A few minutes ago the roster available to the United States for the hunt for the ninth gold medal was unveiled, the seventh in a row, in women’s basketball at the Tokyo Olympics. More than a selection of 12 players, in this case we can safely speak of a list of All Stars. There are very few absences: Elena Delle Donne (whose story is still complicated, even and above all with the passage of time) and the Ogwumike the main ones, but this gives an idea of how large and important the US player pool is.
These are 12 o’clock Dawn Staley, who trains in South Carolina:
Sue Bird (Seattle Storm)
Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota Lynx)
Tina Charles (Washington Mystics)
Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury)
Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm)
Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm)
A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces)
Ariel Atkins (Washington Mystics)
Napheesa Necklace (Minnesota Lynx)
Skylar Diggins-Smith (Phoenix Mercury)
Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas Aces)
Just look at the first names to already understand the nature of the American team that will go to Japan. It will most likely be the last five-circle dance for various international basketball mythse: Sue Bird is 40, Diana Taurasi 38 (39 in Tokyo), Sylvia Fowles 35 and Tina Charles 32.
The young quota (which in this case goes down to the age of 24) includes among others A’ja Wilson, who in just three years of the WNBA has already managed to win the MVP title in 2020 becoming the best stopper. And he has 26 Breanna Stewart, whose palmares is already, if not equal to that of legends such as the aforementioned Bird and Taurasi, at least really close to that altitude.
Team USA, which has a total of no less than 60 gold medals in the Olympics, World Championships and other competitions, has won 66 games in five circles against 3 defeats. Bird and Taurasi will be there for the fifth time, as only (and here we are talking about basketball in absolute, including men) Teresa Edwards (a season in Vicenza, at the beginning, that 1986-1987), Juan Carlos Navarro (Spain, Barcelona legend), Adriana Moises Pinto (Brazil, alias Adrianinha, years in Faenza and Parma), Oscar Schmidt (Brazil, the Mao Santa of Caserta), Andrew Gaze (one year in Udine) e Teofilo Cruz (Puerto Rico).
We will see the debut of the Americans on Thursday 27 July at 6:40 against Nigeria, in a group that also includes Japan and France, very intriguing from different points of view.
Photo: LaPresse
