What to watch in Rio

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RIO OLYMPICS:

August 3

* Football - Australia's women's team, the world No.5 Matildas, will take on Canada in Sao Paulo two days prior to the opening ceremony. They will be the first Aussies in action for the Rio Games, and are likely to win against the Canadians, ranked 10th in the world.

August 5

* Opening Ceremony - Rio has a reputation for throwing a good party, so the opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympic Games should be good viewing.

August 6

* Swimming - women's 4x100m freestyle relay. Australia has a chance to make a golden start on the first day of competition.

* Cycling - men's road race. Not just because Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis carry legitimate hopes for Australia, but because the 256km course will give the viewer a spectacular introduction to Rio's sights, including Copacabana beach, Ipanema and a hill climb for a look at Christ the Redeemer.

August 7

* Swimming - men's 4x100m freestyle relay. World champions Australia will need to fight off the US, reigning champs France and host nation Brazil.

* Weightlifting - men's 56kg class. Positive drug tests have cut a swathe through the field, but no matter who's competing, there's something extraordinary about watching jockey-sized men lift three times their body weight over their head.

August 8

* Rugby - women's final. Australia's top-ranked women could win rugby's first gold medal since 1924.

August 9

* Basketball - Australia v France women's group match. A rematch of perhaps the most exciting game of the London Olympics when the French won 74-70 in overtime.

August 10

* Swimming - men's 100m freestyle final. Can Cameron McEvoy do what James Magnussen missed by .01 of a second in London?

* Basketball - Australia v US men's group match. Australia's team full of NBA experience will push the latest version of the Dream Team missing many of the NBA's biggest names.

* Rowing - men's quad scull. Australia are favourites after winning silver in London.

August 11

* Swimming - women's 100m freestyle final. Cate or Bronte?

August 12

* Cycling - men's team pursuit final. World champions Australia are out to avenge their loss to Britain in the 2012 final.

* Rowing - women's single sculls final. Australia's world champion Kim Brennan can step up from her bronze in London.

August 13

* Cycling - women's keirin final. Three-time world champion Anna Meares has never won an Olympic medal in the fast and frenetic keirin. This will be her last chance.

August 14

* Athletics - men's 100-metre final. Usain Bolt aims for a stunning third straight gold medal in the Olympics' blue ribbon event. Young guns Trayvon Bromell and Andre De Grasse are out to stop him.

August 15

* Athletics - men's 800m final. Kenya's world record holder and defending champion David Rudisha could be second only to Bolt as the world's greatest athlete. Watch him.

August 16

* Cycling - women's sprint finals. Can Meares become the first woman to successfully defend her Olympic sprint title?

August 17

* Beach volleyball- women's final. The 15,000-seat stadium on Copacabana beach, the home of beach volleyball, will go off, especially if the locals are playing.

August 18

* Hockey - men's final. If you look at the seedings, Australia's world champions should be there. But if you look at history, they could have been knocked out long ago.

August 19

* Athletics - men's 4x100m relay. Bolt and his Jamaican teammates aim for a third straight title in one of the most exhilarating and electrifying events of the Games.

* Water polo - women's final. Australia fancies its chances of being there and repeating the 2000 gold.

August 20

* Basketball - women's final. Australia could very well be in the final again, but will have to topple the might of the US who go to Rio having won their past 41 games at the Olympics.

August 21

* Athletics - men's marathon. One last look at the sights of the Cidade Maravilhosa, the Marvellous City, while also having a look at the world's dominant marathoner, Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge.