The USA women’s basketball team laid their claim as the most dominant team in the history of the Olympics on Sunday afternoon, surviving a nerve-shredding final against France to win 67-66 and secure their eighth consecutive gold medal in the final event of the Paris Games.
In a back-and-forth contest before a boisterous crowd at the Bercy Arena that chanted loudly with each France basket, the Americans trailed by double digits in the third quarter before fighting back to extend their record of 61 successive wins in Olympic competition that dates back to 1992. In doing so, the USA women established the record for the longest Olympic gold medal sequence in a traditional team sport, eclipsing the previous mark set by the USA men’s basketball team, who won seven in succession from 1936 through 1968.
