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The U.S. women's basketball team cruised to the record for the longest consecutive gold medal in ball games in Olympic history.
The U.S. defeated Japan 102-76 in the first preliminary round of the women's basketball league for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which took place at the Pierry Meroy Stadium in Paris on Thursday. The U.S. extended its winning streak to 56 since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
The match was a rematch of the Tokyo Olympics final. Back then, the U.S. won 90-75 to clinch its seventh consecutive Olympic title.
The U.S. struggled with Japan's offensive tactics based on outside shots to overcome its stature in the early stages of the game, and took the lead by a narrow 37-32 until three minutes before the end of the first half. However, the team scored 13 points to widen the gap to double digits. After entering the third quarter, guard Chelsea Gray and center Aiza Wilson showed good teamwork to accumulate points, and the gap widened by more than 20 points. The team almost eliminated key players in the fourth quarter.Wilson had 24 points and 13 rebounds. Breanna Stewart scored 22 points to support the team's offense. Diana Turassie, a shooting guard in her 40s, also started the game and scored two points, displaying stellar records. Turassie is a living legend who was selected as a 10th WNBA All-Star and has won five gold medals since the 2004 Athens Games.
Brittney Griner also received attention. Having led the U.S. to a gold medal by scoring 30 points in the final match of the Tokyo Olympics, she was imprisoned in a Russian prison for drug possession and smuggling in 2022, and was able to return to her home country only 10 months later. She garnered 11 points and nine rebounds in the match against Japan on the day, making a successful comeback to the international competition.
Japan made 15 3-pointers and raced to power. Tanaka Maki scored 24 points and Yamamoto Mai 17 points. However, the team failed to surpass the U.S. in rebounding, falling behind 27-56. 바카라사이트
Meanwhile, the U.S. men's basketball team, consisting of NBA superstars such as LeBron James and Stephen Curry, won 110-84 in the first Group C match against Serbia on the 29th. Serbia was held out by Nikola Jokic, who was the three-time MVP in the NBA, but failed to overcome the "Dream Team," which even Kevin Durant joined.