LILLE, France — 5-time gold medalist Diana Taurasi is raring to take the court docket on the Paris Video games, and insists her love of basketball is extra necessary than profitable medals.
The 42-year-old American is aware of that each Olympics is completely different and her expertise at her sixth look 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 just like the journey of it, the preparation, the wrestle. I feel generally you get distracted by the wins, nevertheless it’s the issues that occur earlier than the wins that I’ve actually loved,” Taurasi mentioned on Thursday.
“You need to benefit from the second when you’re right here. Tomorrow now we have the opening ceremony, for a few of us it is the primary time and a few of us have achieved it rather a lot, however it’s important to take pleasure in it. After which, when it is time to play, that would be the most severe factor,” she added.
Taurasi may change into essentially the most adorned crew athlete within the historical past of the Video games if the U.S. girls convey dwelling a medal. She expects the competitors to be robust on the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille.
“It is all the time troublesome: France is hard, Spain has gamers who’re dynamic, Australia is all the time sturdy and arranged, China has younger expertise who play completely different, as does Japan, to not point out Belgium, who will definitely fill this place,” she mentioned.
Depth and teamwork would be the key to success when the U.S. tackle Japan of their opening recreation on Monday, Taurasi mentioned.
“You need to go on the market and be essentially the most unselfish you have ever been in your profession and that takes effort from everybody, now we have to construct that chemistry fairly rapidly,” Taurasi mentioned.
The Phoenix Mercury guard and WNBA’s all-time main scorer added she continues to be not interested by retirement, as she joked about collaborating within the 2028 Video games in Los Angeles: “I will be there — having a beer on the seashore.”
–Reuters, Particular to Area Stage Media
