US claims 7th straight gold medal
Brittney Griner scored 30 points on 14 of 18 shooting to lead Team USA past Japan 90-75 to win the gold medal in women’s basketball Sunday, the final day of the Tokyo Olympics.
The U.S. has now won the last seven Olympic gold medals, matching the country’s men’s program for the longest streak in Olympic team sports. The men’s basketball team accomplished it from 1936-68.
The U.S. women are on a 55-game Olympic winning streak dating to the bronze medal game of the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Team USA let Japan know that wasn’t going to change Sunday.
The Americans jumped out to an 18-5 lead behind a dominant first quarter by Griner. The team lead 23-14 after one as Griner had 10 points, taking advantage of the undersized Japanese team. Japan was able to get within six in the second quarter before the Americans went up 11 at the half and never looked back.
Griner’s 30 points were the most ever by a U.S. women’s basketball player in a gold medal game, surpassing the 29 by Lisa Leslie in 1996.
The future appears bright for the U.S. behind Griner, Breanna Stewart and the six newcomers on this year’s team. That included A’ja Wilson, who will be counted on to keep the streak going three years from now at the 2024 Paris Games. Wilson, who celebrated her 25th birthday Sunday, made her presence felt in her Olympic debut, scoring 19 points in the gold medal game.
The victory also made Dawn Staley, the first Black women’s basketball coach for the U.S., the second woman to win a gold medal as a player, assistant and head coach joining Anne Donovan. Staley said after the game that she won’t come back to coach in Paris.
Staley said being part of six Olympics is enough for her. “I’m full,” she said.
The game also marked the end of Carol Callan’s run as the national team director. She started right before the Americans won the first gold of this streak in 1996 and has been the architect for this unprecedented run.
Japan won a women’s basketball medal for the first time in the country’s history. The team’s best finish before Sunday was fifth.
A roundup of Sunday’s action from the Olympic Games
The U.S. women’s volleyball team beat Brazil 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 to secure its first gold medal. After winning three silvers and two bronzes since first getting on the medal stand in 1984, the U.S. got to the top by beating the team that denied it a chance at gold in the finals at the 2008 and ’12 Games.
Final medal count
Country U.S.
China
ROC
Great Britain Japan 39 38 20 22 27 41 32 28 21 14 33 18 23 22 17
Complete medal chart in Scoreboard, Page 2
T 113 88 71 65 58