Diana Taurasi wins her record 6th Olympic gold medal as US women’s basketball beats France

PARIS (AP) — Diana Taurasi held up six fingers on the medal stand.

Nobody else measures up: She stands alone in Olympic basketball lore with six gold medals.

The 42-year-old American was a part of the U.S. girls’s workforce that beat France 67-66 on Sunday, Taurasi’s sixth gold medal, breaking a tie with longtime American teammate Sue Chicken for many in Olympic basketball historical past.

“Twenty years of placing this jersey on is really a dream come true,” she mentioned. “It’s an honor to share the courtroom with the most effective on the planet for 20 years.”

Taurasi stood with a hand over her coronary heart throughout the nationwide anthem as a part of the medal ceremony one ultimate time. Then it was time for extra photographs, together with one final one together with her household that was in attendance and the most recent addition to her golden assortment.

Taurasi has been part of 44 of the document 61 consecutive Olympic victories relationship to the 1992 Barcelona Video games. The win Sunday was the closest of the run.

“That was an amazing French workforce, , an amazing crowd. We discovered a option to win, , and that’s what these video games come right down to, is discovering a option to win,” she mentioned. “You already know, you suppose it’s going to be fairly and each shot goes to go in. However, , the need to win is, is typically the one factor you want.”

Not like the earlier 5 Olympics she has been part of, Taurasi wasn’t a significant factor on the courtroom on this one because the U.S. received its eighth consecutive gold medal. She didn’t play on this title recreation.

Taurasi nonetheless offered worthwhile expertise off the courtroom for the People, who now have received 61 straight Olympic contests relationship again to the 1992 Barcelona Video games.

Brittney Griner, who performed the final three Olympics with Taurasi, mentioned that her Phoenix Mercury teammate might be missed.

“Dee is all the things to USA Basketball. She’s all the things to each single one in all us,” Griner mentioned. ‘You already know, there’s going to be a void, , together with her not being right here anymore. And, I’m simply glad I used to be in a position to be right here together with her and luxuriate in this this time.”

U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve mentioned she had conversations with Taurasi about her function on the workforce and has been impressed with how the WNBA’s all-time main scorer has dealt with a decreased function after defining USA Basketball for thus very lengthy.

“She’s ran the gamut. And, , in her ultimate Olympics, the mark that she’s making by way of management and simply sharing the data that she has,” Reeve mentioned.

“I don’t know that there’s a larger competitor for USA basketball. I imply, there’s been some large ones. There’s kind of a Mount Rushmore.”

As soon as the most recent U.S. Olympic title was secured, Taurasi acquired in plenty of hugs throughout the celebration, together with with Chicken, who watched this recreation from the alternative sideline in avenue garments.

Taurasi mentioned that she is retired now from USA Basketball even with the subsequent Olympics in her hometown of Los Angeles in 2028.

She joked that you just may see her there “on the seashore with a beer in my hand sitting subsequent to Sue.”

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AP Summer time Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games