For the first time in the history of the Olympics, the same two countries played for the gold medal in the men’s and women’s tournaments. Olympics host France fought the United States in another dramatic, close battle worthy of a gold medal, but the Americans came out on top with a 67–66 victory.
The U.S. women’s team had won 60 consecutive games at the Olympics, and came into the final with the best offense in the games, averaging more than 90 points per game. But France was ready to present a challenge.
Like the men’s team, the American women needed heroes to step up late in a tight game. Thankfully, A’ja Wilson is used to playing that role.
Wilson scored 21 points—seven of which came in a back-and-forth fourth quarter—and pulled down a team-leading 13 rebounds to lead the United States to another gold medal. She made 9 of her 12 free throws.
Physical defense on both sides, amplified by sloppy play, led to points being at a premium. It took France almost three full minutes to score a point to start the game. After France’s Gabby Williams made a layup to give her team a 5–4 lead with 6:28 left in the first quarter, the two teams went 4:20 without either side making a basket.
The Americans went more than seven minutes between field goals, but were hitting their free throws. Brittney Griner scored twice on turnarounds in the final minute of the opening quarter to give the United States a 15–9 lead at the end of the first. The U.S. team made four field goals and seven free throws in the first quarter.
The physical play continued, and Team USA continued to hit free throws while struggling to find any consistency from the field. When Janelle Salaun hit a jumper to give France a 25–23 lead late in the first half, the building was up for grabs. Napheesa Collier was able to get a putback to tie the game as the quarter ended, but that was only the second field goal in the final 6:55 of the half for the United States.
The French were gambling defensively and it was working. They had forced 13 turnovers and the U.S. team was 0-for-3 from three-point range and shot only 29 percent from the floor. France committed 11 fouls in the first half, though, and had three players with multiple fouls before the intermission.
Sabrina Ionescu, Jewell Llyod, and Diana Taurasi did not play in the first half.
France scored the first 10 points in the third quarter and the U.S. team had to burn a timeout two minutes into the second half. Kelsey Plum made the United States’ first field a goal more than three minutes into the second half to cut into a 10-point French lead. Her three, coupled with a layup from Wilson, cut that lead in half.
To counter France’s physical play, the U.S. team started to push the pace. And it worked. They started getting layups in transition and finding open threes as they attacked the paint with speed. Ionescu checked into the game and was very active on both ends. The United States went on an 8–0 run to take a brief lead. After a three from Marine Johannes tied the game, Wilson hit two free throws in the final seconds to give Team USA a 45–43 lead heading to a dramatic fourth quarter.
The physical play continued, and the refs were letting a lot go without a whistle. Even though scoring continued to happen predominantly from the free throw line early in the fourth quarter, there was contact all over the floor. The United States had only one made field goal in 5:51 to open the fourth quarter.
Wilson and Kahleah Copper were the only Americans to score before the U.S. team took a timeout with 3:45 left in regulation in a 55–55 game. Jackie Young fouled out of the game for the United States with 2:34 left in the game. When Williams pulled France within a single point with 93 seconds left in regulation, the Americans used their final timeout.
Plum hit two clutch free throws before Williams knocked down a huge three to cut the lead to just one with five seconds on the clock. Copper knocked down two free throws and Williams made a jumper with her foot inside the three-point line for France to cut the final margin to one.
Williams led France with 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals.
