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The U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Team had one goal in Athens: to win a gold medal. Led by three-time Olympians Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks), Dawn Staley (Charlotte Sting) and Sheryl Swoopes (Houston Comets), the USA team did not disappoint its fans as it captured a third consecutive gold medal for the United States.

"I am so pleased with this team," said USA head coach Van Chancellor (Houston Comets) following the team's golden moment on the medal stand. "From day one, everyone did what we asked them to do. From one through 12 they all knew what their roles would be and gave me everything they had. We did a lot of traveling, we went to Cuba, Poland, the Czech Republic, you name it we were there. And each time they stepped onto the basketball court they made me proud. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for all 12 of these players. I am just so excited. Who would have believed that a little boy from Mississippi would grow up to coach a team to an Olympic gold medal. Unbelievable."

At the forefront from the start after U.S. team captain Staley was elected by her U.S. peers to carry the flag and lead the United States delegation into the stadium at Opening Ceremonies on Aug. 13, the squad collected a 99-47 victory over New Zealand on Aug. 14, ran past the Czech Republic 80-61 on Aug. 16, tore past South Korea 80-57 on Aug. 18 and earned a 71-58 win over Spain on Aug. 20 before closing preliminary round play with a 100-62 drubbing of China on Aug. 22. Chancellor piloted his team into the medal semifinals with a 102-72 win over host Greece on Aug. 25 in the quarterfinals and edged Russia 66-62 on Aug. 27 to advance to the gold medal game against Australia. In a rematch of the 2000 Sydney gold medal contest, the U.S. again prevailed for the 74-63 victory and gold medal on Aug. 28.

Staley capped her 15-year USA Basketball career with her ninth gold medal in international competition, including a pair of World Championship golds (1998, 2002). She and Leslie, who has not ruled out her return to the international stage, have competed together nearly every summer since 1989. Additionally, Swoopes, who together with Leslie and Staley was a member of the historic 1995-96 USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team, has not made a decision on whether Athens would be her final international appearance.

"It's hard for me to think about suiting up without Dawn and Sheryl," said an emotional Leslie. "I feel like I'm still young and I'm still having fun playing this game. The most difficult part for me would be suiting up without having Swoopes and Staley out there on the court with me."

For the third time in as many Olympiads Leslie led the U.S. in scoring and paced her squad on the glass for the second Games (2000) after averaging 15.6 ppg. and 8.0 rpg., which ranked eighth and fifth among all competitors, respectively. Leslie also finished at the top of the blocked shots list with 1.75 bpg. Tina Thompson (Houston Comets) ranked 18th overall after averaging 14.1 ppg. and Yolanda Griffith (Sacramento Monarchs) grabbed a tournament 12th best 6.6 rpg. Additionally, Griffith's 60.5 percent shooting accuracy ranked fourth and Leslie shot 58.8 percent from the field to finish right behind Griffith. Staley, who topped the charts in assist to turnover ratio (3.83), ranked fourth for assists (2.88 apg.), while Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever) collected an Olympics fifth best 2.75 spg.

As a team the U.S. ranked first among the 12-team tournament in nearly every major statistical category, including scoring offense (84.0 ppg.), scoring defense (60.3 ppg.), scoring margin (+23.8 ppg.), field goal percentage (.470), rebounding offense (41.9 rpg.), rebounding defense (24.1 rpg.), rebounding margin (+17.8 rpg.) and steals (13.4 spg.). Additionally, the USA finished ranked second for defensive field goal percentage (.367) and blocked shots (3.75 bpg.), and third for assists (12.25 apg.).

Leslie closed out her third Olympic competition ranking as the USA's all-time leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker after compiling 407 points, 185 rebounds and 25 blocked shots in three Olympic Games (1996, 2000 and 2004). Leslie also sits atop the list for a single competition for blocked shots with 14 this year.

The 2004 team replaced several team records, including most rebounds in a single game (58) versus New Zealand and most 3-pointers made (10) and attempted (25) versus Greece in the quarterfinals. Overall the U.S. side rewrote single competition records for most field goals attempted (568), most 3-pointers made (35) and attempted (114), highest free throw percentage (.763), most blocked shots (30) and most steals (107).

2000 Olympic gold medalist Katie Smith (Minnesota Lynx), who spent the first two games recovering from a knee injury sustained during the WNBA season, tore cartilage in her right knee during the Aug. 22 game against China and was unable to compete in the USA's medal round contests.

In addition to Catchings, Griffith, Leslie, Smith, Staley, Swoopes and Thompson, the U.S. team's winning effort was bolstered by Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Swin Cash (Detroit Shock), Shannon Johnson (San Antonio Silver Stars), Ruth Riley (Detroit Shock) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury).

"Their roles were to be great practice players and to be ready when called upon," Chancellor remarked about some of the younger players on the squad. "I'm not speaking for anyone, but there's going to be some people on this team retiring from USA Basketball so Ruth Riley, Swin Cash and some of those other young players had better be ready to step up. I thought that was the greatest thing about our team. We had experienced players, we had young players getting ready to do it the USA way. When you look at Ruth Riley, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, we'll be fine (in the future)."

Chancellor was assisted on the sidelines in Athens by two-time Olympic gold medalist Anne Donovan (Seattle Storm), as well as collegiate head coaches Gail Goestenkors (Duke University) and C. Vivian Stringer (Rutgers University).

With the victory over Australia in the gold medal game, the U.S. upped its Olympic winning streak to 25 games, dating back to the 1992 bronze medal contest. The USA now owns a 42-3 overall record (.933 winning percentage) in Olympic play and has won a record five golds, one silver and one bronze medal in the seven Olympic basketball competitions in which the U.S. competed. The United States, which earned the silver medal at the inaugural Olympic women's basketball tournament in 1976, earned its first gold at the ‘84 Games in Los Angeles, collected gold again in Seoul in ‘88, and captured the last three golds with unblemished 8-0 records in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics.