The friendly warmup games are over. Now the U.S. women’s basketball team has to deal with the pressure of history.
Led by two-time WNBA MVPs A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, the U.S. starts its quest at the Paris Games for an unprecedented eighth straight gold medal on a 55-game Olympic winning streak for a program that hasn’t lost since 1992 in Barcelona.
There’s also Diana Taurasi, 42, who will be going for a sixth gold medal. She isn’t focused on the big picture of what the U.S. has accomplished over the last three decades in the Olympics; her eyes are fixed solely on getting another gold in Paris.
“It doesn’t matter what the history is, it doesn’t affect this team or this Olympics,” she said. “We find a way to find our own identity as a team on and off the court. Those last eight don’t promise you anything going forward. That’s the mindset we’ve always taken.”
The team is trying to break a tie with the U.S. men’s basketball team for the most consecutive gold medals. The men won seven straight from 1936-68.
The women open play against Japan on Monday. The two teams met in the gold-medal game in Tokyo three years ago and the U.S. came away with a 90-75 victory. The U.S. also has Olympic newcomers Germany and Belgium in its group.
“There [are] so many good teams and everyone’s…
