I woke up this morning, looked over the table, looked at the gold medal, and just smiled. When I was little, I dreamed of competing in the Olympics and winning a gold medal, which is far beyond my imagination.
Start by how heavy the medal is than you think. I have a pain in my neck, but I will definitely wear it all day today.
It was unbelievable to know that I had won the gold medal. And being a 3 to 3 pioneer, making history is something I always remember.
I was asked to compare it to winning the national championship, but both are really special. The celebration part of it is the same. The feeling that you know you are the best and how hard you worked to get there.
We worked for this, and coach Kara (Lawson) said it would be harder than you could imagine winning. There is also the expectation that USA Basketball will be gold or bust. Well, we got the money!
I have to scream in Tokyo, they did a great job of making it feel special. The overall atmosphere leading up to the gold medal game was great, starting with the huge drums I was hitting during the introduction. Tokyo has done a great job of creating a huge mood in the midst of a coronavirus outbreak.
The energy of the building was great. With fans, you can imagine what the Olympic 3v3 would look like.
The game itself was nerve-wracking. He defeated France in the semi-finals to move forward and win a fierce match against Russia. When we entered the finals, we knew how physical Russia was and were ready for it. We made an amazing defense, and when the final buzzer sounded, it was like a holy cow.
Because of the COVID protocol, they made us hang a medal on the neck of our own teammates. I was chosen for that honor because I am the tallest in the group.
After the ceremony, I was able to meet Yao Ming, who was supporting the Chinese team who won the bronze medal. He asked me who I played for, and I told him he had an incredible career. He couldn’t have been so nice and graceful to take a picture with me.
I have to say, he’s tall, I’ve never felt so short before!
While waiting for the press conference, I had the opportunity to call my family and share this with them. Because they were a huge part of my basketball experience. It was very cool. My niece was there, and obviously my mother was particularly excited — it can be said to be embarrassingly excited. There were many textbooks from former coaches, teammates, and even high school teachers that I hadn’t talked to for 10 years.
I returned to the hotel late around 2am. USA Basketball made us feel special. Many of the 5v5 players stood up and waited for us to celebrate and drink champagne!
Now, I will soon return to the state border with a medal and lifelong memories.
Thank you for continuing my journey.
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Chicago Sky star Stepha Needleson checks in regularly from the Olympics. She was part of a US 3-3 team that won the gold medal at the first tournament of the event at the Tokyo Olympics.
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Other AP Olympics: https: //apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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