The USA was the favourite team for the London Olympic Basketball Tournament and their aura was such that all the nations did their best to avoid meeting them before the final.
France huffed and puffed their way through the group phase with Céline Dumerc becoming a hero in France while the USA were quietly destroying their opponents one by one.
The USA have raised the standards such that it is some time forgotten how hard the players from the USA have to work.
Diana Taurasi confirmed this after the final when she explained: "Even if you win a game by 30, if you win by 10, the whole process is really difficult to try to get 12 really good players to kind of just buy into one thing.” Taurasi went on to say: “It takes awhile; it takes a lot of effort. By the end of it, I think we succeeded in what we wanted to do, we were lucky enough to win a gold medal doing it.”
The objective of all the teams from Group B was to avoid playing the USA in the quarter-final. As a result we were treated to some high quality games.
Canada drew the short straw and had to play the USA in the quarter-final. The other teams from Group B won their quarter-final matches against Group A opponents. Australia pushed the USA in the sem-final for 20 minutes but suffered the same fate of all the other teams.
For French basketball, qualifying for the final was a dream come true. Yet the French team also had no answer against team USA.
With the interest shown in women's basketball during the Olympics, this sport may reach a wider public.
The WNBA which has been on hold because of the Olympics will hope that more people take interest in their championship with the return of the gold medal winners: Seimone Augustus, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Tamika Catchings, Tina Charles, Sylvia Fowles, Angel McCoughtry, Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi.
Unless the rules change the USA have qualified for the 2014 World championship. So the London Olympic Basketball Tournament is likely to be the last international tournament for this group as they do not need to play in the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship for Women.
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Mar 30, 15 04:34 PM
While COB Calais and Hainaut Basket are fighting against relegation with Calais winning their third match this season in round 23 against Charleville-Mézières, Hainaut Basket take the victory in round…
Mar 17, 15 09:49 AM
March madness means schedule changes, Bourges eliminated from ELW, Villeneuve qualify for ECW final while Calais win a regular season game in the LFB./COB Calais n'est plus la lanterne rouge.
Mar 10, 15 06:06 AM
Some LFB teams are not so good when their overseas players are injured giving a chance to their opponents to win./Des blessures à ses joueuses clés handicappent des formations.
Feb 23, 15 07:10 PM
Émilie Gomis is back in the LFB, this time for Toulouse. Arras are the big losers of round 19./Le retour de Miss Go et la malchanche de Arras sont les nouvelles de la 19e journée.
Feb 10, 15 04:43 AM
In the LFB round 18 accuracy in the shot selection made you win the game. / Une meilleure adresse au tir mène au succès.
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