The United States Olympic basketball team pulled out another victory today. But it’s not quite the shocker we have seen in some other sports — the last time they lost a game at the Olympics was in 1992.
The USA women’s basketball team won their fifth straight gold in London this weekend.
It has been 20 years since the team has lost at the Olympic games, a loss that came in the 1992 at Barcelona.
In this game, the team played France, and came out victors with a score of 86 to 50.
“The U.S. is now 58-3 since women’s basketball was added to the Olympics program in 1976, an amazing run of dominance,” said USA Today. “That includes seven gold medals.”
Those 58 wins include 41 straight victories at the Olympics games, which started when the United States won bronze in the 1992.
“The Americans haven’t just been winning, they’ve been blowing past opponents,” said the Huffington Post. “Only one team has come within single digits of them since the streak started in 1996. They’ve won by nearly 30 points a game.”
But that doesn’t mean they didn’t face a challenge making it to the gold-medal game. During the semi-finals, Australia went into halftime with a four-point lead on the Americans.
“It was the first time in 12 years that the Americans had been trailing at the half,” said the Huffington Post. “There was no panic or worry. They just stepped up their defense and vanquished the Aussies, winning by 13 points.”
During the gold-medal game, the United States team had a slow start during the first quarter.
“But in the second quarter, the USA settled into its game,” reported USA Today, “Led by Candace Parker who had 15 of game-high 21 points and nine of her 11 game-high rebounds in the first half.”
All 12 United States players scored in the game.
The game was also somewhat of a victory for France. It gave the country their first medal in the sport. According to USA Today, Australia beat Russia earlier this weekend, giving them the bronze medal. The final score of the game was a little closer than the gold-medal game, ending up 83 to 74.
The game is a sign the London games are coming to an end. Sunday’s Closing Ceremony will pass the torch (quite literally) to the Rio de Janeiro games of 2016.
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