It was a disappointing day for America’s best as Team USA was shut out of the podium in Paris. With the top two players in the world on the three-player U.S. squad – plus Rose Zhang! – odds were high that someone would clinch a medal.
Alas, it wasn’t to be.
Zhang, who began the day two back of the lead, played in the final group alongside Lydia Ko and Morgane Meatraux but struggled to a closing 74 that included a double-bogey on the ninth, a par 5. Zhang led the Americans with a T-8 finish.
“Takes a lot of resilience to get the job done or to even be in contention,” said Zhang of her Olympic debut. “Really proud of how hard I fought, and I think there’s just a lot more coming and pretty excited for what I can work on and what I can improve on.”
Aug 10, 2024; Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France; Rose Zhang (USA) on no. 2 in the final round of women’s individual stroke play during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Le Golf National. Mandatory Credit: Katie Goodale-USA TODAY Sports
Korda made two bogeys and a double over the last five holes to card a 75. The 2021 gold medalist plummeted to a share of a 22nd.
“I think recently what’s been happening to me is I make a mistake and then I make another mistake on top of it,” said Korda.
“Needing to control that bit of it where I don’t compile all the mistakes, which that’s what I’ve been kind of doing recently.”
World No. 2 Lilia Vu had it going early in the week but took a nosedive as the week wore on. The two-time major winner closed with a 74 to finish tied for 36th.
It was such an electric match throughout, one where USWNT forward Mallory Swanson scored the lone goal for either team.
With this the first gold for the USWNT in 12 years, you had to hope the NBC Sports broadcast would bring it if the team was successful in bringing home the hardware.
Thankfully, broadcaster Jon Champion was up to the challenge.
He delivered such a memorable call of the closing moments, one that highlights how sweet it really was for the USWNT to finally get back to the gold medal match and win it outright.
While Swanson’s goal was easily the broadcast moment of the match, Champion’s outstanding call certainly deserves a ton of credit.
"It is Gold, glorious Gold for the United States! 12 years and a day since their last! After languishing on the nursery slopes, now they are back on top of the mountain! They are once again the Gold standard!" – Jon Champion on the call🇺🇸⚽️🥇🎙️#USWNTpic.twitter.com/I94xVfTJc9
These two plays defined the USWNT’s gold medal match victory at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
A stellar goal and a stunning save helped separate the Untied States from Brazil in the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal match for women’s soccer.
The USA took the gold in a 1-0 decision, sparked by forward Mallory Swanson’s electric goal in the second half and goalie Alyssa Naeher’s absolutely crucial save in stoppage time that could’ve evened the score.
Saturday’s win gave the United States women’s national team its first set of gold medals since the 2012 London Olympics, making this a historic 12-year gap erasure for the Americans. It’s the fifth gold in the program’s history.
That wouldn’t be possible without Swanson and Naeher’s absolute vital plays, which you can watch below.
TEAM USA STRIKES FIRST—AND IT'S MALLORY SWANSON AGAIN!
The 2024 Olympics golf competitions are in the books and the U.S. leaves Paris maintaining its big lead on the medal table.
Scottie Scheffler shot a final-round 62 in the men’s competition at Le Golf National to clinch the top prize by a shot over Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood, who won his nation’s second-ever silver medal. Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama won bronze, the second-ever medal in golf for his country.
Lydia Ko won gold in the women’s competition and has completed the trifecta, after winning silver in 2016 and bronze in 2021. She also accounts for all three of the medals New Zealand has won at the Olympics.
With Germany’s 2024 silver, courtesy of Esther Henseleit, there are now 11 nations that have earned a medal in the five renditions of golf in the Olympics. The first two times were 1900 and 1904, then there was a 112-year hiatus before returning in 2016.
At 27 years old, Lydia Ko has put together one of the best careers in the history of the LPGA. In 2016, she won silver in Rio. Five years later, she earned the bronze medal in Toyko. And on Saturday, Ko captured the gold medal in Paris and a spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame, arguably the hardest hall to get into in sports.
Ko buried a birdie putt on the par-5 18th to cement her two-stoke victory over Esther Henseleit of Germany, who won the silver. Xiyu Lin of China took home bronze.
Earlier in her career, Ko stated she wanted to retire by 30. Will she play for a few more years, or will she call it quits now that she’s achieved a Hall-of-Fame resume?
Check out some photos of the emotional scene from the 2024 Olympics at Le Golf National below.
