On Thursday, all eyes will be on the Bercy Arena in Paris where American Simone Biles will try to add more medals to her already impressive collection. The athletics program begins with men's and woman's race walking and golf. In France there will be 18 medals to be won, with four golds each for rowing, swimming and judo plus two in sailing, athletics and judo. Olympic champions are also expected in artistic gymnastics and shooting.

BILES' REMARKABLE COMEBACK CONTINUES

Simone Biles, who led the United States to gold in gymnastics on Tuesday, is expected to take home her ninth Olympic Medal at Thursday's final.

Rebeca and Sunisa Andrade of Brazil are likely to face off in a rematch at the Tokyo Olympics.

AMERICANS GO FOR ELUSIVE SILVER IN POOL La Defense Arena is hosting four medal events including women's and men's backstrokes, women's breaststrokes of 200m each.

The highlight of the event is the 4x200-meter freestyle relay for women, which will have heats and a final at night.

Australia, the 2023 champions and China the current champions are favorites. The United States has struggled to win gold in swimming.

The 20km races will be held at the beautiful Pont d'Iena, in the shadows of the Eiffel tower.

Massimo Stando is likely to defend his title against world champion Alvaro Martinez and Koki Ikeda who has the fastest time ever recorded.

Kimberly Garcia, the reigning Olympic woman's champion, will be looking to add her Olympic first medal to her two world titles in 2022.

ROWING - GLUT GOLDS - Four gold medals in rowing are on offer at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. These include the men's and women's double sculls, and the fours.

The semi-finals of the single men's canoe kayak will be held on the Whitewater Course.

Shooting Range with Rifles

Liu Yukun, the world record-holder of China's men's 50 metre rifle event three places on Wednesday, will go for his first Olympic gold.

Liu was six points short of the perfect 600, but he still led the field. His strong performance will be evident in the final round. The Olympic range will have a fresh batch of medalists as none of Tokyo's winners returned to Paris.

KIEFER STRIVES TO WIN GOLD DOUBLE Olympic Champion Lee Kiefer is determined to take the United States foil women to victory at the Grand Palais.

Kiefer won gold at the individual women's foil event ahead of her teammate Lauren Scruggs who took silver. This was the first time that the team has ever taken both the top spots.

They are the world's number three. In the quarterfinals, they will face China.

The top-ranked Italy squad, which has the most medals (eight) in this event stands in their path. The team won the bronze medal at Tokyo 2020, but has claimed eight out of 12 World Championships in recent years. This includes 2022 and even 2023.

SCHEFFLER TEES OFF AT THE GOLF WITH MCILROY

The men's Olympic Golf Tournament at Le Golf National begins with a 60-strong U.S. field led by Xander Schwieffele, the defending Olympic Champion and world number one Scottie Schauffele.

Scheffler will be playing with Sweden's Ludvig Ahberg and Ireland's Rory McIlroy, the world's number 4 and 3. France's Victor Perez is scheduled to hit the first tee shot at 9 am local time.

Basketball pits U.S. women against Belgium

In the women's tournament at Lille, the U.S. is facing off against the powerful Belgian team and Japan will be taking on Germany.

Canada will face Australia, and the host country France will play Nigeria.

A DAY PACKED WITH ACTION AT 3x3 Basketball

The third day will see 16 games, with two matches per team.

The men's tournament begins with the Netherlands, then France, and ends with Latvia, the defending champions, facing China before taking on the United States.

In the morning the German women will face Canada, then Spain and the United States. The evening's matches feature Canada against France and Canada against Spain.

BOXING NEARS BUSINESS END Boxing quarter-finals get underway, and those who reach the semi-finals with a win are guaranteed to receive a medal. Imane Khilif, the Algerian boxer who was disqualified from last year's World Championships due to a lack of gender equality, will face Angela Carini of Italy in a round-of-16 welterweight bout. The Asian Games flyweight champion Wu Yu, of China, takes on Nikhat Zareen of India. Reporting from Paris by Lori Ewing; editing by Ken Ferris

(source: Reuters)