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The United States' women earned their seventh-straight gold in
the 90-75 victory at the Saitama Super Arena, north of Tokyo.
Brittney Griner, who plays for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, led
Team USA with 30 points.
"Seven in a row, that's pretty amazing," Griner said, cradling
her newly won medal, her second after claiming gold in Rio de
Janeiro in 2016.
"COVID and everything that we've had to get through, to finally
get to the gold game, get the gold, it's like the icing on the
cake," she said. "It just washes away everything."
The U.S. women's victory on Sunday was their 55th straight win
in Olympic game matches, and earned them a ninth championship
since 1976. Japan took the silver, their first, while France
beat Serbia in the bronze medal match on Saturday.
In the absence of fans due to infection controls, blue and pink
clad Japanese volunteers in the arena clapped in unison for the
home team. Some of the U.S. men's basketball team, who on
Saturday claimed
https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/
sports/basketball-us-beat-france-win-16th-mens-gold-2021-08-07
their 16th gold, were also in attendance.
Packed with WNBA talent, the U.S. women's team have been even
more dominant in basketball
http://www.fiba.basketball/olympics/
women/2020 in recent Olympics than the men's squad. Sue Bird,
the team captain, and Diana Taurasi have now claimed her fifth
gold medals.
"Hopefully, we've left some sort of legacy with the younger
players, where they now can carry that torch," said Bird, who
was cheered on by her soccer superstar wife Megan Rapinoe in the
stands. "I'm just really, really happy. And this is my last
one."
Japan was the Cinderella story of the tournament, fighting their
way into quarterfinals for the first time and then battling to
the final.
Throughout the tournament, the undersized Japan team bedevilled
opponents with constant running for the 40 minutes of game time.
Offensively, Japan employed a potent three-point arsenal,
abetted by rocket passes from Rui Machina, who set an Olympic
record https://www.reuters.com/article/olympics-2020-bkb-idCNL8N2PD3X8
with 18 assists against France in the semifinals.
"Seeing the players with a silver medal and a look of pride on
their faces was worth everything that we've been through," head
coach Tom Hovasse said. "This is a new era of women's basketball
in Japan."
(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Peter Rutherford and Ana
Nicolaci da Costa)
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