Diana Taurasi’s record-breaking possibilities
Taurasi, the WNBA’s all-time scoring leader, is still playing at a high level. She will be 42 years old for the Olympics, and already has five Olympic gold medals. If the U.S. wins any medal in Paris, Taurasi will become the most-decorated team sport athlete in Olympic history. In an interview with NBC after she won gold in Tokyo, Taurasi quipped, “See you in Paris!” Her longtime teammate and friend Sue Bird laughed, but Taurasi clearly was not joking. We will see her in Paris.
Two of her teammates will be the women who won four of the last five MVP honors for the WNBA. Stewart will be a three-time Olympian. She won her first gold in 2016, just a few months after graduating from UConn. She went on to win the WNBA MVP in 2018 in 2023.
Wilson won her first Olympic gold medal at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and won back-to-back MVPs in 2022 and 2023. She is one of four members of two-time WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces who will represent the U.S. Gray won gold with Wilson in Tokyo, and Plum and Young, who won gold with the U.S. 3×3 team in Tokyo.
This will be Griner’s first time playing in international competition since her harrowing ordeal in a Russian prison. After she was released, she said she didn’t want to leave the U.S. except for the Olympics.
“And I wouldn’t be afraid to travel abroad. I [know] the same country that brought me home would protect its Olympic athletes,” she said in her memoir, “Coming Home.”
Competition for the U.S. starts July 29 with a group game against Japan, who won silver in Tokyo. On August 1, the American team will take on Belgium, who gave the U.S. a memorable game at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Antwerp in February. Team USA will finish group play against Germany on August 4.