The U.S. easily won the total medal count, but it came down to the women’s basketball final buzzer to see whether the Americans would tie China for the most gold.
PARIS, France — The U.S. women’s basketball team held off France on Sunday to win gold in the final event of the Paris Olympics, and that hardware was needed for the Americans to tie China for the most with 40.
Here’s a look at what happened on the last day of the Paris Olympics.
US women barely hold off France
A’ja Wilson scored 21 points and the U.S. survived the biggest challenge of its unprecedented run to eight straight gold medals with a 67-66 win over France on Sunday.
No team had been able to push the Americans during this impressive streak of 61 consecutive wins. Only two of those victories had been by single digits before the game against France. The eight straight golds broke a tie with the American men’s program that won seven in a row from 1936-68.
The women’s victory came less than 24 hours after the U.S. men’s team also beat France. This was the first time in Olympic history that both gold medal games featured the same two teams. Unlike the men’s game this one came down to the final minute and one last shot by France that was just inside the 3-point line.
Jordan Chiles stripped of bronze medal
U.S. Olympic officials are appealing a court ruling that resulted in American gymnast Jordan Chiles being asked to return the bronze medal she won in the Paris Olympics floor exercise.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided an on-floor appeal by Chiles’ coach that vaulted her to third, saying the appeal came 4 seconds beyond the 1-minute time limit for scoring inquiries.
USA Gymnastics disputed the timing, saying in a statement Sunday that the agency submitted video evidence to CAS that showed coach Cecile Landi first appealed 13 seconds before the deadline.
“The time-stamped, video evidence submitted by USA Gymnastics Sunday evening shows Landi first stated her request to file an inquiry at the inquiry table 47 seconds after the score is posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the score was originally posted.”
Water polo bronze
The U.S. men’s water polo team made a surprising run deep into the Paris Olympics. The Americans lost 10-6 to Serbia in the semifinals on Friday, but they rallied for a wild 11-8 victory over Hungary in the bronze medal match on Sunday. It was the best showing for the U.S. men at the Olympics since the last time the program took home a medal — a 2008 silver after it lost to Hungary in the final. Perhaps more importantly, it wasn’t hard to imagine taking a higher spot on the podium in 2028 in Los Angeles, the home base for American water polo.
Volleyball settles for silver
Italy beat the defending champion U.S. team to win gold in women’s volleyball at the Paris Olympics. The victory came in straight sets, 25-18, 25-20, 25-17. It’s the first medal in the sport for top-ranked Italy and sends the Americans home in disappointment after they won their first Olympic title in Tokyo. It’s a huge win for Italy, whose previous best Olympic finish was fifth. It lost just one set in Paris.
Medal count race
The U.S. easily won the total medal count with 126. Aside from the 40 gold, the Americans won 42 silver and 44 bronze. China came in second in the total medal race with 91. China won 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze. Japan was a distant third with 20 gold medals, 45 overall. Britain won 65 medals, but only 14 were gold for an overall ranking of seventh.