THREE THINGS TO WATCH
Here are three things to watch Saturday at the Olympics (all times Pacific).
1. Men’s soccer (4:30 a.m., NBCSN): Brazil and Spain play for the gold, with the Brazilians hoping to join an exclusive club. Soccer has been in every Olympics — save 1932 — since 1900, and Brazil is attempting to become only the fifth country to win backtoback titles (the last: Argentina, 2004, ’08). Brazil’s gold in Rio was its first, but the Brazilians are guaranteed to add to their alltime best sixmedal count; they’ve also win three silvers and two bronzes, all since 1976. Spain also won gold on home turf (1992), but has only two other medals (silver in 1920 and 2000).
2. Men’s marathon (3 p.m., USA):
As in the racewalk events, concern for extreme heat and humidity in Tokyo led organizers to move the marathon 500 miles to the north — so instead of dramatically entering the Olympic stadium and running the last lap around the track, the 26.2mile race will be held on the streets of Sapporo. Fourtime Olympian Galen Rupp, 35, who won bronze in Rio, leads the U.S.. His teammates are Jake Riley, 32, and Somaliaborn Abdi Abdirahman, who is in his fifth Olympics and, at 44, is the oldest American runner to reach the Olympics. 3. Women’s volleyball (9:30 p.m., USA): Long an international power, the United States has one item missing from its todo list: Olympic gold (it has won three silver and two bronze medals). In their way, again, is Brazil. The Americans, the world’s topranked team, have been solid but not perfect. They went 41 in pool play, then didn’t drop a set in rolling through the quarterfinals (Dominican Republic) and semifinals (Serbia). Brazil — which beat the U.S. for gold in both 2008 and ’12 — went 50 in pool play and in seven matches has won 21 of 25 sets.