Julius OkorieThe desire of Brazil’s Women team to give their veteran, Marta, a golden sent forth crumbled like a pack of cards on Saturday, after the team failed again to break losing jinx against the United States of America.
In what looks like a repeat of 2008 Olympics in Beijing, a lone goal was all that was needed to stop hard fighting Brazil from touching the Gold medal again.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelSaturday’s encounter marks the 42nd time both teams will be clashing in all competitions with USA increasing their winning tally to 33 wins.
It also marks the last international match for Brazilian great, Marta da Silva, known internationally as Marta, who announced early this year that she will retire after this year’s Games. The 38-year-old first stepped onto the Olympic turf 20 years ago at the 2004 Games in Athens.
This is the first time the USA have taken the Olympic title in 12 years, their gold in Paris added to those won in 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012.
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They have now beaten Brazil in three of those finals, with the South Americans again having to settle for silver just as they did in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing four years later.
Prime Business Africa reports that Germany had earlier beaten World Cup Champions, Spain, to win the Bronze medal. With less than 24 hours to the end of the Olympics, China is leading on the medals table with 88 medals, made up of 37 gold, 27 Silver and 24 Bronze, followed by USA with 35 gold, 41 Silver and 41 Bronze.
Australia, Japan and hosts France complete the top five. Britain South Korea, Netherlands, Germany and Italy complete the top 10.
Nigeria is the only country without a medal in the 82 countries listed with Zambia occupying the 81st position with one Bronze.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
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