Duke women’s basketball coach [autotag]Kara Lawson[/autotag] won her third Olympic gold medal in France this summer, and she made a little history in the process.
After Lawson coached the U.S. women’s 3×3 basketball team to a gold medal in Tokyo three years ago, she became the first coach to win gold in both 3×3 and traditional 5×5 basketball.
Granted, 3×3 basketball also debuted in Tokyo, so there isn’t an extensive list of 3×3 gold medal winners, but history can be forged by pioneers. A first is a first.
Las Vegas Aces stars Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum played on both teams for Lawson, becoming the first players to accomplish the feat, but Lawson was the only coach on both staffs.
Lawson also won an Olympic gold medal as a player in 2008, and she became the fifth American to ever make Team USA as a player and a coach when she joined this year’s staff as an assistant.
Everything they touch turns to gold. pic.twitter.com/dMFc2slBUW
— Duke Women’s Basketball (@DukeWBB) August 13, 2024
Lawson already posted a photo with her gold medal to social media, a trophy she might show off at the Countdown to Craziness in October.