The US women’s basketball team won its eighth Olympic Gold medal by defeating hosts France by the narrowest of margins: 1 point. Team USA won a hard-fought final 67-66.
No team was able to pressure the Americans during that impressive streak of 61 consecutive victories. The victory was the closest the U.S. has come to an Olympic gold medal since the 1988 Games, when it defeated Yugoslavia by seven points. The only other team to hold the U.S. to a single-digit point in a gold medal game was South Korea at the 1984 Games.
Michael Conroy/AP
With Sunday’s victory, the U.S. women’s team has now won 61 consecutive Olympic Games, breaking a tie with the U.S. men’s team, which won seven in a row from 1936 to 1968.
The women’s victory came less than 24 hours after the US men’s team’s victory also defeated France in the title game. This was the first time in Olympic history that the same two teams competed in both gold medal games.
Unlike the men’s game, this game came down to the last minute and a final shot by France, which landed just inside the 3-point line.
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