With eight days of competition in the books at the London Olympics, it's become a two-horse race in the medal table between the United States and China. The U.S. holds a slight advantage in total medals (45 to 43) and golds (22 to 20), but there are still plenty of events left as competition begins on Day 9.
Friday saw Michael Phelps continue his dominance in the pool, extending his own Olympic records with his 21st medal and 17th gold in the 100-meter butterfly. On the women's side, Missy Franklin claimed her third gold of the games with a world record in the 200-meter backstroke.
At Wimbledon, Roger Federer reached his first Olympic final in dramatic fashion, defeating Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro 3-6, 7-6, 19-17 in the longest match in Olympic history. Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic in the other semifinal 7-5, 7-5 to set up a rematch of last month's Wimbledon final on Sunday.
Del Potro and Djokovic will have to battle it out for bronze, but the loser could still end up with a medal.
Friday was also the first day of track and field competition at the Olympic Stadium, with Reese Hoffa claiming America's first medal in that sport, a bronze in the shot put.
Saturday represents the midway point of the Games, and with 25 gold medals on offer, there's a great chance for a shakeup in the medal table after the day's events. All times listed are Eastern Standard Time.
9:00 a.m., NBC — Tennis, Women's Gold Medal Match
The women's gold medal match pits the two most recent grand slam champions against each other, with French Open champ Maria Sharapova squaring off against Wimbledon champ Serena Williams. Williams has won Olympic gold twice, but never in singles; this is Sharapova's first Olympics after missing Beijing due to injury.
9:30 a.m., NBC Sports Network — Basketball, USA vs. Lithuania
Team USA, coming off an 83-point blowout victory against Nigeria, will look to extend its Olympic win streak to 13 against Lithuania. Hopefully, LeBron James isn't too distraught after swimmer Lauren Perdue turned down his dinner offer on Friday.
11:30 a.m., NBC Sports Network — Tennis, Men's Doubles Gold Medal Match
Top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan of the U.S. will take on France's Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Wimbledon. The Bryans have 11 career grand slam victories, but so far Olympic gold has eluded them, with their best showing a bronze medal in Beijing.
2:25 p.m., NBColympics.com (Live stream — will be shown on NBC in primetime) — Swimming Finals The final day of swimming competition will see four gold medals awarded, with finals in the women's 50-meter freestyle, the men's 1,500-meter freestyle and the men's and women's 4×100-meter medley relays. Phelps will be heavily favored to win his 18th career gold medal as part of the relay, as the U.S. is a perfect 12-for-12 in the event since it was added in 1960 (not including the boycotted 1980 Games). This will be Phelps' last competitive race, as he previously announced that he will retire at the conclusion of the Games.
4:00 p.m., NBColympics.com (Live stream — will be shown on NBC in primetime) — Women's beach volleyball, round of 16
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings continue their quest for their third consecutive gold medal against Sanne Keizer and Marleen van Iersel of the Netherlands.
4:15 p.m., NBC — Track and Field (women's 100-meter final will be shown on NBC in primetime, but can be streamed at NBColympics.com)
There will be plenty of action at the Olympic Stadium, with finals in the men's 10,000 meters and long jump and women's 100 meters and heptathlon. Hometown favorite Mo Farah, who moved to London from Somalia at age 8, will go for gold in the 10,000. Farah was the runner-up in the 10,000 at worlds last year, but standing in his way is Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, who will be looking to make his claim as the greatest distance runner of all time by winning his third straight gold medal.
Great Britain's Jessica Ennis is favored in the heptathlon, while the 100 meters figures to be a battle between 2008 Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica and defending world champion Carmelita Jeter of the U.S.
Check out the complete schedule of events here.
Thumbnail photo via Facebook/Janna Kyllonen
