The Sports Report Olympics edition: Can the U.S. catch China in medal race?

Welcome to the penultimate daily Olympic newsletter. I’m your tour guide, John Cherwa, and we’ve reached the end, the last day of the Olympics. Can Paris top itself with its closing ceremony? Can the U.S. beat China in golds?

Here we are. Little time left. Not many events. And China leads the U.S. in gold medals 39-38. Can the U.S. catch up? It’s possible, but I’m thinking it might be a tie. Still, there is a chance — and better than a Dumb and Dumber chance.

On Saturday, China won six golds: artistic swimming, boxing, diving, rhythmic gymnastics, table tennis and weightlifting. The U.S. won five: track and field (3), basketball and soccer.

So, what has to happen on Sunday? China really has only one good opportunity for a gold — Wenwen Li in the 81+ kg (178 pounds and up) weightlifting. Going into the finals, she has an entry total of 672 pounds. The U.S. has Mary Thiesen Lappen with 617 pounds. Li is defending gold medalist from Tokyo. Advantage China.

The U.S. should have a gimme with the women’s basketball team, which will play France (6:30 a.m. PDT). Advantage U.S.

So, that means the U.S. needs two more golds to claim first. One more for a tie, and you know what they say about ties.

The U.S. has a reasonable chance in the women’s volleyball gold match against Italy (4 a.m. PDT; you can watch the replay). Here’s how they match up stat-wise. Attacking: Italy 1^st, U.S. 3^rd; Blocking: U.S. 2, Italy 3; Serving: Italy 1, U.S. 2; Digging: Italy 2, U.S. 4; Setting: U.S. 1, Italy 4; Receptions: U.S. 2, Italy 3. (Where else can you get this information but this newsletter?) Advantage: Slight to Italy.

LeBron James, center, celebrates with U.S. teammates after they beat France to win gold.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

So, what does Kennedy Alexis Blades mean to you? Right now, plenty. She is in the gold-medal match against Yuka Kagami of Japan in the 67 kg (167 pounds) division. (It’s the 15^th match during a series that starts at 2 a.m. PDT.) Blades beat six-time world champion Adeline Gray in the U.S. trials to get to Paris. Kagami won the 2023 world championships. Advantage: Even.

There is also cycling, but the rider from the U.S. is ranked fourth and China fifth. So, figuring no gold there.

Two out of three gets you a tie. (We’ll dispute Meat Loaf on this one.) A sweep gets you a win.

So, what happened on Saturday, you ask? I was wondering the same thing.

—As expected, the men’s basketball team won the gold medal, beating France 98-87. Midway through the fourth quarter, France closed it to three to spark some American anxiety. But Stephen Curry made four three-pointers and, well, the game’s in the refrigerator, the door’s closed, the light’s out, the eggs are cooling, the butter’s getting hard and the Jello’s jiggling. (Angelenos know what we’re saying; the rest of you, just know the U.S. won.) Our Thuc Nhi Nguyen captures all the magic here.

U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher saves a header by Brazil’s Adriana during the Americans’ gold-medal match win at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.

(Vadim Ghirda / Associated Press)

—For once, the U.S. women’s soccer team didn’t need extra time, instead beating Brazil 1-0 for the gold medal in roughly 90 minutes. The U.S. hadn’t picked up the top Olympic prize since 2012. Molly Swanson scored the only goal, but most will remember the one-handed save by goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. Our Kevin Baxter was there and will tell you all about it here.

—The U.S. picked up three gold medals in track and field. Masai Russel won the women’s 100 hurdles, and the men’s and women’s 4X400-meter relays also won gold. The women’s performance was so strong, there appeared to be no one else in the picture. The U.S. also got a silver from Shelby McEwen in the men’s high jump and a bronze from Grant Fisher in the men’s 5,000 meters.

—It came down to a photo, and thank goodness Leigh Diffey wasn’t calling it, but Nevin Harrison of the U.S. had to settle for silver in the women’s canoe sprint 200-meter race on Saturday. One-hundredth of a second determined the winner was Katie Vincent of Canada. Harrison won the gold in Tokyo.

—Brooke Raboutou of the U.S. picked up a silver in the women’s boulder and lead sports climbing competition. Janja Garnbret of Slovenia got the gold.

