U.S. gymnasts Paul Juda and Frederick Richard will represent Team USA in the men's all-around final today, but before Paris, they were teammates at the University of Michigan.

"Fred pushes me more than he probably knows," Juda said of his college and Olympic teammate. "I think it really clicked at worlds last year. I just was like, dude, let’s make the Olympics together. ... For me, it was a huge, huge momentous push. So to have him there and to see him always pushing me, I can’t describe it."

Juda added, "I did tell him, though, I’ve been licking my chops ever since to get ready for this all-around debut."

Qinwen Zheng, a breakout star from China, has defeated German former world No. 1 Angie Kerber to advance to the semifinals in women's singles.

In a closely fought match that ended in a tie-break set, Zheng, 21, was simply able to outlast Kerber, 36.

Zheng made it to the Australian Open finals earlier this year and is slated to appear at the U.S. Open in several weeks.

The match was likely to be Kerber's last-ever as a professional: She announced her pending retirement prior to the Games' opening.

It's one of the most intense Olympic rivalries.

The U.S. and Australia continue to battle for supremacy in the pool. The rivalry reached new heights last year when Australia's Cate Campbell, who ended up missing out on Olympic qualification for these Games, gave a TV interview declaring just how much she loved beating Team USA.

"It is just so much sweeter beating America," four-time Olympic gold medalist Campbell said. "There were a couple of nights, particularly the first night of competition, where we did not have to hear ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ ring through the stadium, and I cannot tell you how happy that made me. … Bring on Paris, that’s all I have to say."

In an intense match against Brazil's Luiz Gabriel Oliveira, American boxer Jahmal Harvey prevailed in the men's featherweight preliminaries, winning 3-2 after a dominant third round.

Harvey, 21, is the 2023 Pan American champion and the USA's best chance at a boxing medal. He will next box in the quarterfinal on Saturday.

It's a do-or-die day for a few countries today as the women's soccer teams play their final group stage matches, with the U.S. and Spain most likely to be moving into knockout rounds.

Team USA, which is leading Group B with six points, plays Australia at 1 p.m. ET. While the Americans only have to tie or win to keep their No. 1 seat, Australia is tied with Germany and both teams must score big to guarantee a place in the quarter finals.

It's a similar situation in Group C, with Spain leading the pack at six points but Japan and Brazil tied at three points. The Brazilian women must score a big game against Spain to stand a chance as Japan plays Nigeria, the last place team.

Tensions are a bit higher for Group A, where there are two-way ties for both the first and second slots. France and Colombia are leading with three points each while Canada and New Zealand each have zero points in the standing.

Canada began the tournament with a deficit as the team was penalized six points following a revelation that coaches were using drones to spy on their opponents. But the women's squad has won both of its matches over the last week and could potentially earn a runner's up placement in the quarterfinals depending on its performance against Colombia today.

Gymnast Frederick Richard’s dad didn’t allow him to watch much television as a child — other than sports and the Olympics in particular.

Fortunately during one of Richard’s rare times in front of the set, he experienced his 'I’m-going-to-do-this' moment when Kōhei Uchimura came through big on the high bar, bringing Japan team gold in Rio in 2016.

“It was an ice cold routine for someone to clutch under pressure and that’s the routine that decides whether your country gets gold or not,” Richard told NBC’s “The Podium.” “That is like a moment that I want to be in one day, and I want to do what he did and just pop off, because I think that’s the highlight of any career.”

Bobby Finke’s silver medal in the men’s 800-meter freestyle yesterday was the 3,000th Olympic medal by a U.S. athlete in a summer or winter games. The 2020 gold medalist, Finke finished with a time of 7:38.75, just shy of Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen’s 7:38.19. 

This weekend, he’ll have a chance to defend his 1500-meter freestyle gold medal. 

Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were defeated by Team Czechia in the second round of women's doubles.

The No. 1-ranked American duo lost in a tie-breaker set after convincing play from Czechia's Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova.

It means Gauff, the No. 2 woman in the world, only has mixed doubles left if she hopes to medal in this year's games. Yesterday, Goff crashed out of singles play after losing to Croat Donna Vekic.

Anthony Jeanjean rode into a monstrous first trick of the men's BMX freestyle final, only to clip his front tire on the landing and tumble to the ground, his right shoe flying off. The home crowd gasped as Jeanjean slowly got up from the ground.

But the French stuntman did not falter as he returned for a stunning second run, scoring 93.76 and clinching the bronze medal.

Jeanjean outscored USA's Marcus Christopher, who won the 2024 X Games, by a mere 0.65 points to knock him off the podium.