After wrangling a media pass on the final day of Olympic competition in Tokyo, Megan Rapinoe was in the stands to cheer on her fiancée Sue Bird as the basketball legend won her fifth consecutive gold medal against host nation Japan.

On Sunday, after Team USA’s 90-75 victory, Bird ran towards a smiling sideline Rapinoe to share a celebratory hug and kiss.

“[I’m] honestly inspired, and I told her the other day, it feels like corny to say, but it’s like everything you would want in someone that you would look up to. Obviously, I get to be with her, and I love her. That’s the most special part,” the USWNT star told NBC.

“She just does things the right way. She plays with a sense of joy, she makes everyone else around her better on and off the court,” Rapinoe continued. “She’s just an amazing person, I’m gonna start tearing up. You’re gonna make me cry on national TV.”

The Seattle Storm star Bird returns from Japan — her final Olympic performance — with gold while Rapinoe, the OL Reign star, brings home a bronze for the USWNT.

After meeting in 2016 at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Rapinoe and Bird started dating. They got engaged in October 2020.

Portland Thorns head coach Mark Parsons praised Christine Sinclair for her historic medal-winning Olympic performance in Tokyo, calling her the “very, very best player in the world.”

Sinclair, who stars as the captain of the Thorns under Parsons, is also captain of the Canadian women’s national soccer team. The 38-year-old is currently the all-time leading scorer in international soccer and recently confirmed that she plans to keep playing for Canada after the Tokyo Games.

“I think we have a massive responsibility, all of us that have ever been around, worked with, or competed against Sinc, to share the story and share the experiences that we’ve had,” Parsons said per an interview with Melina Melinae from NWSL media.

“She is the most humble, team-first, unselfish person, athlete, warrior, competitor I have ever come across,” he continued.

Parsons went on to emphasize that we must “all share who she is.”

In May, the Thorns head coach announced his departure from the club following the conclusion of the 2021 NWSL season to coach the Netherlands national team.

Read the full quote from Parsons here:

The basketball world knew the U.S.’s 90-75 victory over Japan on Sunday would be Sue Bird’s last, but Dawn Staley’s post-game announcement came as a surprise for many.

Staley sealed her three-decade-long career with USA Basketball in two words: “I’m done.”

The 51-year-old is the first Black coach to lead the U.S. team and is the second woman to win a gold medal as a player, assistant coach, and finally as a head coach, after the late Anne Donovan.

Every single time Staley has gone to the Olympic Games, she has brought home the gold — as a player in 1996, 2000, and 2004, as an assistant coach in 2008 and 2016, and now again in Tokyo as head coach.

Beyond coaching the national team, Staley has built South Carolina into a college basketball powerhouse.

A’ja Wilson, who had a spectacular Olympic debut, won an NCAA championship at South Carolina under Staley. That Wilson’s first gold medal win was under her former college coach captures just how far and wide Staley’s leadership has extended in women’s basketball.

Staley’s decision to step down means the team will need new leadership in the next major USA basketball competition, the 2022 World Cup.

After the game, the basketball legend tweeted: “Giving God all the Glory for his ever loving favor @usabasketball got the GOLD once again! On the 7th day we didn’t rest because we couldn’t. #Tokyo2020”

Team USA’s stunning volleyball victory over Brazil on Sunday to capture its first gold medal ever leaves a mark on Olympic history for players and coaches alike.

The victory makes U.S. coach Karch Kiraly the second person to win gold as a volleyball player and then lead a country to gold as a coach.

Kiraly won gold indoor as a player in 1984 and 1988. He also won gold in beach volleyball in 1996.

“It was more powerful in some ways for me today than when I was a player, because the first Olympics I played in, we won,” said Kiraly, who previously led Team USA to a bronze in Rio. “We didn’t come close and lose, come close and lose, come close and fall short. It makes it taste and feel much more special when you go through the hard times.”

Following the gold medal game, Kiraly and middle blocker Haleigh Washington spoke together in a candid courtside interview.

“Not only are they badasses,” said Kiraly. “But they are now gold medalists!”

Watch the full interview here:

In an exhilarating final match on the final day of the Tokyo Games, the U.S. volleyball team claimed its first Olympic gold medal with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-14) victory over Brazil on Sunday.

Team USA’s sixth volleyball medal completes the collection after the Americans won three silver and two bronze medals previously.

“I’m just still in a state of shock,” said Jordan Larson after her unreturned spike on match point secured the win for Team USA.

“I cried more in the last 24 hours than I think I have in my career,” she continued. “I’m not an emotional player, an emotional person. But I think just the emotions got the best of me. I’m now in kind of this euphoria, a state of shock.”

