PARIS 2024 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: USA narrowly beat France to take historic gold
Team USA won its eighth straight Olympic gold medal in a row after beating France 67-66 in a pulsating final at the Bercy Arena on Sunday, 11 August.
The win establishes the U.S. as the best dynasty in team sports in the Olympics. They are the first team, regardless of gender or sport, to win eight straight Olympic golds. The gold medal game was Team USA’s 61st Olympic win in a row. Diana Taurasi became the first team sport athlete to ever win six Olympic golds.
Not easy win
But the win was not at all easy. France led by as many as 10 points. It was a defensive contest with the U.S. shooting 34 per cent and France shooting 32. In the final shot of the game, France’s Gabby Williams hit an outside shot that was just for two as her foot was on the line. If she would have shot from the three, the game would have gone to overtime.
Team USA coach Cheryl Reeve said defense was the key to the win because both teams make it their hallmarks.
“It’s France’s identity. It’s also our identity. That’s why you saw the slugfest that was happening. Neither team could really get to their offensive identities. It comes down to players making plays. That’s what happened in that game,” Reeve said to NBC.
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A’ja Wilson had 21 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks. She was everywhere on the court and played more than 33 minutes.
“I’m so proud of the resilience my team showed. We could have folded. We could have crumbled many times. We pulled through. To say that I’m a two-time gold medalist, I’m so blessed,” Wilson said to NBC after the game.
Earlier, Australia beat Belgium 85-81 to take bronze.
The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad and branded as Paris 2024, is an international multi-sport event that are occurring from 24 July to 11 August 2024 in France, with the opening ceremony having taken place on 26 July. Paris is the host city, with events held in 16 additional cities spread across Metropolitan France, and one subsite in Tahiti, French Polynesia.
Paris was awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017. After multiple withdrawals that left only Paris and Los Angeles in contention, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics to the two remaining candidate cities; both of the bids were praised for high technical plans and innovative ways to use a record-breaking number of existing and temporary facilities. Having previously hosted in 1900 and 1924, Paris becomes the second city ever to host the Summer Olympics three times (after London, which hosted the games in 1908, 1948, and 2012).
Paris 2024 marks the centenary of Paris 1924 and Chamonix 1924 (which in turn marks the centenary of the Winter Olympics) and is the sixth Olympic Games hosted by France (three Summer Olympics and three Winter Olympics) and the first French Olympics since the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville. The Summer Games returned to the traditional four-year Olympiad cycle, after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paris 2024 features the debut of breakdancing as an Olympic sport, and will be the final Olympic Games held during the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach. The 2024 Games are expected to cost €9 billion.
olympics.com
