Workforce USA guard Diana Taurasi (12) makes a layup in opposition to Workforce WNBA in the course of the WNBA All-Star Sport on July 20, 2024 in Phoenix. LILLE, France — 5-time gold medalist Diana Taurasi is raring to compete on the Paris Olympics and insists her love of basketball is extra vital than profitable medals.
The 42-year-old American is aware of that each Olympics is completely different, and her sixth Olympic expertise has taught her to belief the method and benefit from the second.
“I nonetheless love the sport. I really like competing. I do know we all the time speak about profitable and dropping, however I really like the journey and the preparation and the wrestle. I feel typically you get distracted by the wins, however these are the issues that occurred to me. Earlier than the victory to essentially take pleasure in it,” Taurasi stated Thursday.
“It’s important to benefit from the second right here. Tomorrow we now have the opening ceremony, which is the primary time for a few of us, a few of us have finished it many occasions, however you must take pleasure in it. After which, When it comes time to play, will probably be essentially the most critical factor,” she added.
If the U.S. girls’s soccer crew brings dwelling a medal, Taurasi may turn into essentially the most embellished crew athlete in Olympic historical past. She expects the match on the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille to be intense.
“It is all the time troublesome: France are robust, Spain have dynamic gamers, Australia are all the time sturdy and arranged, China has completely different younger abilities, the identical goes for Japan, to not point out Belgium, who will certainly fill that place ,”she says.
Taurasi stated depth and teamwork would be the key to success when the U.S. takes on Japan in Monday’s opener.
“It’s important to exit and be essentially the most selfless individual you may be in your profession, and that takes effort from everybody, and we now have to construct that chemistry in a short time,” Taurasi stated.
The Phoenix Mercury guard and WNBA’s all-time scoring chief added that she nonetheless wasn’t occupied with retirement, joking about competing within the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles: “I will be there — on the seashore with a beer.”
——Reuters, on-site media particular report
