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Diana Taurasi made the perfect joke after being benched for Team USA’s gold medal win.
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Diana Taurasi made the perfect joke after being benched for Team USA’s gold medal win.

Diana Taurasi wrote her own story after winning her sixth Olympic gold medal in the U.S. women’s basketball team’s 67-66 victory over France on Sunday, but she didn’t exactly play to win it.

Taurasi, who surpassed former U.S. teammate Sue Bird for the most gold medals in Olympic basketball history, was on the bench for the entire title game. The 42-year-old sat and watched as her teammates helped secure the program’s historic eighth consecutive Olympic gold at the Paris Games, with A’ja Wilson and Kahleah Copper putting in efficient performances against a pesky French team.

After the win, Taurasi was asked how it felt to surpass Bird and become Team USA’s reigning leader in Olympic basketball gold medals.

“Yeah, that’s the only reason I came,” Taurasi said. “It’s funny because we scored the same amount of points today.”

Though Taurasi missed time on Sunday, her veteran status was unmatched in this tournament. Since her Olympic debut at the 2004 Athens Games, she has won every game she has competed in (44 of Team USA’s current record-setting 61-game winning streak). She is the only American basketball player, male or female, to have appeared in six Olympic Games, let alone won six gold medals.

Despite Taurasi’s historic legacy, many fans on social media still wonder if Team USA would have been better off bringing in a younger player, like Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark, to compete in Paris.

Taurasi, the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer with 10,447 career points and counting with the Phoenix Mercury, previously confirmed that the 2024 Paris Olympics will be her final Games. Just as she eclipsed Bird in the quest for the all-time Olympic basketball gold medal record this summer, someone will be chasing her. hisnow.

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