The GIST: A whopping 25 NBAers are suiting up across the four remaining countries, so expect action aplenty in today’s men’s basketball semis, with winners advancing to Saturday’s gold medal game.

France vs. Germany — 11:30 a.m. ET: Tokyo 2020 silver medalists France are finally finding their groove with their best game yet in Tuesday’s quarter-final — an 82–73 upset of top contenders Canada.

• And that dub came without much help from four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, who’s dealing with an unspecified injury, leaving the team’s defense in young Victor Wembanyama’s very large hands.
• Meanwhile, Germany is competing in their first-ever Olympic semi but hasn’t dropped a game in Paris, most recently ousting Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece on Tuesday. Can Brooklyn Net Dennis Schröder keep the streak going?

USA vs. Serbia — 3 p.m. ET: Team USA head coach Steve Kerr thinks three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić has been playing the long game by tricking the Americans into believing Serbia is a sleepy squad after the red, white, and blue’s 26-point win in group stage play.

• But The Joker should never be underestimated, and if he’s on the floor for all 40 minutes tomorrow (like he was in Serbia’s most recent Olympic win), the Americans will have their hands full as they chase their 17th (!!!) program gold.
• Plus, American big Joel Embiid might be out due to ankle soreness, leaving Captain America Kevin Durant to continue his epic scoring spree and Bam Adebayo to step up in Embiid’s potential absence.

The GIST: Clear your cal for 3:25 p.m. ET, because an epic showdown is about to hit the purple track of Stade de France — American hurdler and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will take on her rival, Femke Bol of the Netherlands, in one of the Games’ most difficult races. On your mark, get set, let’s go.

McLaughlin-Levrone’s dominance is nearly unmatched: The 24-year-old holds four of the five fastest times in the 400m hurdles, most recently breaking her own world record at the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials with a 50.65s finish.

• That time was faster than all of McLaughlin-Levrone’s semis competitors’ 400m personal records — ran without hurdles. Her speed, stride, and execution are practically untouchable.

But Bol is coming for the American legend: McLaughlin-Levrone and Bol have only raced against each other twice: Once at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and then at the 2022 world championships, with McLaughlin-Levrone winning both times.

• However, Bol has only improved in recent years, winning the 2023 world championship in the event (a race McLaughlin-Levrone notably did not compete in).
• For some added fire, these two are the only women to ever run sub-51 seconds in the 400m hurdles after Bol clocked in at 50.95 last month.
• As McLaughlin-Levrone recently said, “iron sharpens iron” — records will almost certainly fall when the two best women hurdlers in the world meet later today. History is happening here.

The 2022 U.S. Olympic figure skating team, who won silver at the Beijing Games but had it bumped up to gold following the Russian doping scandal heard ’round the world. Two years late but still triumphant.

AU Pro Lacrosse star Charlotte North, who’s red-hot heading into the final series of the season — and into the program-building period before lacrosse rejoins the Olympics in LA.

Long Beach, California, apparently. An alum from the city’s Woodrow Wilson Classical High School has competed at every summer Games since 1952. Unreal.

Thanks to vital behind-the-scenes workers, like the Olympic lifeguard, block builder, camera cleaner, and balloon brandisher. Not all heroes wear capes.

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