2024 Olympic Games Results Day 15: US women’s soccer, men’s basketball and track and field win gold

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Day 15 of the Paris Olympics was a huge success for Team USA with women’s soccer, men’s basketball and track and field winning multiple gold medals. Team USA also won silver in the men’s high jump and bronze in the break (which could be a one-off). Bronze in women’s gymnastics could also be stripped from the US in a surprise ruling.

Here are the top five stories of the day:

USWNT wins first gold medal since 2012 with 1-0 victory over Brazil

The Emma Hayes era of the U.S. women’s national team got off to a great start, with the team taking home its first Olympic gold medal since 2012 with a 1-0 victory over Brazil.

After failing to score in a physical, fast-paced first half, the United States broke the drought with a stunning goal from Mallory Swanson in the 57th minute. Some incredible saves from Alyssa Naeher helped the U.S. maintain the score for the rest of the game.

The victory caps a grueling Olympic tournament in which the U.S. played six games, several of which went into overtime, in just over two weeks.

Brazil’s defeat earned the team the silver medal. Marta, Brazil’s captain and an icon in the world of women’s football, won the medal in what is likely to be her last major international match.

The gold medal win gives the USWNT a confidence boost after their early exit from the World Cup last summer. More importantly, it points to a very bright future for this young, talented American team as the next generation finds its place in the world of international soccer.

US men’s basketball team wins gold again

The United States men’s basketball team won its fifth consecutive Olympic gold on Saturday with a 98-87 victory over France.

Steph Curry came to the rescue again for Team USA, hitting three consecutive 3-pointers in the final two minutes of the game. He finished with 24 points on 8 of 13 shooting from 3.

Victor Wembanyama scored a game-high 26 points for the host nation with seven rebounds. Guerschon Yabusele followed with 20 and Nando De Colo added 12. Nicolas Batum grabbed eight rebounds.

Kevin Durant won his fourth gold medal, the most in Olympic men’s basketball history. LeBron James also won his fourth Olympic medal, with three golds and a bronze.

James was also named FIBA’s Olympic Men’s Basketball MVP. He averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists during Team USA’s six-game run to gold.

United States Closes Track and Field With Multiple Major Wins

The final day of track and field events was an important day for the United States as Team USA continued its dominance in track and field.

It started with the 100m hurdles, where Masai Russell won gold in a photo finish with France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela. Samba-Mayela took silver, while Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn — the reigning gold medalist in the event — took bronze.

In the 5,000m, Grant Fisher continued to make American distance running history with a come-from-behind bronze medal. It was a perfect ending for Fisher, who also took an unexpected bronze in the 10,000m to open the track events, earning his second bronze on the final day of track competition.

Shelby McEwan won silver in the high jump for Team USA after Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won a tiebreaker. Kerr and McEwan failed to clear the same height and could have opted for a joint gold medal. But the two jumpers are competitors and chose to keep jumping to determine the winner. It was a gamble for McEwan, but he comes away with a silver medal regardless.

The final two races of the day were the men’s and women’s 4x400m, with Team USA winning both outright. The men’s relay team of Christopher Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin narrowly edged out Botswana for gold, with Benjamin just beating out Botswana’s Letslie Tebogo.

The women’s team, however, completely crushed the competition, with the relay team finishing in 3:15.27, a new American record, beating the other two teams (Netherlands and Great Britain) by more than four seconds.

Shamier Little got things going for the USA, but Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone built a huge lead in the second leg and Gabby Thomas and Alexis Holmes took it home from there. Team USA has now won the last eight consecutive women’s 4x400m relays — and continued that dominance in Paris.

B-boy Victor wins Olympic bronze in first — and possibly last — breaking competition

On the second day of the groundbreaking competition during the sport’s first — and perhaps last — edition at the Olympics, B-boy Victor, aka Victor Montalvo, took home the bronze medal for Team USA.

Although neither Team USA B-girl made it past the round robin, both American B-boys qualified for the quarterfinals. American B-boy Jeffro was defeated in the quarterfinals by French B-boy Dany Dann, who would go on to the finals. Victor defeated Amir from Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals, but lost to Dany Dann in the semifinals.

The Florida native had a chance to compete for bronze against Shigekix of Japan, whom he faced during the round robin stage. Although Victor split 1-1 during that round against Shigekix, losing 12 points to 6, Victor prevailed over Shigekix in the third place match, winning unanimously with 20 points to 7 over Shigekix.

Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal in jeopardy

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team could lose one of its medals at the Paris Games, which would come as heartbreaking news for Jordan Chiles.

Chiles could lose her individual bronze medal, which she won on the floor exercise, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the appeal against Chiles’ score by her coach, Cecile Landi, which earned her a medal, was filed after the one-minute time limit.

With the appeal denied, Chiles’ score dropped from 13.766 to her original score of 13.666, placing her below Romania’s Ana Barbosa’s score of 13.700. USA Gymnastics appealed the CAS ruling, stating that the timing of the investigation is far less important than getting the actual score correct.

Chiles is back in the United States and awaits a decision on whether to strip her bronze medal while the appeals process continues.

Team USA Medals

Highlight of the day

As mentioned above, the United States won the men’s basketball gold medal game and LeBron James was named MVP of the Olympic tournament. France, however, struggled behind Victor Wembanyama and Guerschon Yabusele.

Yabusele probably had the highlight of the game with his poster dunk over James in the second quarter, which sent the crowd at the Bercy Arena into raptures.

One more thing

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley and her former player Kamila Cardoso are reportedly had a friendly bet about Saturday’s gold medal women’s soccer match between the US and Brazil. And with the US winning, it’s time for Brazil’s Cardoso to pay up.

As Staley explainedIf Brazil won, the coach would have to wear a Team Brazil jersey on the sidelines during a Gamecocks game. But if the U.S. won, Cardoso would have to wear a USWNT jersey during the tunnel walk for an upcoming Chicago Sky game and in an Instagram Live video.

An American size large shirt is believed to be on its way to Cardoso, as she reluctantly acknowledged on social media.