US women on cusp of record 8th consecutive gold medal in basketball with only France standing in way

PARIS (AP) — The U.S. women's basketball team isn't focused on its record Olympic winning streak or the history the team would make with one more victory.

The Americans are simply concentrating on beating France and winning the gold medal at the Paris Games on Sunday.

“The winning streak doesn’t mean a lot. But to win it all, it means the world to me," star A'ja Wilson said. "I can’t really pay attention to a lot of streaks. I feel like that’s just added-on pressure. But to come here and keep the main thing the main thing and winning it, it’s something that going to mean the world to me. To continue to be a part of the legacy, the journey that this team, to wear this jersey and others that have here before me, is awesome. So, it’s going to mean a lot for us.”

With a victory on Sunday, the U.S. women's legacy would stretch to 61 consecutive wins in Olympic contests and a record eight straight gold medals. That would break a tie with the U.S. men's program that won seven in a row from 1936-68.

A victory would give Diana Taurasi a sixth consecutive gold medal, making her the most decorated basketball player in Olympic history, breaking a tie with longtime teammate Sue Bird, who won five.

Taurasi has been humble about the potential record, saying she cares more about the team winning then her individual success. It's been a trying Olympics for her as she hasn't started the last two games, the first time she wasn't in the opening lineup since the 2004 Olympics.

Standing in the way is a French team that will be spurred on by a loud, energetic crowd. The game will be a rematch from the 2012 London Olympics, which the U.S. won by 36 points.

“I think it will be an incredible atmosphere. I think that when you play the host country in their country, you expect it to be off the chain," U.S. wing Breanna Stewart said. “Obviously in Tokyo we played Japan, but there was no spectators. And you want that, you want that loud excitement.”

The Americans have put together strong halves and quarters but still haven't played a great 40 minutes. That's been good enough to run through the Olympics so far, with no team able to come within single digits of them.

French players know they have a tall task in front of them to capture the country's first gold medal and pull off the monumental upset.

“You have to believe if you want to do something special,” French wing Gabby Williams said. “What I love is, is our connection between us and our belief in each other. And if anything’s going to bring us gold, it’s going to be that.”

French guard Marine Johannes knows who's on the other team.

“All the best players in the world. But like I said earlier, we have nothing to lose,” she said. “We are going to play hard.”

Sunday's game will cap off a weekend in which France and the U.S. play for both the men's and women's gold medal. It's the first time that's happened in Olympic history.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Marieme Badiane (22), lifts Romane Bernies (47), of France, as they celebrate with Marine Fauthoux (4) after France beat Belgium during a women's semifinal basketball game at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Marieme Badiane (22), of France, lifts Romane Bernies (47), of France, as they celebrate after France beat Belgium during a women's semifinal basketball game at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

United States' Brittney Griner (15) celebrates a basket against Australia during a women's semifinal basketball game at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Team USA celebrate a basket against Australia during a women's semifinal basketball game at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

A judge barred the Trump administration on Thursday from immediately moving to shut down a small federal agency that supports investment in African countries on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon in Washington issued the order hours after the filing of a lawsuit by the president and CEO of the U.S. African Development Foundation.

Ward Brehm said in a complaint that he directed his staff on Wednesday to deny building entry to staffers from billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and Pete Marocco, the deputy administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

DOGE and Trump do not have the authority to shut down the agency, which was created by Congress, Brehm said in the complaint.

The order from Leon, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, bars Brehm from being removed or DOGE from adding members to the board over the next few days.

Brehm also said that days after President Donald Trump targeted the agency in a Feb. 19 executive order that aims to shrink the size of the federal government, staffers from DOGE tried to access the organization's computer systems.

“When USADF learned that DOGE was there to kill the agency, USADF staff refused DOGE access to cancel all grants and contracts,” said the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement, “Entitled, rogue bureaucrats have no authority to defy executive orders by the President of the United States or physically bar his representatives from entering the agencies they run.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration mandated DOGE and Musk, the world’s richest man whose businesses have federal contracts, to root out waste, fraud and abuse and to help reduce the nation’s debt load.

Brehm said in his complaint that DOGE and Marocco, a Trump political appointee helping shutter USAID, also recently targeted the Inter-American Foundation, a federal agency that invests in Latin American and the Caribbean.

On Tuesday, DOGE said on X that all but one employee at IAF had been let go and its grants cancelled, including funding for alpaca farming in Peru, for vegetable gardens in El Salvador and for beekeeping in Brazil.

Trump is also targeting the U.S. Institute of Peace, a Washington-based think tank, and the Presidio Trust, which oversees a national park site next to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Both entities, which were created by Congress, continue to operate and say they are compiling information requests from the White House.

The National Endowment for Democracy, a private nonprofit that helps combat authoritarianism around the world, sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, saying in a complaint that it had been denied access to its funding, “something that has never occurred before in the Endowment’s forty-two-year existence.”

In 2023, it reported issuing $238 million in grants, including through the International Republican Institute, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio formerly served as a board member.

Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story.

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Elon Musk departs the Capitol following a meeting with Senate Republicans, in Washington, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)