3) 1996 – USA Women win the Gold at home
Just like their male counterparts, USA’s women’s team also dominated the sport and have won the gold medal seven times out of 10 at the Olympics. The Soviet Union women’s team had won in the first two editions in 1976 and 1980, but the breakup saw them lose their stranglehold on the event save for the 1992 Olympics where a unified team won the gold.
But the 1996 gold medal win marked a new era for women’s basketball in the United States. The WNBA was officially approved in 1996 and much was expected of the team that was to take part in the Olympics that were being hosted in Atlanta.
The likes of Sheryl Swoopes (the first player to be signed in the WNBA and future 3-time WNBA MVP), Lisa Leslie (also a future 3-time WNBA MVP) and Dawn Staley (future 6-time WNBA All-Star) led team USA to wins over both NCAA teams and international opponents. So good was the team that even before the Olympics they had a 52-0 win-loss record!
With a Points Difference of more than 100 more than the next best team, they stormed their way to the final and beat Yugoslavia in the Gold Medal match to win on home soil.
