It has been a rough start for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics. Gold medals have been hard to come by for the Americans in this year's Summer Games, and that remained the case on Wednesday as the United States added just two golds to their medal tally on Day 5.
Team USA has now fallen to third place on the leaderboard after Day 5 with a total haul of 11 golds, 11 silvers, and nine bronzes. Japan remains on top of the heap with 13 golds, four silvers, and five bronzes, while the People's Republic of China is in second place with 12 golds, six silvers, and nine bronzes.
Team USA wins inaugural women's 3x3 basketball event
Team USA made history on Wednesday as the Americans grabbed the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the inaugural women's 3x3 basketball event. They took an early lead against ROC in the final and maintained that advantage the rest of the game to pull off an 18-15 victory in the gold medal match.
Chicago Sky center Stefanie Dolson starred for the Americans in the final as she led the team in scoring with seven points. Dolson also dominated the glass for Team USA as she grabbed a total of nine rebounds in the gold medal match.
Kelsey Plum provided help on the offensive end, recording five points despite missing all three of her two-point attempts. Plum was part of the United States' World Cup-winning 3x3 team in 2018, but she came close to missing the lineup for the Tokyo Olympics after injuring her Achilles last year with the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA.
Fortunately for Plum and Team USA, the Tokyo Olympics was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that enabled Plum to make a comeback in this year's Summer Games. Team USA needed Plum's offensive punch after Katie Lou Samuelson had to withdraw before the Games due to a positive COVID-19 test.
After finishing 6-1 in the round-robin stage, the Americans continued their fine form in the knockout rounds. They edged past France, 18-16, in the semifinals before winning the gold against ROC. Allisha Gray played her part in the victory as the team's defensive stopper, holding the tournament's leading scorer Olga Frolkina to just a single point in the finals.
Related Article: Team USA Events on Day 6 of Tokyo Olympics: What, When, Where and How to Watch on TV
Ledecky ends gold medal drought with 1500m win
Also making history on Wednesday was Katie Ledecky, who grabbed another victory in the pool. Ledecky bagged the sixth Olympic gold medal of her career and the first in Tokyo with a win in the women's 1500m freestyle. Ledecky finished the race with a time of 15:37:34, just two seconds shy of the Olympic record she set in the preliminary round.
It is the first time this event has been contested in the Olympics. Ledecky's win here helped erase her disappointment earlier in the day when she finished fifth place in the women's 200-meter freestyle final.
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