Biles and Ledecky give us the best moments of the Olympic Games in Paris
The Paris Olympics are over and Mackenzie Salmon analyzes the best moments, including when Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky cemented their GOAT title.
PARIS — Now that they have won their eighth consecutive gold medal, an unprecedented feat in Olympic team sports, conversations about the U.S. women’s basketball team will almost certainly immediately shift to the future and whether they can do it again in 2028.
That is the wrong question.
The legitimate question would be: If they win gold at home in 2028, will the Americans finally recognize the most dominant dynasty in the history of global basketball?
And will they compete to see if they can actually win nine games in a row?
On Sunday at Bercy Arena, in the very last event of the 2024 Paris Games, the U.S. women held on in a ferocious battle against hosts France to claim a narrow 67-66 victory, extending their Olympic winning streak (61 games and counting). It was a back-and-forth thriller that thrilled the 12,126 spectators and required a career-defining defensive performance from A’ja Wilson, who led Team USA with 21 points, 13 rebounds and, crucially, four blocks.
“I think everyone thinks these games are going to be easy because we always win gold medals,” said Diana Taurasi, who became USA Basketball’s only six-time gold medalist with the win. “A game in France against a French team – we know the pedigree they play with. We’ve all played abroad, and in France the games were always the toughest. They’re physical, they play hard, they play for their country.”
“That was a tough win.”
And a chaotic one at that.
After a 25-25 tie at halftime, France opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run to put the Americans behind by double digits, their largest of the tournament. Back home, officials in the White House Situation Room have safely moved the U.S. to Defcon 1. Shouldn’t that be a piece of cake?
“It felt like we were going back and forth the whole time,” said Breanna Stewart, who finished with 8 points and 2 timely blocks. “No matter what happens, whether it’s a good win or an ugly win, we just want to win. And we have gold.”
The U.S. fought back, then the teams traded baskets and leads before Wilson helped them decide the game in the final 20 seconds by scoring a crucial defensive goal after Stewart blocked a French three-point attempt and converted one of two free throws.
And yet it could easily have gone into overtime: Gabby Williams’ shot went into the goal as the final siren sounded, before the French striker became deeply aware that she was in front of the 3-point line when the ball left her hand.
The fact that the gold medal game went so well – 11 ties and six leads – and was uncertain until the final whistle is a testament to the rise of women’s basketball around the world, not just in the U.S. After the final, Taurasi called it proof that “women are catching up, everything is going in the right direction.”
U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve has spoken at every Olympics about how the U.S. basketball team’s dynasty is “defined by depth.” If a WNBA All-Star isn’t playing well, there are plenty of other options on the bench.
This was the case again on Sunday, when Reeve turned to Kahleah Copper (12 points, 5 rebounds), Kelsey Plum (12 points, 4 assists) and Sabrina Ionescu (three perfect and perfectly timed assists) at a time when the Americans were stumbling.
At one point, the Las Vegas Aces were on an 8-0 run when Plum hit a 3-pointer and fed Wilson for a transition basket, and then Plum hit another 3-pointer off a block by Wilson (and on the previous defensive possession, Wilson got a steal).
“I didn’t necessarily think I needed to score, but I thought, ‘I need to come in and make a play,’ especially because I didn’t think we were on a roll,” Plum said. “The game was so uneven, we couldn’t really get anything going in terms of the running attack. But that’s my style of game because I break up a lot of plays.”
The crazy reality of the U.S. team’s depth is that sometimes it can result in an unfamiliar lineup. That was the case recently when Wilson, Stewart, Plum Copper and Ionescu were on the court together. Plum immediately noticed it was a different five than usual and joked to Ionescu as she came in, “Hey, let’s finally play together instead of replacing each other.”
Olympians like to say that putting together a roster for Team USA is the hardest part of any sport. And as Reeve pointed out this week, in women’s basketball, with the talent emerging across the country and the long careers of some of the best veterans, it will be even harder to land a spot on the 12-man roster.
If the USA wins again in Los Angeles – and they would again be the favorites – it will probably be due to this squad strength.
Is this the best and most impressive Olympic dynasty of all time? That’s hard to quantify, given how the Soviet Union once dominated gymnastics, how the Americans crushed the competition in the pool for years, and how China long dominated niche sports like table tennis and badminton.
But at least the US women’s basketball team is definitely in the conversation. And that doesn’t surprise the participants.
“We know that women have dominated these Olympics,” Stewart said, pointing to the right where Wilson and Reeve were sitting. “We know that there are only women sitting here. And we will continue to fight for equality and continue to raise the bar and the standard in our sport and outside of our sport.”
“When it comes to getting the work done, getting the job done, a woman is always there,” Wilson added. “When it comes to shining on those big stages… when it comes to performing and putting yourself out there, I always put my money on women.”
Email Lindsay Schnell at [email protected] and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell
