U.S. WOMEN WIN 7TH STRAIGHT HOOPS GOLD.
Aldine Nimitz/Baylor product Griner leads way as women’s basketball extends streak
SAITAMA, Japan — You couldn’t even trust the date of these “Tokyo 2020” Games. But there was one sure thing in these Olympics of uncertainty.
The U.S. women’s basketball team.
The Americans won their seventh consecutive gold medal on the final day of the Olympics. The 90-75 victory over Japan continued a streak that started in 1996 with Tara VanDerveer’s team that won gold in Atlanta.
The U.S. beat a Japan team that had become the darling of the Olympic hosts, a three-point shooting group that dominated France in the semifinal. But Japan couldn’t contend with the overall size and physicality of the Americans. Center Brittney Griner (Aldine Nimitz and Baylor) dominated inside, leading all scorers with 30 points
Two legendary Olympians Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird won their fifth consecutive gold medals — and what they say will be their last — ending a remarkable streak that began in Athens 2004. Coach Dawn Staley, a three-time gold medalist herself, added a coaching fourth onto her resume.
On hand to watch the feat were several members of the U.S. men’s team, which won a gold medal in the same venue 24 hours early, as well as the men’s coaching staff. Also on hand, getting in through what she termed a “work-around” was Bird’s fiancée, Megan Rapinoe.
Rapinoe was interviewed by NBC and got a little emotional talking about point guard Bird, the engine that has made the team run for so long.
“She plays with a sense of joy, and she makes everyone else around her better on and off the court,” said Rapinoe, who won a bronze medal to go with her gold from 2012 on Thursday night, but knows she can’t catch up in the medal department with her future spouse.
The few in the building, that included dozens of Japanese volunteers, witnessed the 21st gold medal won by the U.S. women It has been a record Olympics for American women: they will finish the Tokyo Olympics with 65 medals, compared to the men’s 41.
The über-talented team was never really challenged, as expected. They are the best players in the world and play in the best league in the WNBA. While the game is gaining popularity around the globe, just as with the men’s game, the U.S. women are still a tier above.
Taurasi, whose health was a question mark after coming out of the semifinal game with a hip injury, played almost 29 minutes. Taurasi’s status was of interest of Cy-Fair’s Nneka Ogwumike, who was left off the team ostensibly because she was nursing an injury even though Taurasi was as well. Ogwumike’s omission clearly didn’t impact the fortunes of the team, but she had earned a spot.
That decision was the only bitter note involving a team that has set a standard for excellence that will be hard to ever surpass.