Diana Taurasi, above, and teammate Sue Bird will try and become the first five-time Olympic gold medalists in basketball as they lead the U.S women’s team at the Tokyo Games. The duo was selected for their fifth Olympics on Monday.
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury’s big three of Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins-Smith were named to the Team USA Women’s Basketball Olympic roster Monday. All three will be competing in Tokyo this summer as the U.S. looks to capture a seventh consecutive gold medal.
“What a wonderful thing to be able to go to your teammates to be like, you know you spent the whole year with so far,” Taurasi said. “I mean BG and Skylar played amazing, and you know no one deserves it more and so I’m super excited for them and I’m sure they are, too.”
This will be Taurasi’s fifth Olympics. Since 2004, she has played in all 32 games and has started in the past 24, bringing home four gold medals.
“I never thought after one, it would be two and after two it would be three, after three would be four. And now we’re talking about, you know, 20 years of USA Basketball, the pressure, the commitment, the time you put into it, and, you know, anything could happen, and you never know what path that’ll take you,” Taurasi said during training camp in April.
Taurasi is tied for first among all-time U.S. Olympic career record holders for game played. She holds a record of 131-7 in USA basketball games played and a perfect 32-0 record at the Olympics.
“I’ve never taken an Olympic team for granted,” she said. “It’s always definitely an honor, and it’s something I take very seriously. It’s something that I’ve dedicated my whole basketball career to and I’ve always made a concerted effort to be on the Olympic team. It’s a special moment.”
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