The US women’s basketball team claimed the title of most dominant team in Olympic history on Sunday afternoon, surviving a nail-biting final against France to win 67-66 to claim their eighth consecutive gold medal in the final round of the Paris Olympics.
In a back-and-forth contest before a raucous crowd at the Bercy Arena, which chanted loudly for every French basket, the Americans trailed by double digits in the third quarter but fought back to extend their record of 61 consecutive victories in Olympic competition, which dates back to 1992. In doing so, the U.S. women set the record for the longest streak of gold medals at the Olympics in a traditional team sport, surpassing the previous record held by the U.S. men’s basketball team, which won seven in a row from 1936 to 1968.
A’ja Wilson scored a game-high 21 points in a game that was decided when Gabby Williams’ last-second basket off a cross-court pass from Marine Johannes came just inside the three-point line, costing France a chance to extend the game by inches. That France kept it so close was remarkable considering that only two teams during the U.S. team’s record-breaking winning streak have managed to keep the margin within single digits.
“We were just resilient in what we had to do,” Wilson said. “We kept going, bucket after bucket. That’s great basketball and that’s what people want to see. Our defense settled down a little bit and we started getting stops and we started feeling it out together.”
The US-France showdown was a replay of the gold medal game at the 2012 London Games, which the Americans won by 36 points, the largest margin ever in an Olympic basketball final. This one was a bit more exciting.
For all their firepower, the U.S. team entered the gold medal game without having managed to produce a full 40-minute effort throughout the tournament. That pattern continued Sunday, with the U.S. making just 2 of 12 (17%) three-pointers and finishing with 19 turnovers. The Americans were particularly sloppy with possession during a low-scoring first half that ended with the teams tied at 25.
When France scored 10 unanswered points for a 35-25 lead to start the third quarter, the already cheerful Bercy Arena erupted in a wall of sound. But the Americans closed the gap almost immediately through Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Breanna Stewart and super sub Sabrina Ionescu, taking a 41-40 lead on Napheesa Collier’s wide-open layup after a beautiful Ionescu feed.
With LeBron James courtside wearing the gold medal he won in the same building on Saturday night, France wasn’t done yet. They took a 51-49 lead with 5:31 left, bringing the crowd back into the game, but were doomed by a series of crucial errors late in the game, including an airballed three-point attempt by Williams, with France trailing 62-59 with 54 seconds left.
With her victory, Diana Taurasi claimed her sixth Olympic gold medal, the most ever by an individual in a team sport, while Plum and Jackie Young became the first players to win Olympic gold medals in both 3×3 and 5×5 basketball.
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The U.S. women have won eight consecutive Olympic gold medals and six of the last seven World Cups. Their only loss in that streak in either Olympic or World Cup competition came in the 2006 World Cup semifinal to Russia.
Sunday’s competition capped a weekend in which France and the United States battled for the men’s and women’s gold medals, the first time in Olympic history that such a thing has happened.