The United States is dominant at men’s basketball. But it’s really dominant at women’s basketball.
Since the Olympics added a women’s basketball tournament in 1976, the U.S. team has won nine gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal. The only time the American women didn’t medal: 1980, when the United States boycotted the Games in Moscow.
Led by WNBA MVPs A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, the U.S. will enter the Paris Olympics as the overwhelming favorites to win its eighth straight gold medal dating from the 1996 Games. The American women hold a 72-3 overall record at the Olympics and have won 55 straight games dating from the 1992 bronze medal game. If the U.S. prevails in Paris, guard Diana Taurasi will claim her sixth gold medal, which would be an Olympic record for any men’s or women’s basketball player.
