What to Watch at the Olympics August 1: Simone Biles, Suni Lee Square Off for Gold

Team USA's two former champions will go head-to-head for another medal in the all-around. Plus, the first round of golf in Paris gets underway.

Biles and Lee will be the first two former all-around gold medalists to compete against one another in the event in the Olympics. / Naomi Baker/Getty Images

It is Day 6 of the Olympics, and after a historic night in the pool everyone should be ready for more fireworks. A couple of sports will make their Paris debuts and a couple of very famous athletes will return to the spotlight. So, of course, I’m back with my daily look at what you should be watching.

After the action is over, you can head to Sports Illustrated’s Daily Rings, a podcast where Dan Gartland and I are recapping the Games every night, with new episodes published before NBC’s prime-time coverage is even over.

Here’s what I’ll be watching Thursday, August 1.

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

My Day 6 Olympics viewing guide! Overnight golf! And the rest of your Thursday #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/szUKNTNbm0

— Mitch Goldich 🐙 (@mitchgoldich) August 1, 2024

Gymnastics

The women’s gymnastics all-around final is about as must-watch as it gets at the Olympics, and it will all get started at 12:15 p.m. ET. Only two members of the newly named Golden Girls will compete, due to the controversial rule that limits qualifiers to two per country, but the U.S. is sending in a pair of former champions. 

Simone Biles won all-around gold in Rio in 2016, and Suni Lee did the same last time around in Tokyo. If either one of them wins in Paris, they would be the first gymnast in 56 years to win all-around gold a second time. Biles is the favorite in the event.

The U.S. is also looking to continue a streak of five straight golds in this event. Before Biles and Lee, Team USA had winners in Carly Patterson (Athens), Nastia Liukin (Beijing) and Gabby Douglas (London).

Golf

The men’s Olympic golf tournament will follow the familiar Thursday-through-Sunday, four-round setup, so it’s time for Round 1 to tee off. The golf is being played at Le Golf National, the same course that hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup.

SI has the full tee times posted, and the first group goes off at 3 a.m. ET (you may have missed it!). World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is in the same group as Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Masters runner-up Ludvig Åberg of Sweden at 4:11 a.m. The final group goes off at 6:39 a.m. ET, which means fans in the U.S. should be able to take in some of the action in the morning.

Fencing

Thursday is the team competition in women’s foil, which is the discipline in which Team USA already won a gold and a silver. Lee Kiefer beat Lauren Scruggs for individual gold; now they’ll be teammates again in a quest for more medals. 

Kiefer and Scruggs will turn from competitors to teammates for Thursday's event. / Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports

Action begins with a match against China at 5:50 a.m ET. If they advance through the bracket, the semis are at 8:50 a.m. ET and the gold medal match is at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Lightning round

The swimming session once again starts at 2:30 p.m. ET with a slew of finals. In the women’s 4X200-meter freestyle relay, Katie Ledecky will go for her historic 13th Olympic medal (which would put her alone in second place in U.S. history, behind only Michael Phelps).

The BMX racing heats start at 2 p.m. ET with the men’s and women’s quarterfinals. I like this more than the tricks. Unlike the freestyle event that saw BMX riders doing tricks, these are races to the finish line with multiple competitors on the course at once.

Both the men’s and women’s U.S. 3x3 basketball teams have begun Olympic play 0–2. Both have two games on Thursday to try to right the ship. The women play Australia at 7 a.m. ET and Spain at 3:30 p.m. ET. The men play Lithuania at 1:05 p.m. ET and Latvia at 5:05 p.m. ET.

Team USA tennis player Tommy Paul has a morning singles match against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.

Three-time Olympic medalist Brady Ellison will compete in archery starting at 4:48 a.m. He won a silver in 2012, then a silver and bronze in ’16.

The race walk! The first official event of track and field (or, as the Olympics officially call it, “athletics”) is a fan favorite. The 50K race walk is no longer part of the Olympic program, so the men’s and women’s 20K is now the longest you will see. Both races were held in the early morning hours, before this was published, so go find the replay on Peacock.