Gold-medal glory is forged in Florida humidity.

State of play: Florida has become an adoptive home for many of Team USA's top Olympians, from swimmer Katie Ledecky to the world's fastest man, Noah Lyles.

Zoom in: Central Florida and North Central Florida so far have claimed more Olympic medals than some countries during the Summer Games.

Clermont, a small city near Orlando, calls itself the "choice of champions" for the world-class athletes who have lived or trained there.

• That includes 100m gold-medal winner Lyles and silver-medal sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson.
• Lyles trains with Pure Athletics out of the National Training Center in Clermont, while Richardson is part of the Star Athletics club.

Gainesville is home base for Ledecky, the most decorated female American Olympian ever.

• The Stanford alumna moved her training HQ to the University of Florida campus ahead of the Paris games.

Sarasota can claim the bronze medal in men's gymnastics.

• Team USA pommel-horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik, who became an overnight sensation after clinching team bronze for the U.S., trains at EVO Gymnastics with teammate Brody Malone and squad alternate Shane Wiskus.
• Unlike other American gymnastics programs, they are paid to train here.

Not just American athletes

It's the last week of the Olympics. Our eyes now turn to track and field and team sports.

What to watch: Here are just some key events to mark on your calendars.

• If you can't catch it live, tune into NBC's prime-time recap program at 8pm every night.
• The closing ceremonies are on Sunday night.

🏃‍♀️ Track and field

Today

• Women's 200m and 3000m steeplechase finals and men's 1500m finals at 1:35pm on NBC.
• Women's hammer throw final at 1:50pm on Peacock.
• Men's long jump final at 2:10pm on Peacock.

Tomorrow

• Finals: Men's 400m and 3000m steeplechase at 1pm on NBC.
• Men's discus throw final at 2:20pm on Peacock.

🏀 Basketball

Quarterfinals and semifinal games this week

Saturday: Men's bronze (5am or 1pm encore on USA) and gold medal games (3:30pm on NBC).

Sunday: Women's bronze (5:45am on USA) and gold medal games (9:30am on NBC).

⚽️ Soccer

Semifinal matches today

Thursday: Men's bronze medal match at 11am on Peacock.

Friday: Women's bronze medal match (9am on USA or Telemundo) and Men's gold medal match (12pm on USA or Telemundo).

Saturday: Women's gold medal match (11am on USA or Telemundo).

Keep reading

🔌 Hurricane Debby left about 40,000 people without power in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties yesterday. Duke Energy and Tampa Electric dispatched crews to address the outages. (Tampa Bay Times)

The storm claimed four lives in Florida. Officials with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said a driver of an 18-wheeler truck died after the vehicle partially fell into the Tampa Bypass Canal. (Axios)

🚦The two inside lanes of the northbound Howard Frankland Bridge were opened to traffic in the late afternoon yesterday, while the two outside lanes remained closed. (FDOT District 7)

The South Florida Bulls kick off their season on Aug. 31, one of their last before moving to their new on-campus stadium.

Why it matters: Analysts say the team will be a top contender in the American Athletic Conference (AAC), offering long-suffering Bulls fans a glimmer of hope.

Zoom in: The Bulls are back with 18 of their 22 starters from December's Boca Raton Bowl, where the team crushed Syracuse, 45-0.

• Quarterback Byrum Brown and wide receiver Sean Atkins are among the Bulls' key returning players.
• Brown racked up 26 touchdowns, and set a USF season record with over 3,200 passing yards last season.

What we're watching: USF goes up against No. 5 Alabama on Sept. 7, the third time in program history. Last season, the Bulls held their own against the Crimson Tide, keeping the score to a respectable 17-3.

• ESPN has highlighted USF vs. Tulane on Sept. 28 and USF vs. Memphis on Oct. 11 as two of 2024's top five games in the AAC.
• The Tampa Bay Times picked Memphis as the favorite to clinch the AAC championship, predicting USF would be the conference's runner-up.
• The Bulls will also go head-to-head with two Sunshine State rivals this season: the Miami Hurricanes on Sept. 11 and Florida Atlantic on Nov. 1.

Tell a friend

👋 Hey, Yacob here. If you're feeling like Aug. 31 couldn't come soon enough, hang in there; I've got you covered.

• I simulated how the Bulls might fare this season on EA Sports' College Football 25.

Catch up quick: Released last month, this is the first college football game on consoles since 2013, when a likeness rights dispute derailed EA's popular NCAA Football game franchise.

🔮 The prediction: USF finishes this season with an 8-4 record — at least, that's what the video game says.

What to expect: Bethune-Cookman didn't even make EA's cut, so we'll go ahead and give USF the win there.

• The Bulls endured an expected but brutal 38-7 loss against Alabama. USF then went on to beat Southern Mississippi, Miami and Tulane by slim margins: 21-20, 10-7, and 21-17, respectively.
• They edged out Memphis with a 29-27 win after overtime. USF fell 14-7 to UAB, its second loss of the season. The team couldn't regain its footing and suffered another defeat, this time to Florida Atlantic, 14-6.
• The Bulls pummeled Charlotte, 14-0, and beat out Tulsa, 7-0. USF ended its regular season with a loss to Rice, 14-0.

Tell a gamer