Olympics in Paris: French basketball players challenge USA for gold

France and the United States battle it out for the women's basketball gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. After their semi-final defeat on Friday (August 9, 2024), Australia and European champions Belgium have only a game to play for bronze.

USA basketball is one win away from its eighth consecutive Olympic victory. The big gold favorites didn't let anything go wrong against Australia and won clearly 85:64. The Americans' last loss at the Olympics came in the semifinals in Barcelona in 1992.

The girls from Down Under really only managed to hold their own when they overcame a ten point deficit in the first quarter. A 12-0 run by the US early in the second half ensured normalcy again.

While the reigning Olympic champions scored 25 points in the second quarter, the Australians scored 24 points in the second and third periods. In particular, a 36 percent shooting rate from the field was ultimately uncompetitive. America's leading scorer was Brenna Stewart with 16 points.

France and Belgium go to extra time

The French were able to celebrate in the second game of the evening. In a dramatic game against Belgium, five minutes were left to decide whether the team progressed. Finally, the hosts won with 81:75.

After an even start, it briefly looked like France might pull away early in the second quarter. For their part, the Belgians countered Les Bleus' 15-1 run to take the series 28-2 as France could do nothing for ten minutes. But the hosts did not allow themselves to be discouraged and bit by bit pulled back. At 53:51, seven minutes before the end of the game, they regained the lead, cheered on by a frenzied crowd at the Percy Arena.

Now it was up to Belgium again and eight seconds before the end of regular time, they saved themselves for extra time thanks to Emma Meismann's winning three-pointer. It was even longer, but the decision was made in the last 37 seconds.