament will conclude with Spain-Slovenia for bronze at 3 a.m. ET and Germany-Denmark for gold at 7:30 a.m. ET.

The bronze medal women’s basketball game will be between Belgium and Australia at 5:30 a.m. ET.

And availability may depend on your time zone, but the women’s marathon will start at 2:00 a.m. ET.

Closing ceremony

It’s time to say goodbye. The opening ceremony was held with boats floating along the Seine, but the closing ceremony will be more traditional in the Stade de France, where they held track and field and rugby.

The ceremony will celebrate the athletes, feature musical performances, and I’m sure we can all expect some surprises. It’ll be shown live at 3 p.m. ET, with a prime-time replay at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.

Then, don’t forget the Paralympics will also be in Paris, beginning August 28.