While Khelif was born a woman and identifies as her biological gender, she has faced unfounded accusations after questionable claims of unspecified gender testing were made by the International Boxing Association. Amid all the misinformation, the IOC stood by her.
Khelif discussed the baseless allegations after winning the gold, clearly stating that she is indeed a woman and is more than worthy of competing with people of her shared gender.
“As for whether I qualify or not, or whether I am a woman or not, I am fully qualified to take part in this competition,” Khelif said, via Yahoo Sports. “I am a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman. I’ve lived as a woman. I’ve competed as a woman. There is no doubt about that.”
After winning her Olympic boxing gold medal, Algeria’s Imane Khelif addressed the controversy over her gender that had enveloped her during the Paris Games. pic.twitter.com/nJxsk1bXib
It’s deeply unfortunate that Khelif was ensnared in such a tacky controversy while she was competing at the Olympics, but it’s heartening that she was able to power through it all to still win the gold medal.
There’s something raw about the Olympic podium. Cameras get so close to the athletes that fans a world away can watch as a single tear spills out of the eye, rolls down the cheek and hangs at the bottom of a chin. That was the scene for Lydia Ko, who was overcome with emotion at the weight of the moment. The tears appeared to start before she’d even holed her final birdie putt.
Ko didn’t just win Olympic gold, she played her way into the LPGA Hall of Fame, arguably the toughest Hall in all of sports, accomplishing her ultimate goal.
Eight years ago, when she won silver in Rio, she wanted to cry, but then looked over at Inbee Park, who’d won gold, and didn’t see any tears. How could she cry if Inbee wasn’t crying?
Ah, but it was Ko’s party this time. Let it rain.
“I mean, Cinderella’s glass slippers are see-through and my podium shoes are also see-through,” noted Ko. “I guess that’s something that we have going for us. I feel like I’m part of this fairytale.”
When Ko won the U.S. Women’s Amateur a dozen years ago, she told the press that she wanted to play college golf. Her idols at the time were Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson, but she didn’t want to follow their career paths.
Two weeks later, Ko won on the LPGA as a 15-year-old and that college golf dream went poof. She was far too talented for that route. Instead, golf fans watched the bespectacled Ko break records and wins hearts as a young teen, making the game look breathlessly easy.
So much life has transpired for Ko since she earned her first LPGA Hall of Fame point as a wunderkind. Now married and perhaps on the verge of retirement, Ko played her way into the LPGA Hall of Fame at age 27 in perhaps the coolest way possible.
While it looked for a while on Saturday at Le Golf National that it would be a runaway victory, the fight for Ko’s 27th Hall of Fame point went down to the wire on what she called the most difficult Olympic test yet. She won by two over Germany’s Esther Henseleit with a birdie on the 72nd hole.
Now a three-time Olympic medalist, having won silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo, Ko’s podium sweep might not ever be repeated in the modern game.
Ko becomes the 35th player to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame and the first since Inbee Park in 2016. Lorena Ochoa got in two years ago after the tour removed the stipulation that required 10 years on tour, but she reached 27 points in 2008.
How tough is it to get into the LPGA Hall? Consider that legends like Laura Davies, Hollis Stacy, Sandra Palmer and Dottie Pepper aren’t in it.
JoAnne Carner, an eight-time USGA champion who won 43 times on the LPGA, remembers well the difficulty of playing her way into the LPGA Hall.
“I think I choked either three or four tournaments where I had the lead,” said Carner, who remembers one event in particular that she led by eight after 36 holes and couldn’t get it done.
“Then I finally got mad and said I’m going to get this over with.”
At 27 years, 3 months and 17 days, Ko is now the youngest to enter the Hall under its current criteria. Karrie Webb actually reached 27 points at age 25, but had to wait until 2005 (age 30) before she reached the 10-year requirement.
Prior to the final round in France Ko, who’d deleted her social media accounts for the week, re-watched the documentaries of Simone Biles and Mardy Fish. She’d written down a quote from Biles in her yardage book – “I get to write my own ending” – and repeated it throughout the round.
Lydia Ko of Team New Zealand reacts following victory on Day Four of the Women’s Individual Stroke Play on day fifteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Le Golf National on August 10, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
The fairytale in France won’t be the mic-drop ending it could’ve been. Ko still plans to compete in the Scottish Open next week followed by the AIG Women’s British Open at St. Andrews.
