PARIS — When the final whistle came, mercifully, Crystal Dunn collapsed forward onto her knees and pounded her fists into the grass. The bench emptied onto the field, the stadium — fans long eager, and waiting, for a fifth Olympic gold medal — erupted. But in that moment, Dunn was alone and thinking of her own journey to this point.

“You think about all the sacrifices you made,” she said. “Yeah, this game is hard but it’s not just this game. It’s everything you went through. It’s the whole tournament, the buildup.”

For Dunn, it’s not just the buildup of the last year after this program went through a historically disastrous early departure from the 2023 World Cup. It’s not just the last three months, when new head coach Emma Hayes was finally installed at the helm of the U.S. women’s national team program. For Dunn, the player who has the longest history with the senior national team, it’s everything she has gone through since 2013. The rosters she made, the rosters she didn’t. The tournaments they won, and more often, the tournaments they didn’t. The highs and lows. The injuries. The comebacks. All of it.

And on Saturday evening in Parc des Princes — sacrifices and buildup behind her, a 1-0 win against Brazil on the scoreboard, 106 minutes…

PARIS — Twelve years ago, the last time the U.S. women’s national team won a gold medal at the Olympics, Mallory Swanson was watching the game at a Buffalo Wild Wings. Trinity Rodman joked that she was five years old (she was 10, actually). Sophia Smith added she had been watching the very team she stars for today for as long as she could remember.

On Thursday, the three starting forwards for the USWNT — now having dubbed themselves “Triple Espresso” (or at least, they’re throwing it out there for workshopping purposes) — spoke to reporters at the Olympics’ press center. In two days’ time, they’ll have their chance to truly stamp their mark on this program with a major tournament victory.

“This team has always had a standard of winning, and winning on the biggest stage,” Smith said Thursday. “We take so much pride in that, and want to uphold that in everything that we do to pay our respects to the players that have come before us.”

For all the worries about the USWNT’s inability to score in the send-off games last month, and as tight as the knock-outs have been against Japan and Germany, all three of the forward line have scored three goals so far this tournament. Swanson has also added two assists, and Smith and Rodman one.

There’s no secret…

Follow live coverage of Day 12 of the 2024 Paris Olympics, with 21 gold medals on offer

LYON, France — Emma Hayes wanted her players to suffer.

On Monday, the U.S. women’s national team head coach showed her team a video of ultramarathoner Courtney Dauwalter discussing how she digs deep during 100-mile races. Dauwalter enters what she calls her “pain cave” during races. With every mile, Dauwalter imagines herself in a hard hat with a chisel, picking at the walls of the pain cave, tolerating more and more and more.

“I could see today that players were having to dig to the deepest place within them,” Hayes said Tuesday, following their second consecutive extra-time win in the semifinal against Germany.

“I’ve said this all along — the reason I want to play the team together for as long as possible is because I want them to develop that. I want them to suffer. I want them to have that moment because I do not believe you can win without it.”

A year to the day after it was bounced from the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, the U.S. survived and advanced. In four days, back in Paris, the U.S. will have a chance to win a gold medal. The team is not the same as it was a year ago. Right now, the players are tired, forced to dig deep mentally with each new…

The best things come in threes and the U.S. women’s national team front three is no exception. On Tuesday in the Olympic Games semifinal, it was Sophia Smith who scored the winning goal. But collectively, Smith, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson have contributed to 10 of the team’s 11 goals this tournament.

“Honestly, I don’t remember anything that just happened,” Smith told NBC after the match. “I know Mal played me a perfect through ball. I know I had to step up in a big moment for this team.”

By now it’s clear U.S. women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes wants to stick with her chosen starting XI as far as they can go. The team had some forced rotation when defender Tierna Davidson returned from injury and midfielder Sam Coffey returned from a yellow card suspension. However, Davidson only played one half and was substituted for Emily Sonnett at halftime. Another key player, midfielder Rose Lavelle, came off in the 60th minute for forward Lynn Williams, perhaps nursing some foot or ankle tenderness from a hard block in the quarterfinal against Japan.

For their part, Germany didn’t look fresh either, which seemed to manifest in a highly physical game with plenty of shoves and barges. Was it by design to frustrate the U.S. and break up any attempt at…

The U.S. women’s national team has been weathering the wear and tear of the Olympics, but ahead of a semifinal match against Germany on Tuesday, everyone was in training.

“It’s a great sign,” head coach Emma Hayes said.

Hayes did not provide details about who might be available against Germany.

Defender Tierna Davidson collided with German defender Jules Brand during the second game of the group stage. Emily Sonnett replaced Davidson in the 44th minute of that game and the subsequent two matches against Australia and Japan. Hayes, at the time, said Davidson was dealing with a knee contusion.

On Sunday, the U.S. battled through 120 minutes against Japan. Trinity Rodman scored the winning goal in the 104th minute, but Emily Fox, Korbin Albert, and Rodman all needed trainers’ help in extra time. Fox came off the field after her injury in the 121st minute of the game, and Casey Krueger took her place.

The U.S. is heading for a rematch against a team it has already played in this tournament, but it was clear that Hayes and the players weren’t expecting the same sort of game they experienced in Marseille.

GO DEEPER

USWNT 4-1 Germany: U.S. finds scoring groove to secure knockout spot at 2024 Olympics

“Even if you play the same opponent a week apart, they’re always two very,…

PARIS — The U.S. women’s soccer team is through to the Olympic semifinals following its 1-0 extra-time victory against Japan at Parc des Princes thanks to Trinity Rodman’s left foot, a heaping dose of patience and confidence in consistency.

