Keeping it Rio is your daily guide to can’t-miss events and the headlines you need to start your Olympic day. All times ET.
RIO’S NEWEST TREND
Michael Phelps is done at the Olympics — and now, it appears the aesthetic trend he spearheaded in Rio might also fall out of the limelight. Phelps was the Games’ foremost advocate of cupping, in which small glass cups create suction on an athlete’s skin to purportedly boost pain relief and blood circulation. That’s old news, though, compared to mid-race acupuncture therapy.
Japanese sprinter Chisato Fukushima raised eyebrows Monday when she competed in women’s 200-metre qualification with small plasters on her stomach — a tactic, she told the Asahi Shimbun last month, that supposedly galvanizes acupuncture points.
“It feels like I am soaking in a hot spring, and I can feel the range of motion in the joints of my body expand,” Fukushima said. Unfortunately, that didn’t propel her to Phelpsian levels of excellence in the 200-metres: she finished 38th in the first round and failed to advance.
BRADLEY WIGGINS, MOLE SPOTTER
Great Britain’s cycling federation has been beset by allegations of bullying and sexism in recent months, leading to the resignation of technical director Shane Sutton in April. Two months later, British cycling star Sir Bradley Wiggins backed the departed Sutton, calling him “probably the greatest coach in the world.”
Now, after spurring Team GB to first place — the fifth Olympic gold of his career — in team pursuit, Wiggins has claimed “a mole in the camp” intended to wreck Britain’s Rio 2016 efforts from the inside. “There was a bit of a campaign to almost sabotage the Games from a British cycling point of view,” he told the Daily Mail, apparently in regards to questions about the lingering effects of Sutton’s departure. If true, the unnamed agent’s stab at deception appears to have failed.
USAIN BOLT’S GOLDEN SMILE
Bolt won men’s 100-metre sprint gold on Sunday — but this photo, from that night’s semi-final, will live on. It has been billed as the antithesis of Crying Jordan: the Jamaican sprinter glancing to his left steps before he reached the finish line, and smiling.
The contrast between Bolt and his opponent sums up his power: He is so fast and so self-confident that he can ease up before the end of a race, preen a little, even grin at the men behind him. Michael Jordan, teary-eyed at his 2009 Hall of Fame speech, has become the Internet’s go-to reference for losing painfully. After this weekend, Bolt is the opposite — winning gloriously and embracing it as it happens.
CAN’T MISS EVENTS
SOCCER: WOMEN’S QUARTERFINALS
Canada vs. Germany, 3 p.m. (CBC)
It was a resounding victory to cap their preliminary campaign: 2-1, Canada over Germany on Aug. 8, cinching first in their group. Both teams won 1-0 in the quarterfinals, and now the Canadians and Germans will meet again, with the chance to play for gold on the line.
ATHLETICS: MEN’S HIGH JUMP
Final, 7:30 p.m. (CBC and NBC)
Derek Drouin won Canada’s first high jump medal in 36 years at London 2012. In this year’s final, he’ll be favoured to double up, and even to improve on that bronze-medal finish. He qualified in a five-way tie for first with a top jump of 2.29 metres — 0.09 below his season best.
THE CANADIANS
Athletics
Jessica O’Connell and Andrea Seccafien, women’s 5,000m qualifying rounds, 8:30 a.m.
Kelsie Ahbe, Anicka Newell and Alysha Newman, women’s pole vault qualifications, 8:45 a.m.
Nathan Brannen and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, men’s 1,500m qualifying rounds, 9:30 a.m.
Phylicia George, Nikkita Holder and Angela Whyte, women’s 100m hurdles qualifying rounds, 10:05 a.m.
Aaron Brown, Andre De Grasse and Brendon Rodney, men’s 200m qualifying rounds, 10:50 a.m.
Derek Drouin, men’s high jump final, 7:30 p.m.
Liz Gleadle, women’s javelin throw qualifications, 7:35 p.m.
Johnathan Cabral, men’s 110m hurdles semi-finals, 7:40 p.m.; final, 9:45 p.m.
Christabel Nettey, women’s long jump qualifications, 8:05 p.m.
Noelle Montcalm and Sage Watson, women’s 400m hurdles semi-finals, 8:10 p.m.
Crystal Emmanuel, women’s 200m semi-finals, 9 p.m.
Basketball
Canada vs. France, women’s quarterfinals, 9:15 p.m.
Boxing
Mandy Bujold vs. Ren Cancan (China), women’s flyweight (48-51 kg) quarterfinals, 10:15 a.m.
Canoe/kayak
Mark Oldershaw, men’s C-1 1,000m B final, 8 a.m.
KC Fraser and Genevieve Orton, women’s K-2 500m B final, 8:16 a.m.
Andreanne Langlois, women’s K-1 200m B final, 8:40 a.m.
Adam van Koeverden, men’s K-1 1,000m B final, 9:04 a.m.
Cycling (track)
Hugo Barrette, men’s keirin round 1, 9:18 a.m.; repechages, 10:25 a.m.; round 2, 3:46 p.m.; finals, 5:14 p.m.
Allison Beveridge, women’s omnium 500m time trial, 9:57 a.m.; flying lap, 3:10 p.m.; points race, 4:05 p.m.
Diving
Philippe Gagne, men’s 3m springboard semi-final, 9 a.m.; final, 5 p.m.
Equestrian
Yann Candele, Tiffany Foster, Eric Lamaze and Amy Millar, individual jumping second qualifier, 9 a.m.; team jumping final (round 1), 9 a.m.
Sailing
Tom Ramshaw, men’s finn medal race, 12:05 p.m.
Erin Rafuse and Dannie Boyd, women’s 49er FX, 12:05 p.m.
Luke Ramsay and Nikola Kirke, mixed Nacra 17 medal race, 1:05 p.m.
Soccer
Canada vs. Germany, women’s semi-finals, 3 p.m.
Swimming
Richard Weinberger, men’s 10km marathon, 8 a.m.
Synchronized swimming
Jacqueline Simoneau and Karine Thomas, duets final (free routine), 1 p.m.