Saturday is the final day of The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris. It’s been an amazing time. This year’s Olympic Games did not disappoint. On the last day of the 2024 Olympics though is the finale of the women’s basketball tournament. The final game of course is the gold medal game on Saturday morning. Just like on the men’s side, the women’s gold medal match is between the hosts France and the US. It’s the first time that both the men’s and women’s finals are the same two countries facing off.
2024 Paris Olympics Women’s Basketball Gold Medal Game Preview
Women’s Gold Medal Match
France vs. USA
France has done well to get to this point. FIBA’s 7th-ranked team in the world has played well to get to this point. Its four wins have a combined average margin of victory of 15.25 points per game. Les Bleus have won two Olympic medals on the women’s side, silver at the 2012 London Games and bronze in Tokyo a few years ago. This time they want to be the team to finally dethrone the Americans. Other than the US, only the Soviet Union (and some of its unified remnants in ’92) has won gold in the Olympics in women’s basketball.
As I said, the French have done well and have won four of their five games, only losing to Australia. They are second in scoring at 77.4 points per game. They have played excellent defense, averaging just under 5 blocks per game and lead all teams (tied with Nigeria) in steals per game with 12. Gabby Williams (who was the 4th overall pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft coming out of UConn) is averaging the eleventh most points per game with 14.8. She’s also averaging 5.4 assists per game (seventh most) and 2.8 steals per game (third best). Marine Johannès of the New York Liberty has played well also, averaging over 12 points per game.
The Team USA women’s basketball team is going for its 8th straight gold medal. It would also be its tenth gold in the last eleven Olympics. The team hasn’t lost in the Olympics since the 1992 Barcelona games and hasn’t lost in any major international competition since 2006. It has won 58 straight games in the Olympics. Those are all insane numbers. So far in this tournament the team has continued that dominance. It leads all teams in almost every statistical category. Some (like points per game) are by very wide margins too. Belgium gave them a game for a lot of their matchup, and Australia and Nigeria hung around for a little bit in the first half. But other than that they have had pretty smooth sailing.
Breanna Stewart has, like always, been playing amazing basketball. She is fifth among all players with 18 points per game. Stewie is also averaging 5.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.6 blocks (third highest) per game, and she has barely turned the ball over. For as great as Stewie has been A’ja Wilson has been even better. She is averaging 18.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, numbers which rank fourth and second respectively among all players. She is also averaging 2.4 blocks per game, which ranks second.
