U.S. Olympic Teams Shine: Soccer’s ‘Triple Trouble,’ Basketball Victories, And A Controversial Gymnastics Medal

The Olympics have rightfully dominated social media timelines, discourses, and headlines lately, most of the time due to the athletic excellence on display on the world’s biggest stage. Here’s a handful of the many stories to come out of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games most recently.

Triple Espresso, Triple Trouble, or the Triple Express–Trinity Rodman (daughter of NBA great Dennis Rodman), Sophia Smith, and Mallory Swanson–of the U.S. women’s Olympic Soccer Team created havoc in opposing teams’ defensive sides for the duration of the Olympics. Swanson’s goal in the gold medal game against Brazil sealed a redemption arc for the United States Women’s National Team and made the decision to bring in Chelsea boss Emma Hayes look like a brilliant move.

In addition to the big three, soccer mate Naomi Girma cemented her status as the best defensive player in the world with her performances in the tournament. The U.S. women’s soccer program is back on top after a brief lag that created questions about whether or not the rest of the world had caught up to the Americans, and now the future of the program looks as bright as it’s ever been.

On the basketball court, both the men and the women’s basketball squads reigned supreme in world competition albeit in completely different, yet similar ways. Anchored by LeBron James and A’ja Wilson, respectively, both teams took the best shots of international basketball teams and outlasted the host country in the gold medal game. 

The women’s gold medal game was an outright dogfight, resulting in the game being tied at 25 going into the half before Team USA rallied to win 75-76, led by Wilson and Kahleah Copper’s brilliant fourth quarter performance. 

On the men’s side, Stephen Curry, who stands 6’2″, provided fireworks and an unbelievable shot over France’s 7’4″ Victor Wembanyama, which immediately went viral. Like the women’s team, the men had to overcome physical play and turnovers, but once Curry got cooking, the gold medal was all but secured and the men won 98-87.

In women’s gymnastics, the history making floor exercise podium of Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, and the American tandem of Simone Biles, and Jordan Chiles received some revision after the Romanian team challenged the bronze medal awarded to Chiles after a challenge to the judges was posed by the Americans. After the Romanians appealed to an arbitrator, their challenge was accepted on the basis that the American coaches’ challenge came in four seconds too late.

Although the IOC wants Chiles to surrender her medal, USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee will appeal the decision on the grounds that there were “critical errors” in both FIG’s original scoring process and the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s appeal. 

According to USA Gymnastics, “The time-stamped, video evidence submitted by USA Gymnastics Sunday evening shows Landi first stated her request to file an inquiry at the inquiry table 47 seconds after the score is posted, followed by a second statement 55 seconds after the score was originally posted. The video footage provided was not available to USA Gymnastics prior to the tribunal’s decision and thus USAG did not have the opportunity to previously submit it.”

Masai Russell’s electric performance in her Olympic debut in the 100m hurdles created a buzz and solidified exactly how deep the American track and field program is. For the most part, the world was well aware of Sha’Carri Richardson, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and Gabby Thomas heading into the Olympics, with all three the expected favorites in their respective races. Russell, who like McLaughlin-Levrone, also attended the University of Kentucky but did not find quite the same level of success as the phenom, was not the prohibitive favorite in a talented group of runners, but it didn’t matter.

Russell, similar to Noah Lyles on the men’s side, electrified the crowd and those who watched during NBC’s coverage in one of the closest finishes at the Olympics, winning her gold by .01 seconds. Russell described her exhilaration to The Athletic, “I’m the fourth fastest woman ever in this event, so it wasn’t about knowing if I could or couldn’t,” Russell said, “it was really just about remaining focused on what I could do and honestly, just getting through those 10 hurdles and getting to the line first.”

Russell continued, “So many people were saying so many crazy things about me, as they always do when you’re not doing what they believe you’re capable of. But I just continued to shut out the noise and focus on what I can control…It was truly a dream come true.”

RELATED CONTENT: Black Girl Magic On The Olympic Stage Highlights Black Iconography At Its Best