Life

LGBT Watch at the Olympics: U.S. women pulverize France to win gold medal in basketball

LGBT Watch at the Olympics: U.S. women pulverize France to win gold medal in basketball

Spoiler alert: LGBT Watch at the Olympics is a regular feature tracking the nearly two dozen LGBT athletes at the London 2012 Olympics. In the U.S., NBC is tape-delaying much of the games on its local stations, yet live-streaming on the Internet. Some of the results listed below may not have yet been broadcast in your area.

The U.S. women’s basketball team crushed France 86-50 on Saturday at the London 2012 Olympics, winning its fifth consecutive gold medal and again proving to be the best in world competition.

NBC
U.S. women's basketball players awarded their gold medals.

France kept it close in the first quarter, but the U.S. defense was smothering . The offense began piling up the points thanks to an outstanding performance by Candace Parker, whose second-quarter splurge allowed the Americans to build a huge lead. Parker scored four baskets in a row as the Americans powered to a 14-point advantage, and she piled up 21 points for the game.

The U.S. has now won 41 consecutive Olympic basketball games, an unprecedented run on the world stage. The Americans lost a semifinal game in the 1992 Olympics and had to settle for a bronze medal.

Seimone Augustus, the only out player for the Americans, scored eight points in four-of-10 shooting and had one rebound. She played 15 minutes coming off the bench.

Men’s 10m platform diving

Matthew Mitcham, the openly gay diver from Australia, cannot be happy with his performance at the London 2012 Olympics. The defending gold medalist from the 2008 Beijing Olympics finished 13th in the semifinals and failed to qualify for the finals.

“Coming 13th and missing out by one spot is really hard,” Mitcham told reporters. “If I had come 18th it would have been easy to say, ‘Oh well, I didn’t have a chance.’

“It was always going to be a massive struggle for me,” said Mitcham, who has struggled with injuries. “I’m always going to be an Olympic champion.”

Women’s field hockey

The powerful women’s field hockey team from the Netherland collected the gold medal on Friday with a 2-0 win over Argentina.

The Dutch are led by three lesbians: Marilyn Agliotti, Maartje Paumen and Carlien Dirkse van den Heuvel. Van den Heuvel and Paumen scored the two goals for the Netherlands.

Don't forget to share:

Support vital LGBTQ+ journalism

Reader contributions help keep LGBTQ Nation free, so that queer people get the news they need, with stories that mainstream media often leaves out. Can you contribute today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated

Democrats approve marriage equality inclusive platform

Previous article

My being gay is not my opinion – it’s my life

Next article