It wasn’t pretty football, but it was what the U.S. expected. When the players walked through the mixed zone, they didn’t care how it looked. They cared about moving on to the semifinal against Germany in Lyon. The same went for head coach Emma Hayes.

“I’m paid to do this job,” Hayes said. “What I’m interested in is what we do in-house. I’ve been coaching football matches a long time. I’ve said it from the beginning: connections help. I don’t believe we’d have gone through if we’d have made too many changes.”

With Japan in a low block and content to allow them to possess for most of regular time, the U.S. could only try pushing the ball horizontally across the back line from Emily Sonnett to Naomi Girma to Emily Fox and back. Their brief forays forward were generally rebuffed, and Japan shut down most attempts at creating any pockets of space.

By the second half of Saturday’s game, the isolated whistles from the crowd at the conservative passes between the USWNT back line had escalated into stadium-wide…

It was far from the most entertaining match of soccer this Olympics has offered — even French-influenced booing rang out every time the U.S. played out of the back. It was forward Trinity Rodman who eventually fought through tired legs and a compact Japan defense to find the back of the net for the U.S. in extra time of a drawn-out quarterfinal match.

Even with the utmost respect and knowledge of Japan, U.S. women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes’ side struggled against their opponent.

Japan shut down the front three of Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith for much of the game. The trio who had been so dominant in the group stage slowed in the knockout round opener. Could tired legs, forced changes in the midfield and cautionary play be to blame? Sure, but Japan is also a very clinical team, able to cede possession and attack when they can create chances.

“Minimal changes gives you the better chance to build the creativity, so I will not change anything I’m doing,” Hayes said before the quarterfinal match. But on Saturday the lack of rotation led to the exact opposite of creativity. And still, she waited until the start of extra time to make her first sub: Lynn Williams on for Swanson.

For the first time at the Paris Games, the U.S. had to rely heavily on its…

The U.S. men’s gymnastics team took America for a ride Monday, capturing their first team medal in 16 years with a thrilling finish on the pommel horse.

Frederick Richard and Paul Juda return to Bercy Arena on Wednesday for the men’s individual all-around final, one of the headlining events of Day 5 in Paris.

Elsewhere, Canada women’s soccer will try to overcome the six-point deduction levied by FIFA for flying a drone over New Zealand’s training sessions. A win over Colombia would advance the Canadians out of the group stage. The U.S. women, taking on Australia, eyes the top spot of its group after securing a place in the quarterfinals.

There are also a handful of swim medals to be bestowed, and the U.S. men’s basketball team takes on South Sudan in its second group stage game — where NBA champion Jayson Tatum is expected to make his Paris Games debut.

Strap in, sports fans.

Events to watch

Men’s gymnastics all-around final

Time: 11:30 a.m. ET, 5:30 p.m. in Paris
TV: NBC and Peacock

What to watch: Richard and Juda, alongside instant national icon Stephen Nedoroscik, helped snap the U.S. medal drought in the men’s team finals, finishing third behind gold medal taker Japan and silver medalist China.

“It feels amazing because we had some highs and lows,” Richard said…

MARSEILLE — To be in the mixed zone at Stade de Marseille following an Olympic soccer match is to witness an impromptu tap show. As each player enters the small maze of ropes to meet their tournament obligations, their cleats create a chaotic rhythm punctuated by their laughs or sighs, depending on which side of the result they’re on.

For the U.S. women’s national team on Sunday night, fresh off a dominant 4-1 win over Germany, the good vibes kept rolling on. Center-back Naomi Girma giggled as she took baby steps through the press area, as her fellow defender Jenna Nighswonger offered to help keep her balance. Some simply stopped, untied their cleats and opted for socks. No matter what method they used, everyone shared the same buoyant, if still determined, mood.

After all, while the USWNT may be sitting in control of Group B with six points through their two games so far and guaranteed a quarterfinal spot at the 2024 Olympics, this is still just the beginning. A win or a draw against Australia assures first place in the group and a trip to Paris later this week to begin the knockout rounds.

“We’re playing with more structure and discipline, and then I think we’re having fun too,” midfielder Rose Lavelle said when assessing the difference in the start between these…

The U.S. women’s national team of a summer ago is gone. The current group has found its scoring shoes.

At the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the USWNT scored four goals in 390 minutes and was eliminated on penalties in the round of 16 against Sweden. On Sunday, the team scored four — the first to do so against Germany in a competitive match since 2008 when Brazil did it in the Olympics semifinals, according to Opta. Forward Sophia Smith scored a brace, while forwards Mallory Swanson and Lynn Williams added a goal each as the U.S. took down Germany 4-1 to guarantee a place in the quarter-finals.

Jeff Rueter and Steph Yang dissect how the U.S. took the top spot in Group B with one game to go.

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What is the key to the USWNT’s front-line success?

If there’s only one thing you can write down in a tactical binder, it should be, “Make sure Swanson and Smith look connected and you’ll profit.”

Swanson and Smith looked like a dynamic duo again on Sunday, reading each other’s movement and providing opportunities for each other in front of goal. Swanson crashed the box for the second U.S. goal, catching Smith’s rebounding shot off Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger. Then Swanson almost put Smith through a few minutes later, picking her out through traffic in front of goal….