The World hasn’t beaten the U.S. Women for quite a while now -- the 1994 FIBA World Championships to be exact. Since then, the Americans have won three consecutive Olympic gold medals and back-to-back FIBA World Championships. But they haven’t come easy. In Athens, the U.S. had to ward off the Russians 66-62 before beating Australia in the gold medal game 74-63. At the 1998 World Championships in Germany, the Americans beat the Russians 71-65 to win gold. Four years later, the U.S. once again had to fight off the Russian charge, winning the gold medal game by 6 points, 71-65.

“I think what’s happening is that the world’s playing more basketball,“ said Taurasi. “You see it with both the men and the women. They’re playing at a younger age and obviously getting better.“

The World might be rapidly getting better, yet to beat the Americans in the future, they’ll have to go through Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird. “Dee”, for one, is certainly up for the challenge.

“Nothing intimidates me,” she proudly states. “Nothing.”

Other Olympic Notes

Spotlight On - U.S. Women’s Soccer

These are uncharted waters for U.S. Women’s Soccer.

Mia Hamm won’t be wearing the red, white and blue when the U.S. heads to China for the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup next September. It’s one thing to replace her talents on the field, where she scored 158 goals over 17 years of international play, but replacing her Madison Avenue marketability off the field is a different story.

She was a unique athlete who has bridged both gender and generational gaps in selling her sport. During the 1999 Women’s World Cup, her jersey was everywhere and not just on the young girls that adored her, but the guys as well. There was also the Gatorade commercial alongside Michael Jordan, the building at Nike’s World Headquarters and her own video game to boot.

Sunil Gulati’s biggest task as the President of U.S. Soccer might be finding somebody to replace Hamm as the face of soccer in this country. Currently, there’s a great young talent pool with players like Abby Wambach, Heather O’Reilly, Aly Wagner and Lindsay Tarpley that could fill those massive cleats at some point. But right now, without Hamm, Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain, the most marketable talent in the sport may be 28 year-old Heather Mitts, who despite her fantastic defensive skills is probably more well known for her off-field modeling (FHM and SI’s Swimsuit Issue) and her NFL QB boyfriend (A.J. Feeley) than she is for her on-field talents.