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The final day of competition for the 2024 Paris Olympics ended with the United States winning gold in women’s basketball and women’s omnium, while also earning medals in women’s volleyball, men’s water polo and women’s wrestling. Team USA finished to tie China in gold medals, while winning the overall medal count by an impressive margin and collecting its best total since 1984.
Here are the top five stories of the day:
U.S. women’s basketball wins gold in thriller over France
The U.S. women’s basketball team could not have fought harder for its eighth consecutive gold medal and 61st straight Olympic victory with a 67–66 win over France. Team USA fell behind by 10 points to open the third quarter due to France’s excellent ball movement, quick cutting to the basket and defensive pressure forcing turnovers.
Yet the U.S. kept its cool and chipped away at France’s lead with physical play. France had no answer for A’ja Wilson — which is the case for most opposing teams — who dominated play inside the lane and ran the floor for easy scores.
Wilson scored a game-high 21 points with 13 rebounds, demonstrating that she is likely the best women’s basketball player in the world right now. She was named FIBA MVP of the women’s Olympic tournament.
Kelsey Plum and Kahleah Copper each scored 12 points. Copper’s performance toward the end — with 10 points in the fourth quarter — drew a response from Wilson during NBC’s postgame interview that provided one of the Paris Olympics’ most hilarious moments.
Gabby Williams led France with 19 points but if she had 20, the game would have gone to overtime. Her jump shot at the end banked in, but she had her foot on the line for a 2-point shot rather than the 3 France needed.
Men’s water polo wins bronze for U.S., first medal in 16 years
Team USA won another thriller for an Olympic medal on Sunday, with the U.S. men’s water polo team defeating Hungary, 11–8, in the bronze medal match.
Hungary scored three consecutive goals in the fourth period to take an 8–6 lead. The U.S. rallied to tie with two minutes remaining, but couldn’t score on its final two shots and the game went to a penalty shot overtime.
In the extra period, Team USA scored on all three of its penalty shots while Hungary couldn’t get a shot past goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg, hitting the post on one.
The U.S. men’s water polo team last medaled at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, earning silver after losing to Hungary. Team USA now has 10 medals in men’s water polo, while Hungary has 16 in what’s been a longtime Olympic rivalry.
USA’s Jennifer Valente wins second women’s omnium gold
The U.S. also earned a cycling gold medal on Sunday with Jennifer Valente finishing first in women’s omnium. Valente wins her second gold of the Paris Olympics, helping Team USA to the top finish in the women’s team pursuit on Wednesday.
It’s the second consecutive gold medal for Valente, who also won the women’s omnium at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Valente finished first in points after winning four events including the scratch race, tempo race, elimination face and points race. She was so far ahead of the competition during the final points race that she simply had to finish to win gold. Her total of 144 beat out Poland’s Daria Pikulik and Ally Wollaston of New Zealand.
The U.S. cycling team won three gold medals and six overall for its best performance at the Olympics in 40 years.
U.S. cannot repeat as gold medalists in women’s volleyball
The Italian women’s volleyball team was a buzzsaw throughout the Paris tournament, preventing the U.S. from winning gold for the second consecutive Olympic Games.
Italy won Sunday’s gold medal match 3–0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-17), finishing off a dominating run during which they did not lose a single set after the opening round of pool play. The Italians started strong, forcing U.S. coach Karch Kiraly to call two early timeouts, and never let up.
Italy had never previously medaled in women’s volleyball at the Olympics and hadn’t even advanced past the quarterfinals. With the silver medal, the U.S. won its seventh medal in women’s volleyball, the most of any country.
U.S. women’s wrestling wins fourth medal of Paris Games
The United States added to its medal total with Kennedy Alexis Blades winning silver in the women’s wrestling 76kg final. Japan’s Yuka Kagami, the No. 2 seed, took a 1–0 lead before Blades tied the match. However, Kagami scored a takedown for two points with one minute remaining and held Blades off until the clock expired.
Blades, 20, is transferring from Arizona State to Iowa, and will bring the first-ever women’s wrestling Olympic medal to Iowa City this fall. She is the fourth U.S. women’s wrestler to earn a medal during the Paris Games, joining Amit Elor (gold in 68 kg), Sarah Hildebrandt (gold in 50 kg) and Helen Maroulis (bronze in 57 kg).
Team USA medals
The U.S. women’s basketball team and cyclist Jennifer Valente winning gold pushed Team USA into a tie with China for most gold medals won at the Paris Olympics. However, the U.S. won the final medal count by a significant margin, earning its most in 40 years.
Highlight of the day
Distance runner Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands finished off a remarkable trifecta at the Paris Games, winning medals in the 5,000 meters, the 10,000 and the marathon. Hassan won gold in the women’s marathon, setting an Olympic record with a time of 2:22:55.
Making the achievement even more impressive is that Hassan was behind until approximately 250 meters remaining in the run, finally overtaking Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa with her final kick. She sprinted ahead further until she crossed the finish line.
One more thing
Unfortunately, the Paris Olympics ended on a disappointing note for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team and Jordan Chiles. Chiles was stripped of her bronze medal in the floor exercise after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rules ruled that the appeal of her score was filed four seconds after the one-minute allowable time limit.
During the meet, Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, filed an appeal saying that the gymnast had correctly executed a split leap. The appeal gave Chiles enough points to overtake Romania’s Ana Barbosu for third place, a decision that was controversial at the moment because Barbosu believed she had won.
Late Saturday, the Federation of International Gymnastics confirmed the ruling, resulting in Chiles’ score dropping from 13.766 to the 13.666 she initially earned. Accordingly, the International Olympic Committee announced on Sunday morning that Chiles’ bronze medal would be reallocated to Barbosu.
However, this process may not be over yet. USA Gymnastics is officially appealing the ruling, submitting video evidence that reportedly shows Landi submitted the request for an inquiry after 47 seconds, which is within the one-minute time limit.
