Team USA’s Quest for Gold in Women’s Gymnastics Headlines Tuesday’s Olympic Slate

After settling for silver in Tokyo, the U.S. women will go for gold in a must-watch final. Plus, we say goodbye to one sport at these Games and hello to another.

Simone Biles performs on the floor exercise in womenís qualification during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Bercy Arena. / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Day 4 of the Olympics is here. We will say hello to one sport (3x3 basketball), and goodbye to another (rugby sevens), as the Games roll on. Tuesday has a few high-interest events, so once again I’m here to help you figure out what you need to watch.

To recap all the action, I suggest you subscribe to Sports Illustrated’s Daily Rings podcast. Dan Gartland and I are having a lot of fun taping every night, and new episodes have been published before NBC’s prime-time coverage is even over.

Here’s what I’ll be watching Tuesday, July 30.

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 4 Olympics viewing guide! Let's have ourselves a Tuesday #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/3qaOhU8Ung

— Mitch Goldich 🐙 (@mitchgoldich) July 30, 2024

Gymnastics

The women’s team final is always one of the marquee events of the Games, and Team USA is favored to take the gold. The U.S. has medaled in seven straight Olympics, following up gold in 2012 and ’16 with a silver in Tokyo. Simone Biles, Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles are all back from the team that took silver three years ago.

Biles’s health is the biggest question going into the event, after she aggravated a calf injury during qualifying. It’ll be worth keeping an eye on how much that might hamper her in the team final and whether any issues might linger when she competes for individual medals later on in Paris.

The action gets underway at 12:15 p.m. ET.

3x3 basketball 

If you’ve been watching 5-on-5 hoops and wishing there was even more basketball in the Olympics, you’re in luck. 3x3 is back for a second time after it was introduced to the Olympic program in Tokyo. These are half-court games, played for either 10 minutes or up to 21 points by ones and twos. They’ll play outdoors on a surface that looks like a blacktop, under a tent.

Both U.S. teams will be in action Tuesday, with the women taking on Germany at 11:30 a.m. ET and the men facing Serbia at 4:35 p.m. ET.

Both teams also feature recognizable names. For the men: 2011 Naismith Player of the Year (and six-year NBA vet) Jimmer Fredette; Canyon Barry, son of Hall of Fame forward Rick Barry; former Princeton forward Kareem Maddox; and Florida Southern alum Dylan Travis. For the women: former Louisville/LSU star Hailey Van Lith (who has now transferred to TCU), three-time WNBA all-star Dearica Hamby, two-time WNBA all-star Rhyne Howard and Cierra Burdick, who last played in the league in 2021.

United States forward Ilona Maher celebrates after defeating Great Britain in a women's quarterfinal rugby match. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Rugby 

The good news is that USA women’s rugby won a quarterfinal match against Great Britain Monday, making this the furthest either U.S. team has advanced since rugby sevens became an Olympic sport in 2016. The bad news is their semifinal will be against a New Zealand team that has won its first four contests by an aggregate score of 169–24. 

But if the U.S. can pull off the upset at 9:30 a.m. ET, the team will play for gold at 1:45. If New Zealand’s dominant run continues, the U.S. will still get to play for bronze at 1:00 p.m. Either way, it’s worth checking out the rugby action on its last day in these Olympics.

Lightning round

• It’s a big day for tennis, and three members of Team USA will actually play two matches apiece. Coco Gauff, Taylor Fritz and Danielle Collins will all play both singles and doubles. The tennis schedules are dependent on how quickly other matches finish up, so consult the schedule during the day. 

• Get set for another full session of swimming at 2:30 p.m. ET. Top races Tuesday include the men’s 800 meter freestyle (in which Team USA’s Bobby Finke could defend his Tokyo title) and the women’s 100 meter backstroke (which should be a showdown between Australia’s Kaylee McKeown and Team USA’s Regan Smith).

• We’ll get our first look at BMX Freestyle, which features riders on bikes performing tricks on ramps, much like we’ve seen in skateboarding the past two days. The women start at 7:25 a.m. ET, the men at 9:11 a.m. ET.

• Former NBA player Chase Budinger was outstanding in his Olympic beach volleyball debut. He and teammate Miles Evans will be back at it against a team from the Netherlands at 2:00 p.m. 

• The U.S. men’s volleyball team is back in action against Germany at 7:00 a.m., and the same goes for the U.S. men’s water polo team against Romania at 10:35 and the U.S. men’s soccer team against Guinea at 1:00 p.m.

• If you’ve enjoyed the individual fencing events, give the women’s team épée a try. The finals start at 1:30 p.m.