The most anticipated event might be the Men's Basketball gold medal match, where the United States "Redeem Team" will try and restore the title it lost in Athens. This match will begin after Lithuania and defending Olympic champion Argentina fight for the bronze at 12:00 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8).
At 2:30 p.m. the game that the United States Men's Basketball team has been waiting for over the past four years will finally tip-off. All results from this tournament so far would indicate that Team USA is a lock for their golden redemption over Spain. So far the United States has won every game by at least 20 points, including a 37-point victory over Spain in their group B clash on August 16.
"I hope we're known as the team that brought gold back home," says US guard Kobe Bryant.
"Going into this, we knew that this team had to redefine how the United States views the Olympics. We have to make sure that this is our top priority, and we wanted to get a group of guys that cared about it and were really hungry to do it. I think we've succeeded in that."
If the US team doesn't win, the players joke that they shouldn't bother going home.
"If you lose in the NBA Finals back home, you get bandied around in the media, maybe criticized for a week or so, and then it's on to the next thing," says Bryant. "Here, you might lose citizenship."
US captain Jason Kidd agrees. "I think we would all have to stay, and find somewhere else to live."
While Spain lost big to the US team in the preliminary game, the world champions, led by Pau Gasol, will be bringing a different level of play to the final. "We know we have very few chances but we have chances," said Spain point guard Ricky Rubio after his team defeated Lithuania by five points in the semifinals.
Rubio is likely to play a key role for Spain after point guard Jose Calderon was ruled out of the match with a groin injury. Seventeen-year-old Rubio is guaranteed at least the silver, and tomorrow he will become the youngest player to win an Olympic Men's Basketball medal.
There will be lots of action before and after this highlight game. The Men's Marathon begins bright and early at 7:30 a.m. local time, as Italian runner Stefano Baldini will face challenges from a strong contingent of African and European athletes when he defends his Olympic Men's Marathon crown on the streets of Beijing on Sunday.
In the absence of world record holder Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia, who chose to run the 10,000 meter race, several Kenyan runners are favorites, including Martin Lel, who ran this year's fastest time of 2:05:15 hours. Lel won his third London Marathon in 2008 and has also won the New York Marathon twice, but he is recovering from a ligament tear he suffered in his left ankle earlier in the year. 2007 world champion Luke Kibet and world half marathon record holder Samuel Kamau Wansiru will join Lel in an effort to win Kenya's first Olympic gold medal in this event.
At 10:00 a.m. (UTC/GMT +8) the Men's Volleyball bronze medal match between Russia and Italy will begin, followed by the United States and Brazil fighting for gold at noon local time. This gold medal match-up is between the same teams as the Women's Volleyball final, and it will be the first meeting between Brazil and the United States in the Men's tournament.
The United States is undefeated so far in Beijing, and beat Brazil 3-0 in this year's World League. US player Clayton Stanley is the best scorer and server in this tournament. He has 101 spikes, 12 blocks and 13 service aces. Brazil's Gustavo Endres is the best blocker of the tournament, having put away 25 killer blocks out of 84 attempts.
Over in the Beijing University of Technology, the Rhythmic Gymnastics Group All-Around final will begin its first rotation at 11:00 a.m. (UTC/GMT +8), and the medal competitors will begin performing at 11:37 a.m. This is the only event tomorrow that will feature women competitors.
Belarus leads the way into Sunday's Group finals after earning 34.950 points in qualifying, the highest score among all teams. The current World Championship bronze medalists impressed judges with two elegant performances, the first using five ropes and the second using two clubs and three hoops. Russia, the world champion and champion in the last two Olympics, struggled during day one of qualifications, but managed to improve its standing with a near-flawless routine on day two. China, who has never won an Olympic medal in Group All-Around, finished the qualifying round in third place.
Boxing will begin dishing out the biggest number of medals at 1:30 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8) in the Workers' Gymnasium. Six medals will be awarded in the weight categories light fly (58kg), bantam (54kg), light (60kg), welter (69kg), light heavy (81kg) and super heavy (+91kg).
In the first final bout of the day Zou Shiming is one of three Chinese boxers who will attempt to win his country's first Olympic gold medal. He will fight Mongolian boxer Serdamba Purevdorj in the light-flyweight class, and Zou is probably China's best bet for a win.
The closest fight of the day may come from the bantamweight class final bout, where another Mongolian boxer, Badar-Uugan Enkhbat, will face Yankiel Leon Alarcon of Cuba. Cuba is the traditional powerhouse of this event, but both fighters have been in good form so far in the tournament.
Also beginning at 1:30 p.m. are the Men's Handball finals, first the bronze medal game between Croatia and Spain and then the 3:45 p.m. gold medal match between France and Iceland.
Iceland's team could make history at the National Indoor Stadium tomorrow by winning the first ever Olympic gold for its country. Iceland has only made it to the Olympic podium three times, for one silver and two bronzes.
Iceland won its last major international tournament encounter with France 32-24,in a group match at the 2007 World Championships. Iceland boasts two of the tournament's three top scorers; Snorri Steinn Gudjonsson has 44 goals and Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson has 40. Meanwhile, France's first choice goalkeeper, Thierry Omeyer, has saved 39 percent of all shots, slightly ahead of his Icelandic counterpart Bjorgvin Pall Gustavsson, at 33 percent.
In the bronze medal match, Croatia is already headed to its worst Olympic Handball result, after winning gold in 1996 and 2004. The team missed its chance to become the first nation to successfully defend the Olympic Men's Handball title after losing 25-23 to France in the semifinals on August 22. Spain's best has been bronze at Sydney 2000 and Atlanta 1996.
The Men's Water Polo finals at the Yingdong Natatorium will begin at 2:20 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8) with the bronze medal match between Montenegro and Serbia. Hungary, chasing an unprecedented third consecutive gold medal and ninth in total, will play surprise finalists the United States in the final at 3:40 p.m., as long as the previous two games do not go to extra-time. Hungary is the sentimental favorite, while the US has the nerve and flair to take the game.
It is hard to pinpoint which will be the final medal of the Beijing Olympics. It all depends on which event ends last: Men's Handball, Men's Water Polo or the super heavyweight Boxing final that begins at 4:26 p.m. local time. So remember to savor every medal on day 16, because it could be the last one of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
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