PARIS, France — The final weekend of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, has arrived and the penultimate day of competition was chock full of Arizona athletes.
From the wrestling mat to the basketball court and then to the track, here's how all of the Arizona Olympians competed on Saturday, Aug. 10.
Basketball
Saturday was the final day of the men's basketball tournament and all three medals were handed out.
- Men's gold medal game, USA vs. France
- USA: Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns
- USA: Devin Booker Phoenix Suns
- Durant started for the first time in the Olympics and scored 15 points. He also had four assists and four rebounds.
- Booker also started for the U.S. (as he has in every Olympic game) and matched Durant with 15 points of his own. Booker added three assists and six rebounds.
- Team USA won their fifth straight gold medal with a 98-87 win over France, who took silver.
- This was Durant's fourth gold medal and Booker's second
- Serbia defeated Germany, 93-83, to win bronze
Soccer
The U.S. women's soccer team are Olympic gold champions once again after beating Brazil 1-0 in the gold medal match Saturday.
Sydney Smith, the fiancee of Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Michael Wilson, plays for Team USA. Smith played 84 minutes before being taken off for a substitute. She did not score.
The American's lone goal in the final was scored by Mallory Swanson.
The Americans, undefeated in France under new coach Emma Hayes, have secured their fifth gold medal out of six appearances in the Olympic women's soccer final.
The U.S. Women's National Team has missed out on the finals at the last two Olympic tournaments, eliminated in the quarterfinals in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and relegated to the bronze-medal match at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
Track and Field
Grant Fisher, who is coached by Hamilton High School cross-country coach Mike Scannell, won bronze in the men's 5,000-meter final with a time of 13:15.13.
Bryce Hoppel, who trains in Flagstaff, just missed out on a medal after coming in 4th in the men's 800-meter with a time of 1:41.57.
Nikki Hiltz, who lives in Flagstaff, came in 7th in the women's 1,500-meter final.
Golf
Saturday was the final day of competition for golf.
- Women's final round, first tee time is at midnight
- Spain: Carlota Ciganda, ASU
- Ciganda shot three-over-par in her final round on Sunday, finishing tied for 49th place with a score of +13
- Spain: Azahara Munoz, ASU
- Munoz had a great round on Sunday, shooting three-under-par to finish -3 for the tournament and tied for 13th place
- Sweden: Linn Grant, ASU
- Grant shot one-under-par on Sunday to wrap up the tournament with a score of +1 and tied for 27th place
- Italy: Alessandra Fanali, ASU
- Fanali finished in 53rd place after shooting four-over-par on Sunday to finish with a four-day total of +16
- Germany: Alexandra Forsterling, ASU
- Forsterling ended the tournament on a high note, shooting two-under-par on Sunday to finish with a score of +4 and in 35th place
- Canada: Alena Sharp, lives in Phoenix
- Sharp shot one-over-par on Sunday and finished tied for 42nd place with a score of +9
- New Zealand's Lydia Ko (-10) won the gold medal, Germany's Esther Henseleit (-8) won silver and China's Xiyu Janet Lin (-7) won bronze. The top American was Rose Zhang (-5), who finished tied for eighth place.
- Spain: Carlota Ciganda, ASU
Wrestling
Team USA Olympian and former ASU wrestler Kennedy Alexis Blades had quite a Saturday as she worked her way towards the women's freestyle wrestling 76kg final round in search of gold in very her first Olympics.
Blades will be wrestling in the finals for Team USA after winning a semifinals match versus Kyrgyzstan's Aiperi Medet Kyzy in which she was able to get a point up on her opponent in both periods of wrestling. The final score was 8-6.
In her first match of the day against Romania's Catalina Axente, she put up a dominant performance, winning a victory by technical superiority as she put up 11 points to Axente's 0.
In the quarterfinal, she met some resistance in Team Cuba wrestler Milaimy de la Caridad Marin Portrille. In the tight match, Blades took her second win of the day with a final score of 4-3.
The women's wrestling 76kg final will take place Sunday, where Blades will take on Japan's Yuka Kagami for a gold medal.
Water Polo
Saturday was the final day of competition in the women's water polo tournament.
In a matter of days, the U.S. women's water polo team went from the pursuit of a historic gold medal to going home empty-handed.
It was quite a fall.
The U.S. blew another lead Saturday and lost 11-10 to the Netherlands on Sabrina van der Sloot's last-second goal in the bronze-medal game at the Paris Olympics. The U.S. had been the only program to medal in each women’s water polo tournament at the Olympics since it started in 2000. ASU's Bente and Lieke Rogge played for the Netherlands against Team USA. Bente scored one goal and had four shots. Lieke had three shots, but did not score.
ASU's Blaire McDowell and Canada finished in eighth place after a 19-10 loss to Greece on Saturday. McDowell played 18 minutes and 36 seconds for the Canadians, but did record a shot on goal.
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to four major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.
Phoenix also has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC, who play at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium in Phoenix.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events every year, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.
12Sports on YouTube
Get the latest news and stories from 12Sports on the 12News YouTube channel. And don't forget to subscribe!