PARIS — Breanna Stewart and the U.S. women’s basketball team cruised to a familiar place: the Olympic gold-medal game.
Stewart led a balanced offense as the Americans beat Australia 85-64 on Friday in the semifinals at the Paris Games to extend their run of Olympic victories to 60 consecutive games, a winning streak that dates to the 1992 Barcelona Games.
“The streak is crazy. I mean, they just told me when I was doing TV that it was, like, before I was born that it kind of started, which is wild,” said Stewart, 29, who won gold three years ago in the Tokyo Games and at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
“It just goes to show those that have really paved the way and to create USA Basketball and what it is now. Tons of appreciation for that and knowing that when you represent this jersey and wear USA across your chest, the standard is high and there really is nothing higher.”
The current squad didn’t disappoint some notable onlookers, including former U.S. women’s team members Sue Bird, who owns five gold medals, Dawn Staley, who owns three, current U.S. men’s team member Kevin Durant, and late NBA star Kobe Bryant’s widow Vanessa, who was there with her children.