But then what? Ko has said from the start of her career that she won’t play past the age of 30. She told Golfweek last fall that she’d like to finish the psychology degree she started nearly a decade ago, perhaps at Stanford. Her sister and manager, Sura, has noted that Ko enjoys interior design.
Perhaps Ko doesn’t even know herself yet when she might end her career. What she does know is that this is her final Olympics and she doesn’t want to come to the end of her time on tour and ask herself, what’s next?
“I want to have my second chapter, whatever the career may be, like, ready before I retire from competitive golf,” she said last year, “so that I’m not lost.”
Ko hasn’t won as many majors as one might expect, two in all, but in addition to her 20 wins on the LPGA, she has amassed an incredible record of historic feats, including the youngest to win on the LPGA, the youngest woman to win a major, youngest to get to 10 LPGA victories and now the youngest to enter the Hall.
But more than that, players, fans and media will note that the way she has carried herself as she’s grown in the fish bowl is nothing short of remarkable. So much poise, humility and grace. She cheers for the competition no matter what’s on the line – even the Hall of Fame.
Earlier this year in Bradenton Florida, LPGA officials set some champagne and roses next to the grandstand on the 18th at the Drive On, ready to celebrate Ko’s entrance into the Hall. While Ko’s ball nestled down next to the bubbly, Ko never got the chance to imbibe. Nelly Korda spoiled that party for Ko in a playoff.
Several weeks later in China, it looked like Ko might enter the Hall while much of the world was sleeping, in front of a small contingent of fans. That didn’t seem quite right.
No, Ko needed to enter the Hall on such a grand stage, in front of some of the best crowds these players have ever seen. She deserved to have fans chanting her name as she walked up the 18th.
She was meant to have a golden moment that won’t likely be repeated. For there will likely never be another player quite like Ko.
Emma Hayes made her first lineup change of the entire Olympics that didn’t involve a known injury or suspension
The U.S. women’s national team made one change to its lineup for Saturday’s 2024 Olympic gold medal final against Brazil, and it wasn’t a move many saw coming.
Head coach Emma Hayes selected Korbin Albert to start in the midfield over Rose Lavelle, but otherwise made no alterations to the group that defeated Germany 1-0 in the semifinal round.
That meant a place in the team for the only USWNT injury doubt, Tierna Davidson. The Gotham FC defender sustained a knee contusion in the group stage, but recovered to play the first 45 minutes of Tuesday’s win.
Only 13 players have started for the USWNT during this tournament, and both previous changes were enforced. Emily Sonnett replaced Davidson while the latter was out with injury, while Albert started a 1-0 quarterfinal win over Japan with Sam Coffey suspended for yellow-card accumulation.
Should Naomi Girma and Alyssa Naeher play the full 90 or 120 minutes in the final, they will have played every second of this Olympic tournament.
Kerr’s case that he liked what he was seeing from the players he was playing rang hollow for many.
A lot of fans of the Boston Celtics are not buying the excuse given by US National Team head coach Steve Kerr as to why he elected to keep star Celtics forward Jayson Tatum on the bench vs. Serbia. And while Team USA did pull off the win vs. the Serbian National Team by a nose, Kerr’s case that he liked what he was seeing from the players he was playing rang hollow for many.
And it is not just fans who are raising their eyebrows. Tatum’s mother, Dick Vitale, and Quinn Cook all raised their voices about the DNP, and even league analysts were puzzled.
Among them were the hosts of the CLNS Media “How Bout Them Celtics!” podcast, Jack Simone and Sam LaFrance, who tore into Kerr’s coaching on a recent episode of their show. Take a look at the clip embedded below to hear what they had to say.
The former Dubs player thinks that should be “all the motivation he needs” to elevate his game even further, and he has a point.
The drama unfolding about star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum might not be the worst thing in the world for Celtics fans. Especially given the potential motivation it might give the St. Louis native after receiving multiple DNPs for Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Tatum, who has been riding pine often enough that legends of the sport like Dick Vitale are even starting to scratch their heads in Olympic play, saw a similar conclusion reached about his predicament from another Golden State Warriors alum. Quinn Cook took to social media after Tatum’s odd DNP to say that “Tatum will win MVP this season!”
“Three straight All-NBA first teams, winning a gold medal in 2021 while being the second leading scorer on the team and just won his first NBA championship to not playing a minute for team USA,” he added with a pair of circumspect emojis. “Look out NBA”!
