The days are getting shorter, the events are getting fewer and the medal ceremonies are coming faster and faster as we head into the Final weekend of the 2012 Olympics. We'll be with you here again today, keeping you up-to-date on all the biggest moments.

One last time, here's the U.S. TV schedule, the full hour-by-hour, sport-by-sport event schedule, and a link to the live streams at NBCOlympics.com. Our breakdown of today's events and medals is at the bottom. Finally, don't forget the rest of The Atlantic Wire's ongoing Olympics coverage.

All times listed are Eastern

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11:43 a.m.: Maris Strombergs, the defending Olympic champion from Latvia, wins Gold again in the Men's BMX Final. Sam Willoughby of Australia fishes second and Colombia gets another medal from Carlos Mario Oquendo Zabala who won Bronze.

11:35 a.m.: RESULT: Mariana Pajon of Colombia wins the "lottery" of the Women's BMX run. Sarah Walker of New Zealand wins Silver and Laura Smulders of Netherlands wins Bronze. The announcers described it as a crap shoot, since the favorite (like Caroline Buchanan in this race) so rarely win.

11:02 a.m.: RESULT: Russia-China-Spain go Gold-Silver-Bronze in Team Synchronized Swimming. It's the fourth straight Gold Medal for Russia in this event, and the fourth Olympics in a row where they've swept both the team and duet gold medals. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

9:01 a.m.: RESULT: New Zealand's team of Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie win the Women's 470 Sailing division. Great Britian (Saskia Clark and Hannah Mills) wins Silver, the second of the day for GBR, and the Netherlands (Lobke Berkhout and Lisa Westerhof) get Bronze.

8:58 a.m.: RESULT: Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia wins Gold in the 10,000-meter swim marathon. Tunisia now has three gold medal all-time, two of them by Mellouli, who also swims distance events in the pool. Thomas Lurz of Germany was second and Richard Weinberger of Germany was third.

7:36 a.m.. RESULT: Australia finishes second in the final race of the Men's 470, but that was all they needed to secure Gold in the 10-race event. Great Britain faded late and ends up with Silver, while Argentina gets the Bronze.

5:50 a.m.: MEDAL COUNT UPDATE: Another big night at the track on Thursday allowed the United States to take command of the medal table. They now lead all countries in Gold (39), Silver (25), and Bronze (26) giving them 90 total medals. (The 26 Bronze alone, would put them 8th in total medals. The 39 Golds would put them fourth.) China is just two behind in the Gold Medal count, but is now 10 behind in the total count, with not a lot of events left. Great Britain with 25 Golds remain in third. No other country has more than 12.

5:30 a.m.: MEDALS TO BE AWARDED TODAY: Here is the order of all the Finals and Gold Medal Matches, with all times approximate and subject to change. There are 17 Gold Medal Events, and many other Bronze medal events, including the Boxing semifinals. 

GOLD EVENTS: Men's 10,000m Swimming Marathon (7:00 a.m.); Men's 470 Sailing (7:00 a.m.);  Women's 470 Sailing (8:00 a.m.); Women's Team Synchronized Swimming (10:00 a.m.); Women's BMX (11:30 a.m.); Men's BMX (11:40 p.m.); Men's Pole Vault (2:00 p.m.); Men's 55kg Freestyle Wrestling (2:03 p.m.); Women's Field Hockey (3:00 p.m.); Men's 74kg Freestyle Wrestling (2:48 p.m.); Women's Hammer Throw (2:35 p.m.); Women's 5,000m (3:05 p.m.); Women's 4x100m Relay (3:40 p.m.); Women's 1,500m (3:55 p.m.); Men's 4x400m Relay (4:20 p.m.); Women's -67kg Taekwondo (5:15 p.m.); and Men's -80kg Taekwondo (5:30 p.m.).

5:20 a.m.: FRIDAY'S SCHEDULED EVENTS:

• Athletics: No Morning Session today as Olympic Stadium will focus on handing out medals in the afternoon. Today will see FINALS in Men's Pole Vault; Women's Hammer; Men's 4x100m Relay; Women's 5,000m; Women's 4x100m Relay; Women's 1,500m; and Men's 4x400m Relay. Events start at 2:00 p.m.

• Basketball: Men's Semifinals. Spain plays Russia at 12:00 p.m. and Argentina takes on the United States at 4:00 p.m.

• Boxing: Men's SEMIFINALS in all 10 weight classes. The winners of each match move to the Gold Medal match, the losers (both of them) get Bronze. Matches begin at 8:30 a.m. and last all day.
• Canoe Sprint: Heats and Semifinals in Men's 200m Single Kayak; 200m Single Canoe; 200m Double Kayak; and Women's 200m Single Kayak. Races begin at 4:30 a.m.

• Cycling (BMX): Semifinals and Finals in both Men's and Women's BMX begin at 10:00 a.m.

• Diving: Preliminaries in Men's 10m Platform begin at 2:00 p.m.
• Football: Bronze medal match between South Korea and Japan at 2:45 p.m.

• Rhythmic Gymanstics: Qualification rounds in Individual and Group All-Around begin at 7:00 a.m.

• Handball: Men's Semifinals. Hungary-Sweden at 12:00 p.m. and France-Croatia at 3:30 p.m.
• Field Hockey: Women's FINALS. Argentina takes on Netherlands in the Gold Medal match at 3:00 p.m. The games for places 5-12 are underway now. Bronze Medal match (NZL-GBR) is at 10:30 a.m.
• Sailing: The MEDAL RACE in the Men's 470 (rescheduled from yesterday) is at 7:00 a.m and Women's 470 is at 8:00 a.m. Semifinals in Women's Elliott 6m are at 9:00 a.m.
• Swimming: Men's 10km Marathon starts at 7:00 a.m. (Race lasts about 1 hour and 45 min.)
• Synchronized Swimming: Women's Team final begin at 10:00 a.m.

• Taekwondo: Women's -67kg and Men's -80kg divisions. Preliminaries begin at 4:00 a.m. and FINALS begin at 5:15 p.m.

• Volleyball: Men's Semifinals. Bulgaria-Russia is at 10:00 a.m. and Brazil-Italy is at 2:30 p.m.
• Water Polo: Men's Semifinals. Croatia and Montenegro play first at 10:40 a.m. Italy and Serbia is at 2:50 p.m. The 5-8 matches (including the United States) are at 9:20 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
• Wrestling: Men's Freestyle tournaments in the 55kg and 74kg divisions. Qualifiers begin at 8:00 a.m; FINALS begin at 2:00 p.m.

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Dashiell Bennett