Untouchables. The United States women’s basketball team easily got rid of China (83-61) on Saturday in Sydney to win its fourth straight world title. The Americans of A’ja Wilson (19 pts alone in the final) are only one crowning away from the USSR record. The Soviet players had won five times in a row, between 1959 and 1975, in the world championship.
But the reign of the Americans is already impressive. They have not lost a match in the competition since the 2006 semi-final against Russia (75-68 defeat), then lining up 30 wins in a row. It is also their last setback in a major international competition (Olympic Games and World Cup), where their winning streak extends to 60 games. To put it another way: for 14 years and the Beijing Games, American basketball players have left no international trophy to other nations.
China is the team that has held up the best
Although younger (only one player aged 30 and over) and renewed compared to the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, with a new coach (Cheryl Reeve) at her head and without the legends Sue Bird (retired) and Diana Taurasi (injured ), the “Team USA” flew over the Australian competition. He finished the competition with the best attack (92.5 pts per match on average), the best defense (55 pts) and having won his eight matches by an average difference of 40 points. Huge!
China, which won its first international medal since silver, already at the 1994 World Cup, is the team that will have resisted it the best. Beaten by 14 points in pools, the Chinese of the pivot Li Yueru (19 pts), fallers of France in quarters, held Saturday during the first period, finished with all the same 10 points behind. Despite the unconditional support of the overwhelming majority of the approximately 15,000 spectators of the Sydney Superdome, where a large Chinese community lives, they were then gradually left behind by the class of A’ja Wilson, probably the best player in the world. , MVP of the competition after being that of the WNBA season. See you in two years at the Paris Games.