Annie Drews led the U.S. team with 15 points, followed by Michelle Bartsch-Hackley with 14 and Jordan Larson with 12.

Larson, who was a part of the 2012 silver-medal team and the 2016 bronze-medal team, paved the way for Team USA this tournament with her veteran experience and excellent performances on the attack.

“I couldn’t write a better story for her,” setter Jordyn Poulter said, referring to Larson’s winning point.

Larson and Foluke Akinradewo Gunderson, who both returned for a third Olympics after falling short in Rio, completed their medal collection on the last day of the Games.

“Her and Fouke have put so much time into this program and been through thick and thin,” Poulter said. “To be on this journey with them has been incredible.”

The Hungarian Olympic medal drought in water polo is finally over.

Hungary secured its first-ever medal in women’s water polo with a 11-9 victory over longtime rivals, the Russian Olympic Committee, in the bronze-medal game on Saturday.

In the final minutes, Anna Illes scored to give Hungary a single-goal advantage and goalkeeper Alda Magyari scored on an empty net from long range with just four seconds left to seal the win.

Magyari finished with 10 saves and Vanda Valyi led Hungary with three goals.

As a result, Hungary, which had finished fourth in three consecutive Olympics before Tokyo, is going home with the bronze medal.

Maria Lasitskene, the three-time world champion in the high jump, is finally an Olympic champion.

In her Olympic debut on Saturday, the 28-year-old Lasitskene won a gold medal in the high jump final, becoming the first athlete to win a track and field gold for the Russian Olympic Committee at the Tokyo Games.

In two attempts at 2.04 meters, Lasitskene beat out Australia’s Nicola McDermott and Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

In the end, Lasitskene was the only athlete to clear the mark, with McDermott jumping 2.02 meters to earn silver and Mahuchikh holding on to the bronze medal at 2.00 meters.

After downing Sweden in a historic Olympic final that ended in a nail-biting shootout on Friday, Canada’s 38-year-old captain Christine Sinclair confirmed that she’s not ready to hang up the cleats just yet.

“When I started playing with the national team, we were losing to the U.S. 9-0,” Sinclair said after the game. “That was, like, the norm. And to be a part of this group now standing on the top of the podium, honestly, I never thought I’d be a part of that group.”

When the all-time leading scorer in international soccer was asked if the Tokyo Games would be her last time wearing the Maple Leaf, Sinclair answered, “No, it’s not.”

“At the very least, we have a victory tour,” Sinclair continued. “I haven’t thought about it. I’m not gonna make a decision out of joy or pain, depending on how this tournament ended.

“I never do that.”

Sinclair, who led Canada to bronze at the London Olympics in 2012 and again four years later in Rio de Janeiro, is a native of Burnaby, B.C.

The City of Burnaby quickly found another way to honor the Canadian legend, constructing and hanging a giant gold medal on the city center’s side, already named the Christine Sinclair Community Centre.

The United States water polo team dismantled Spain 14-5 to win their third consecutive gold medal, while captain Maggie Steffens added to her record as the all-time Olympic leading scorer.

Steffens, now a three-time gold medalist, scored three goals in the final game on Saturday, extending her record to 56.

The California native first secured the all-time scoring title on Friday, passing Italy’s Tania Di Mario in Team USA’s dominant win over the ROC.

Steffens was previously the top scorer at the London and Rio Olympics.

Be sure to check out her appearance on the Just Women’s Sports podcast.

As soon as Julia Grosso’s penalty shot soared into the net, Canadian national team coach Bev Priestman sprinted from the sideline to join the group of players who were already celebrating their Olympic championship.

With Priestman at the helm of Canada, the team rose to the occasion in Tokyo, beating No. 7 Brazil and the top-ranked United States to advance to the gold medal game and finally beat out fifth-ranked Sweden.

The 35-year-old from Consett, England, was hired less than nine months before the first Olympic match and is the only female coach to lead a team to the semi-final stage in Japan.

Over the course of the tournament run, Priestman’s defensive tactics were brilliant, and her team selections were spot on, combining Canadian veterans with a roster full of promising young players.

On Friday night, Priestman took to social media and Tweeted: “We did it — Canada we did this for you & we did it having the time of our lives.”

“Dream Big because this special group did,” she continued. “Thank you for your support back home, this will take some time to sink in. We also wouldn’t be here today without those who came before us #nextchapter”

Previously, the Englishwoman served as an assistant coach under John Herdman, who was in charge of the women’s team from 2011 to 2018 and helped Canada win back-to-back bronze medals.

Priestman returned to England after the stint to serve as Phil Neville’s assistant as England reached the semi-finals of the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.

Now, two years later, Priestman returns to Canada with an Olympic gold, a feat no Canadian head coach has ever accomplished.