Another Olympic Gold For U.S. Women's Basketball Team

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U.S. players celebrate winning 86-50 against France during the women's gold medal basketball game on Saturday.

London- The French Women's basketball team had already become stars back home in the hours before they took the court for Saturday night's gold-medal final against the U.S. Simply reaching the championship game was a historic achievement, and their popularity soared even more when a clip of the team singing together went viral on YouTube.

All that momentum and good feeling must have meant something, right? Wrong. "We knew we didn't have a chance to win," said French captain Celine Dumerc.

The Olympics are unpredictable. A British runner can win double gold in long-distance events. Kobe Bryant can show up at the velodrome. The sun can shine for days at a time here in London.

But when you need something expected, an absolute drama-free guarantee, look no further than the U.S. women's basketball team. Team USA did it again at North Greenwich Arena, claiming a fifth-straight gold medal with an 86-50 victory over France. "We beat a really good team," U.S. coach Geno Auriemma said, "but we're a great team."

Diana Taurasi, Tamika Catchings and Bird have been part of the last three U.S. teams to win gold, and Taurasi found herself getting emotional on the medal podium. "It hit me that it might be my last one," said Taurasi, 30. "It's really hard. The whole process is really difficult to try to get 12 good players to buy into this one thing. And it takes a while, and it takes a lot of effort."Candace Parker finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the U.S., and Sue Bird added 11. In other words, business as usual for the Americans, who haven't lost in Olympic competition since 1992, when they fell to the (now defunct) Unified Team and settled for bronze. So that makes 41 straight wins for the Americans and counting, a streak that will extend until at least 2016, when Team USA looks to build on its five-peat in Rio de Janeiro.

The Americans made it look easy. It was a question posed by the international basketball community in the run-up to the Olympics: Is the rest of the world finally catching up to Team USA? In a word, no. Four years after clobbering its opponents by an average of 37.9 points per contest in Beijing, Team USA was just as dominant in London. The Americans won games in group play by 52 and 48 points. (Angola and China, we're looking at you.) They won their quarterfinal against Canady by 43—and really, was it that close?

But after needing a second-half comeback to take down Australia in Friday's semifinals, the Americans were predictably reserved. They credited the Aussies for pushing them the way they'd seldom been pushed at the Olympics. All very polite, all very respectful. And then it was on to the next one.

"When the thought of losing doesn't even enter your mind, that makes a big difference," U.S. guard Angel McCoughtry said.

The French? Things were different for them. After their semifinal win over Russia, they celebrated on the court for close to 15 minutes. And why not? An appearance in the gold-medal final was uncharted territory. This was just their second Olympic appearance, and the team had spent the past five summers training together. And after entering the tournament with a reputation for collapsing like a house of cards in pressure situations, France rattled off seven straight victories—four of them by four points or less, two in overtime—to secure a matchup with the vaunted Americans. "They were the team of the tournament, in my opinion," Auriemma said.

France showed no fear early on. With point guard Edwige Lawson-Wade tossing in turnaround 18-foot jumpers, anything seemed possible. It didn't hurt that the U.S. started off by shooting 11 of 31 from the field—and most of their misses weren't even close.

Soon enough, Parker found a rhythm. She hadn't played her best basketball in the tournament. Relegated to a reserve role off the bench, she was shooting 46% entering the final. Auriemma said he had trouble reaching her. When Parker wants to be the best player in the world, he said, she can be. "Maybe Candace doesn't know how good she is," Auriemma said.

But midway through the second quarter, she scored eight straight points to push Team USA to a 12-point lead. She did her damage inside and outside, and France had no answers. "Everything we didn't do perfect, they were there to show us and kill us," Dumerc said.

Auriemma was asked if American fans take the basketball team's success for granted. He acknowledged that his players are overshadowed at the Olympics by the U.S. women's gymnastics and soccer teams.

"You can't apologize for being really good," he said. "We take great pride in our basketball program. It doesn't matter who the coach is, doesn't matter who the players are, but there's an expectation to win. And we take it very seriously. So maybe in those other sports there isn't that same expectation that you need to win all the time. But we're not going to start losing just to make them feel better back home."

As Team USA's lead swelled in the second half like a balloon being filled with helium, from 15 to 20 to 30, there was no looking back for the Americans, only ahead—on to Rio

Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

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Posted in: 12th August 2012