The Capital

US suffers yet another meltdown

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The final buzzer sounded and France barely celebrated.

To them, beating the United States again wasn’t really a surprise. And that might be the biggest indicator yet that the Americans — even after three consecutiv­e Olympic gold medals — are no longer feared by some internatio­nal teams.

A 25-game Olympic winning streak for the U.S. is over, ending Sunday when France closed the game on a 16-2 run to beat the Americans 83-76.

Evan Fournier’s 3-pointer off a broken play with just under a minute left put France ahead for good, as the Americans fell apart in the final minutes. That’s been proven with alarming regularity in the last two years. Starting with France’s win over the U.S. in the Basketball World Cup quarterfin­als at China two years ago, the U.S. is 3-5 in its last eight games.

The U.S. missed its final nine shots, five of them coming in a 21-second span in the final minute shortly after Fournier, who had a game-high 28, made the go-ahead 3-pointer. Rudy Gobert wildly missed a layup on that play, but Guerschon Yabusele chased down the rebound and just before he dove into the U.S. bench, he made a desperatio­n swipe at the ball in an effort to knock it into Fournier’s direction.

Fournier turned Yabusele’s dive into a dagger.

“I think that’s a little bit of hubris if you think the Americans are supposed to just roll out the balls and win,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’ve got to work for it just like everybody else.”

Russia pulled off a stunner in gymnastics qualifying, posting a top score of 171.629, more than a full point ahead of the U.S. total 170.562. While reigning Olympic champion Simone Biles topped the all-around with teammate Sunisa Lee close behind in third, the Americans ended their session not leading the team standings for the first time since the 2010 world championsh­ips.

Katie Ledecky opened her Olympic program as the top qualifier in the 400-meter freestyle on Sunday night, setting up a showdown with Ariarne Titmus of Australia as the American star tries to defend her title. Ledecky advanced with a time of 4 minutes, 0.45 seconds. Titmus was third-quickest in 4:01.66. The first of their multiple showdowns in Tokyo comes in the final on Monday morning.

 ?? ROBERT GAUTHIER/TNS ?? Kevin Durant, left, tangles with France’s Evan Fournier on Sunday.
ROBERT GAUTHIER/TNS Kevin Durant, left, tangles with France’s Evan Fournier on Sunday.

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