Team USA’s Olympic dominance, depth shows up in the sports it cares about

PARIS — After barely getting by Serbia on Thursday in a phenomenal semifinal game, Team USA men’s basketball coach Steve Kerr was asked how the United States pulled a rabbit out of a hat and overcame a 17-point deficit to win 95-91.

“Over 40 minutes I think our talent wore them down,” Kerr said. “They were brilliant, but we always feel like we have the deepest team, we have the greatest players. Other countries, they all have great players now, but we have the greatest players.”

That sums up Team USA at the Olympics in a nutshell: Superior resources.

That has been the theme of these games. In sports it cares about — in the pool, on the court, on the track — the United States continues to have a deep bench of talent.

The U.S. men will play France in the gold medal game Saturday and are expected to win a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal. The U.S. women, even more dominant than the men, are favored to win their eighth Olympic gold medal.

But is the gap closing?

In the pool, the United States won eight gold medals, its lowest total since the 1988 Seoul Games. Of the seven relay events, the United States won three and the United States men won just one individual medal. The women won four individual events, same as Australia.

The rest of the world continues to catch up.

The greatest show of muscle has taken place on the track, where the United States, as of Friday, won 19 medals, including six gold.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the most dominant performer on the track, shattered her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles. She said a large part of her inspiration came from having friends and family in the stadium. For many Olympians who competed in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games in 2021, where fans were not allowed, the Games have added fuel because of the energy provided by the fans.

McLaughlin-Levrone said a large part of her Olympic performance in 2021 was affected when the crowd was absent because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“It’s special to know your people are here,” she said. “To just have those moments that you can look back on when you’re done running, to have those pictures with family and friends whatever the outcome is, this is one of the things I was missing. Rio [2016], I didn’t medal, and in Tokyo nobody was there. This was my first real Olympics.”

But she also warned that despite her dominance, the world is gaining.

“The event is just getting faster and faster,” she said. “So much depth always keeps me on my toes, makes me want to figure out ways to improve and get better in the race. I love to be able to improve upon myself.”

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On Wednesday, Gabby Thomas won gold in the 200 meters, defeating 100-meter champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia. Thomas’ teammate Brittany Brown finished third to win the bronze. On Friday, the women’s 4×100 meter relay team, led by Sha’Carri Richardson’s blazing anchor leg, won its 12th gold medal and third in four Olympics.

As a heavy rain fell, Team USA survived a bad exchange between Twanisha Terry and Thomas, but Richardson made up for it by running down two runners and finishing with her signature kick. The kick was missing two days earlier when Richardson lost her bid to win gold to Alfred.

Richardson closed Friday.

“I just trusted Gabby and knew she was going to put the stick in my hand no matter what,” Richardson said afterward.

The U.S. men were not as fortunate. For the fifth consecutive Olympics, the men botched a handoff and were disqualified. Canada won gold, South Africa won silver and Great Britain took bronze.

The men’s performance was so dismal that it drew criticism from Olympic sprinter and long jumper Carl Lewis, who won nine gold medals in the 1980s and 1990s. Lewis blasted Team USA’s coaching on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The relay team was missing sprinter Noah Lyles, who won gold in the electrifying 100-meter dash Monday and won bronze in the 200 meters Thursday and revealed afterward that he tested positive for the coronavirus Tuesday.

“It is time to blow up the system,” Lewis wrote. “This continues to be completely unacceptable. It is clear that EVERYONE at @usatf is more concerned with relationships than winning. No athlete should step on the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom.”

Yet there were positive results.

Rai Benjamin won his first Olympic gold medal Friday in the 400-meter hurdles. Grant Holloway won gold in the 110-meter hurdles. Cole Hocker pulled an upset in the 1,500 meters in Olympic record time and Quincy Hall made a spectacular comeback to win gold in the 400 meters. Hall became the first American to win gold in the 400 since 2008.

And Friday, Quincy Wilson, the 16-year-old phenom, became the youngest male athlete to run for Team USA when he ran the first leg of the men’s 4×100 relay in the first heat. Wilson did not run well, and the U.S. had to scramble simply to qualify for the finals. But the experience was priceless for the young sprinter and perhaps is an indication of the deep U.S. bench.

Still, the world continues to catch up and the question becomes whether the depth we have taken for granted is being challenged. At the end of competition Friday, the United States was tied with China with gold medals at 33 but led overall with 111 medals to China’s 83. The U.S. women have won 21 gold medals to China’s 14; the Chinese men have won 15 gold medals to the United States’ 11.

We can always nitpick. The United States has never medaled in badminton, table tennis, team handball, trampoline or rhythmic gymnastics. On the other hand, in cycling the U.S. women’s pursuit team won its first gold medal in 12 years. Team USA won its first artistic swimming medal in 20 years and earned its first men’s Olympic weightlifting medal in 40 years.

The lesson of these Olympics is that in sports the United States cares about — swimming, basketball, track and field — the dominance remains.

The question is, for how long.