At the last Summer Olympics in London, American basketball star Tamika Catchings was asked about some stars of the NBA who refused to take part in the Games, a phenomenon that has become a growing concern.
The query clearly annoyed her. Here was a news conference with the U.S. women's team and the questions were about the men. Over the years, the women had learned to bite their tongues when inquiries of this nature came up – they will forever bear the scars from this ritual, so often were they asked to perform it. But this time, one of the most decorated players in American basketball history refused to be silenced.
"I hate that we're always getting compared to the men," she said. "Why don't we focus on what we've done? I feel like we've done something that hopefully will never be matched, and we can continue this journey as the years go on and the Olympic Games go on."
The remark was duly noted by the journalists gathered, and then quickly forgotten. Attention shifted, as it always does, to what the men were doing – which has also been the case with basketball here in Rio.
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There is not a group in Olympic history whose achievements have been as wholly unrecognized and undervalued as the American women's basketball team. The extent to which this is the case is almost a perverse form of discrimination. New York Magazine recently devoted pages to the question: Which is the most dominant American team in Rio? The answer, we were told, was the women's coxed eight rowing team, which has ruled its sport for 10 whole years, winning two golds over that time.
Meantime, American women's basketball is one of, if not the, best Olympic sports program of modern time. The numbers are so freakish as to be absurd.
The most obvious: In beating the Japanese 110-64 Tuesday night in the quarter-final, the U.S. women won their 46th consecutive Olympic game. The last time they lost was in 1992. Their current win streak started at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, beginning an epoch of complete and utter supremacy that extends 20 years.
Not even the much-hyped men's teams filled with NBA stars have done that. The 2004 squad only won bronze in Athens. That was considered a national disaster. USA Basketball brought in Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to turn the program around, and the men have won the past two gold medals at the Olympics – although a current team missing LeBron James and Steph Curry, among other big names, has been severely tested here by everyone from France to Australia.
Over the past couple of decades, the U.S. women have also shown they are fallible – once. They lost to Russia in the semis of the world championship in 2006, when they were missing a couple of star players because of injuries; one loss in 20 years of international play, and perfection at the Olympics. There isn't a résumé like it.
That female athletes live in the shadow of men when it comes to sports isn't a new theme. The fact they work just as hard as men to be great at what they do, only to be widely ignored, is irritating as hell. But to have a team whose feats will likely never be repeated be so grossly overlooked is not only confounding but profoundly unjust. The U.S. women's soccer team gets far more publicity and coverage than the women's basketball team. The last time I looked, they're out of the Olympic tournament.
Our sporting stars are made on TV, the extent of their popularity reflected by their appearances on SportsCenter and late-night talk shows. The individual power and achievement of someone such as Serena Williams can't be ignored – she is the most recognizable female athlete on the planet. The second most familiar might be Maria Sharapova, but for entirely different reasons. Beyond the few, however, women athletes continue to fight for recognition.
Team sports matter as long as they are played by men. Football, baseball, basketball. One Super Bowl is worth far more than six straight gold medals by the American women's basketball team, which is the number they'll have if they win this year. People want to diminish their accomplishment because of inferior competition, but that underestimates the quality of the opposition at the Olympic level. And good teams in any sport can be beaten on any given night. The American men proved that in 2004. The women have survived more than a few close calls over the years, too.
U.S. women's Olympic basketball players have, for the most part, shrugged off the invisible role they play here and elsewhere. What else are they going to do? Cry? But inside, they are all competitive people and so it doubtlessly hurts a great deal.
"America needs to recognize us a little more," said Angel McCoughtry, playing in her second Olympics. "It's nothing against the guys. But put us on a Wheaties box, get the girls endorsements they deserve. Recognize us for our hard work, too."
Gary Mason