Diana Taurasi is the first person, man or woman, to win six Olympic gold medals in basketball; her legend grows
Paris — The American Diana Taurasi closed his golden hexagon. He came to the French capital – which started in Lille – to seek his sixth gold. At 42 years old. And this Sunday, after defeating the host team (67-66) in the final of the tournament Paris 2024 -and despite not having jumped onto the field in it- is already a myth, having become the first person with six Olympic basketball titles.
Taurasi and her teammates celebrated the tenth title for the United States since women’s basketball entered the Olympic calendar – at the 1976 Montreal Games (Canada). The eighth in a row. She broke the historic tie that united her with her former teammate in her favor. Sue Bird -now retired, who was the star of the baton-throwing ceremony at the opening of the final on Sunday- and now reigns alone. With a record that will be difficult for anyone to beat.
Diana Taurasi of the United States displays the number six for her sixth Olympic gold medal, during the medal ceremony for women’s basketball at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Bercy Arena on August 11, 2024 in Paris, France. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
If on Saturday Kevin Durantanother myth, became the first man to win four Olympic golds, the escort from Chino (California), whose mother is Argentine and whose father is Italian and raised in Argentina -who speaks English and Spanish interchangeably-, raised the stakes to half a dozen gold medals.
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After winning the college championship three times with the UConn Huskies, Taurasi shines in the Phoenix Mercurythe WNBA team that selected her as the No. 1 pick in the 2004 draft and with which she has since developed her entire professional career in her country.
Something that has not prevented her from succeeding in Europe – combining schedules until seven years ago. She has played in Russia (Dynamo, Spartak Moscow and Ekaterinburg) and in Turkey (Fenerbahce and Galatasaray). And in her excellent journey through the Old Continent she has played in six Euroleagues and seven Russian leagues.
At home, her record of achievements is staggering. She has three WNBA rings, those she won in 2007, 2009 and 2014, being chosen as MVP of the finals in the last two; and Most Valuable Player in 2009. She was the top scorer five times in the best League in the world, in which she has participated in the All-Star Game on eleven occasions.
And at the Olympic Games it is already unique
Taurasi made her debut at the 2004 Athens Games, where the American women’s image was somewhat restored after the men’s team left the Greek capital with a humiliating bronze medal.
She won gold again at the 2008 Beijing Games and climbed to the top of the podium again at London 2012 and Rio 2016 (Brazil). And at the latter Olympic event she captured her fifth gold medal at the Tokyo Games, where Team USA defeated the hosts, Japan, in the final.
She never tires of playing, and she told Efe this after the first training session at the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, on the outskirts of Lille: “I still love this sport, I love competing. We always talk about winning or losing, but the journey, the preparation and the fight for it is what I like most. Sometimes people focus only on the victories, but what I like are the things that happen before the victories.”
The process of her sixth gold medal was lived with a secondary role on the track, in a team in which she shined Ah, Wilson y Breanna Stewart; but being the spiritual guide of the team he leads Cheryl Reeveswhere she was the ‘great captain’. After Paris 2024, she will continue playing – the WNBA is still unfinished. But these have been her last Olympic Games.
“In Los Angeles (2028)? Yes, I will be there. But I will be having a beer on the beach,” Taurasi had told Efe before the French Olympics. She did not play a single second in her last Olympic match.
It doesn’t matter. She had nothing to prove. Taurasi is already eternal.
