USA dominated in basketball and excelled in women’s volleyball and water polo

Members of the gold medal-winning US team react during the medal ceremony at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. EFE / EPA / KIYOSHI OTA
Members of the gold medal-winning US team react during the medal ceremony at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. EFE / EPA / KIYOSHI OTA

Houston (USA), Aug 8 (EFE) .- The United States demonstrated its power in men’s and women’s basketball with the gold medals that also allowed it to surpass China and finish at the head of the Olympic Games medal table Tokyo 2020.
Despite not having the majority of NBA figures, the United States did have superstar Kevin Durant, the Brooklyn Nets forward, the hero who allowed Gregg Popovich’s team to take the fourth consecutive gold medal by winning in the final to France 87-82.
In men’s basketball, unlike other Olympics, the United States team did not have an easy journey, but in the end it showed its potential with a single star like Durant.
Greater was the dominance of the women’s team that won its seventh Olympic gold in a row with two players who made history by obtaining their fifth medal: guard Sue Bird, 40, and Hispanic guard Diana Taurasi, 39, who announced that Tokyo 2020 were his last games.
But both left the door open so that next year they can have their last participation with the national team in the FIBA ​​World Championship, in which they have also won four gold medals.
Both became the first basketball players, both in the men’s and women’s categories, to win five consecutive Olympic gold medals.
Along with the basketball golds, the women’s water polo team also met expectations by revalidating the title for the third time in a row after beating Spain 14-5 in the final.
If the triumphs in basketball and water polo were expected, that of the women’s volleyball team, the first for the USA after beating Brazil 3-0 in the final, was key in making possible the leadership in the final medal table of 113 Preseas (39-41-33).
Baseball and softball returned to Olympic competition for the first time since the 2008 Beijing Games, and while the United States ‘teams fell short of gold, Japan was left with 2-0 victories in their respective finals, the United States’ medals. silver were considered a success.
Especially the men’s team that didn’t have any major league professional baseball stars.
But he was the one with the greatest prominence within the delegation by representing the sport as a national pastime and having the Cuban-American infielder Eddy Álvarez as standard-bearer at the opening ceremony.
Álvarez won a silver medal in speed skating at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, and in Tokyo he also made history with the silver medal in baseball.
In addition, in the Olympic Games where for the first time in the baseball tournament the Cuban team, which has three gold medals of the six disputed, could not pass the qualifying phase.