—The U.S. women’s water polo team will be going home without a medal after losing 11-10 to the Netherlands in the bronze medal match. The team had high expectations coming to Paris, having won the last three golds. It would have been the first team, men’s or women’s, to have won four straight golds in water polo.

Canadian B-Boy Phil Wizard, center with the gold medal, poses with silver medalist B-Boy Dany Dann of France, left, and bronze medalist B-Boy Victor of the U.S.

(Frank Franklin / Associated Press)

—The U.S. won a bronze in the first — and maybe last for a while — boys (yes, they call them boys and girls) breaking competition. Victor (Victor Montalvo) beat Shigekix (Shigeyuki Nakarai) of Japan. The gold was won by Phil Wizard (Philip Kim) of Canada.

—Kyle Douglas Dake got the U.S. its sixth wrestling medal when he won the bronze in the men’s freestyle 74 kg (163 pounds) division. The U.S. won two gold, one silver and three bronze medals.

Random thoughts

With apologies to the late Allan Malamud and Notes on a Scorecard, here are some random thoughts as things start to wrap up:

—Found it wonderfully ironic that men were allowed for the first time in artistic swimming (synchro) during these Games, but none were selected for any of the 10 teams.

—Based on the hundreds of promo spots, which of the NBC sitcoms are you more likely to watch — “Happy’s Place” with Reba or “St. Denis”?

--Did NBC give up on the Olympics before its audience? The last half hour of Friday’s “Today” show was a concert by Maggie Rogers and the last four minutes of Friday’s prime-time show was the first four minutes of “St. Denis,” which doesn’t debut until Nov. 12.

American Sha’Carri Richardson shows off her long nails after winning gold in the 4X100-meter relay.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

—Could you score breaking? I sure as heck couldn’t.

—In case you missed it, track and field (Coliseum) will be staged first and swimming (SoFi) second in Los Angeles in 2028. Because SoFi will be part of the opening ceremony, as will the Coliseum, it will need more time to switch over to a swimming venue.

—Olympic pleasure: deleting the “Today” show from the automatic record on my DVR.

—How can you really tell where someone lands in the long jump? Just looks like a big mess to have such an accurate reading. (Uncredited co-author Mr. Google says if your butt hits the sand first, that’s the mark, not the feet.)

—I seemed to fall down the daytime rabbit hole of watching volleyball more than any other sport. You can really get into it. Water polo, not so much. Don’t know why.

—Speaking of water polo, I found it interesting that the center doesn’t take many shots.

—I know it may not be legal, but I sure would like to see two bronze medals given in the women’s individual floor exercise competition. Actually, I felt that way when the first reversal happened. Confused? Read here.

What to watch today

The closing ceremony. What else do you need to know? Starts at 11 a.m. PDT. We talked about the other big stuff up top — basketball, volleyball and wrestling.

Must-read links

Let’s catch up on some stories you might have missed but shouldn’t have:

• Paris Olympics TV schedule: Sunday’s listings
• LeBron James, Stephen Curry and fellow stars lead U.S. to gold-medal win over France
• L.A. Mayor Karen Bass outlines vision for (almost) ‘car-free’ Olympics
• With jolt of joy, revamped U.S. women’s soccer beats Brazil for Olympic gold
• Jordan Chiles likely to lose her bronze medal after appeal ruling
• Why the man who fought to make Olympic artistic swimming co-ed was shut out of competition
• BG is free. Brittney Griner cherishes her Olympic experience after Russian detention
• Why California is uniquely talented at raising more Olympians than any other state
• L.A. reveals some of its Olympics closing ceremony performers
• Q&A: Make the most of your workouts by training like the athletes of Team USA
• Ukraine uses Olympic spotlight to capture global attention and fight war fatigue
• ‘Everyone loved it.’ American B-girls proud to be part of breaking’s Olympic debut
• Rai Benjamin, who trained at UCLA and USC, wins elusive Olympic gold in 400 hurdles
• For Olympic newbie sports like breaking, there’s a lot more at stake than medals
• How the Paris Olympics spun ratings gold for NBC and Peacock
• As breaking debuts at Olympics, meet the New York DJ behind the Paris party
• 2024 Paris Olympics live updates
• 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games: Complete coverage
• 2024 Paris Olympics: How to watch every event and the closing ceremony

Your TV guide

How can you watch the Games today? Check out Sunday’s Olympic TV listings.