Gold for Taurasi, Bird
Uconn hoops legends Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi make history as first Olympic basketball athletes to win 5 gold medals
Uconn greats become Olympic champions for the fifth time.
When the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were initially postponed, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi weren’t sure if a fifth Olympic appearance, and fifth Olympic gold medal, were in store for them. Time is at a premium when you’re nearing 40, and for them to stay healthy and in top form for a whole other year was not a given.
But the duo didn’t let the dream fade away. Sometime last year, Taurasi started a countdown on her phone leading up to the rescheduled games in Tokyo, every week sending an update to Bird, her longtime teammate at Uconn and with USA Basketball.
“The countdown was 267 days, 250 days,” Taurasi said. “Can you imagine how long that countdown was? That ... was stressful.”
Not only did Bird, 40, and Taurasi, 39, make it to Tokyo but, with the U.S.’S 90-75 win Sunday over host Japan in the gold medal game, they added yet another unparalleled feat of dominance to their resume: becoming the first basketball athletes to win five Olympic gold medals.
“We made it,” Taurasi said. “I’m happy we’re here, and I’m happy we got it done.”
Bird and Taurasi were part of five of the U.S.’S seven-straight Olympic gold medals, a streak beginning with the 1996 games in Atlanta. On Sunday, the U.S. women tied the record set by the U.S. men’s basketball team from 1936-1968 for the most consecutive Olympic golds in a traditional team sport.
The duo made their Olympic debut in Athens in 2004, when current women’s national team coach Dawn Staley was the point guard for Team USA. Seventeen years and five gold medals later, Bird insisted that Tokyo was her last Olympics. Though Taurasi previously referred to the Tokyo Games as her “last dance,” on Sunday she didn’t entirely rule out a run in 2024 (even saying on NBC’S broadcast, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, “See you in Paris!”).
Regardless of what 2024 holds, Bird’s and Taurasi’s legacies are set in stone, their gold medal run in Tokyo only further cementing their status as some of the greatest champions to ever play the sport.
Bird, the most decorated FIBA athlete of all time and the WNBA’S all-time assists leader, now boasts 10 gold medals between Olympic and World Cup play, with Taurasi, the WNBA’S all-time leading scorer, one behind her at nine. Bird sports four WNBA titles and two national titles at Uconn, Taurasi three of each.
What’s more, Bird and Taurasi, best friends, have achieved so much together: the 2002 national title at Uconn, championships overseas, but mainly, five Olympic golds.
“There’s actually some teammates where I could sit here and say like, ‘Oh my god, they were so annoying at first,’ ” Bird said. “Dee was annoying just because she had such a cocky confidence, like brash, but on the court, we always vibed, from day one. I think we just complement each other really well, our personalities are such, our games are such, and then through the years that just continued to grow.”
“There’s this trust factor that goes beyond playing the game of basketball, and you don’t get that with a lot of people in life, where you can trust someone with everything,” Taurasi said. “I’m just happy I have someone like that, beyond the game of basketball, for the rest of my life.”
Bird and Taurasi were the most seasoned players for a somewhat inexperienced team that had to deal with strict COVID19 protocols in Tokyo and overcome a slow start in which they lost two exhibition games shortly before the Olympics began.
With Bird and Taurasi on the floor, it was hard for anyone, including Staley, to believe that the U.S. wouldn’t figure things out when it needed to.
“It’s just that level of comfort. You know you have a really good shot at winning basketball games because of how they lead,” Staley said. “The start of this winning occurred before them, but they finished it off. They took the torch and they took it to another level and they just are putting so much pressure on the next coach and the next players to perform at a high level.”
Six Olympic newcomers came away with gold as the next generation of USA Basketball, one led by A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, increasingly came into focus throughout the Games. Whoever returns for 2024 and beyond will have the benefit of Bird and Taurasi having shown them the way for at least one Olympics.
Other Uconn notes
Winning her second Olympic gold, Stewart finished her Tokyo Games with a 14-point, 14-rebound performance in the final, with five assists, four steals and three blocks. She finished the tournament averaging 15.0 points and 10.0 rebounds.
Tina Charles also took home her third Olympic gold.
“It’s a blessing. I’m so thankful to be a part of USA Basketball and to have had the experience that I’ve had with such amazing women,” Charles said. “I get choked up. I get emotional just thinking back on my first World Championship, my first training camp. … I’m just thankful to be a part of it.
“Nobody remembers the points, your rebounds or anything like that, but it’s just all the experiences and sometimes not even the ones on the court. It’s the ones off the court, the ones on the bus, in the meal room — all that is what I’m going to miss.”
Napheesa Collier, who made her Olympic debut in Tokyo, became the 13th Uconn player to win an Olympic medal and the 11th to win gold.