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A number of standout performances highlighted the fifth full day of Olympic competition in Rio on Wednesday. Some of the most memorable ones came from proven veterans, others from rising superstars who are just starting to make their marks on the international stage.
Here are the five best moments of the Games from Day 5:
1. Kerri Walsh Jennings and the U.S. escape
The Swiss duo of Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre nearly pulled off one of the greatest upsets in this year’s Olympics. In the end, Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross proved why they’re two of the best in the world by pulling together for the win.
It appeared the match was going to be a breeze early on. Team USA handled Switzerland with a commanding 21-13 victory in the opening set, calmly weathering the poor conditions in Rio Wednesday night.
Things went south from there, as Forrer/Verge-Depre turned the momentum on its head in a second-set battle. The set loss was Walsh Jennings’ second in four career Olympics as a beach volleyball player.
Her 24-match winning streak was not to be broken, though, as she and Ross won the decisive set to advance to the Round of 16 in a veteran showing of poise.
2. Australia puts up a fight in men’s basketball
Wednesday was a battle of two undefeated squads, but many expected the Australian men’s basketball team to go quietly in the face of a powerful U.S. squad. That was not the case. The Aussies hit their shots, played with discipline and held staunch on defense to keep Team USA from ever getting too comfortable.
Carmelo Anthony and Team USA celebrates after defeating Australia 98-88 Wednesday in Rio. (Getty) The Americans won eventually, but the 98-88 victory was a far cry from the pair of 40-plus point wins the team has tallied in the previous week. For Australia, San Antonio Spurs point guard Patty Mills led the way, tallying 30 points. Defensively, the losing team kept the U.S. on its toes with its physicality. It just wasn’t quite enough.
On the way to the victory, Carmelo Anthony made history and helped his team continue on its steady pace forward in preliminary action. Next up is Serbia on Friday.
3. Nathan Adrian survives close finish, 18-year-old Australian stands out
Four years after capturing gold in London’s 100-meter freestyle, U.S. swimmer Nathan Adrian couldn’t defend it. His night was not a total loss, though, as the 27-year-old won bronze.
Adrian nearly got silver, but Pieter Timmers of Belgium eked out the win by just 0.05 seconds. The two of them were about two tenths of a second behind Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, whose win gave him the first gold medal of his young career.
Chalmers shocked the field and the world, coming from behind in a furious final stretch. He became the youngest male swimmer to win an individual gold at the Games since 17-year-old Ian Thorpe in 2000.
4. U.S. fencer*medals, adds to historic American total
Standing at 5-foot-8, U.S. fencer Daryl Homer isn’t necessarily the most overpowering and intimidating foe. But looks are deceiving, and the 26-year-old has steadily risen to the elite ranks of the sport.
“I might not be as big as my competitors; I might not have as much experience as them,” Homer wrote in a story for The Players’ Tribune. “To most people, I probably don’t look like a fencer. But on the strip, none of that matters. It’s two people facing off for survival. That’s fencing.”
Daryl Homer of the United States celebrates winning his men’s individual sabre semifinal. (Getty) A 15-14 win over Mojtaba Abedini of Iran in the semifinal pitted Homer against Aron Szilagyi, the 2012 individual men’s sabre gold medalist from Hungary. The American fell 15-8, bringing the U.S. its second silver medal in the sport in the 2016 Olympics.

Teammate Alex Massialas took second place in foil earlier in the week and – with Homer’s new addition Wednesday – the U.S. has now medaled in multiple fencing events for the first time since the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. That’s right, 112 years ago.
5. Ledecky guides Team USA to gold
She did it again, as if we could have expected any different. Katie Ledecky, the woman who continues to take the world by storm, anchored the 4×200-meter freestyle Wednesday night with the immense weight of a country’s lofty expectations.
That final leg was all Ledecky’s and the 19-year-old did not waver, closing a deficit of about a length in the first 50 meters alone. By the time her 200 was over, it wasn’t even close. Of course it wasn’t.
[Related: How Katie Ledecky stopped herself from vomiting and won an individual*gold]
Wednesday’s relay team consisted of Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith, Maya DiRado and Ledecky, with Schmitt swimming in her final Olympic race. The 26-year-old will enter retirement from the sport with eight Olympic medals in three Summer Games – four of them gold.
As far as Ledecky’s medal total, the American star now has three gold medals in Rio with four total. She will be going for her fifth in the 800-meter freestyle, her signature event.