Now that the final anthem of the 2026 Games has sounded, Team USA has officially shattered the women's Winter Olympics medal count record with 17 total medals across all sports — excluding mixed events.
Six of those 17 were golds — from alpine skier Breezy Johnson's downhill win and bobsled legend Elana Meyers Taylor's first-ever Olympic gold to the US women topping the hockey podium — adding another high-mark to the list as the USA collectively took home a program-record 12 gold medals in 2026.
"Our team is so strong," said slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin. "Everybody just showed up with so much courage and heart here. I'm so proud to be part of this American team."
Counting individual, team, and mixed events, more than 40 US women's sports athletes are leaving the Games with at least one medal — another Winter Olympics record for Team USA.
Along with mixed events, USA women helped earn 21 of the team's 33 medals in Milan, with their medal count including eight of the team's 12 golds and all but one of the nine 2026 bronzes.
"You still have to look back and point to Title IX and the effects of the ability to have those competitive years in an elite collegiate system that helps drive the success for women in ways that other countries just haven't yet benefited," explained US Olympic and Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland.
Six former Pitt women's basketball players came forward last week, filing a lawsuit against the University of Pittsburgh and the team's current head coach Tory Verdi on Friday.
The suit claims Verdi — who led Pitt to a 29-60 record since taking over the Panthers' sideline in April 2023 — employed abusive coaching practices, including making harassing remarks and threatening student-athlete careers on and off the court.
Additionally, the filing alleges that Verdi pressured players he no longer wanted on the team to enter the transfer portal, endangered their scholarships.
Players describe incidents including a practice session where Verdi reportedly split athletes based on their race, as well as alleged comments the coach made to the team including telling them, "Every night I lay in bed I want to kill myself because of you."
Some of the athletes reportedly contacted Pitt athletic department supervisors, with Friday's lawsuit claiming that the school ignored their complaints.
"These players aren’t soft," lawyer Keenan D. Holmes told the Associated Press this week. "But this went beyond basketball. It went beyond the bounds of common decency."
Arguing that Pitt violated their Title IX-protected civil rights, the players are seeking acknowledgment, academic record restoration, compensation, and punitive damages.
"The university is aware of these lawsuits and their allegations, which are without merit and will be vigorously defended," Pitt responded in a statement.
Last week's landmark $2.8 billion House v. NCAA settlement is back in the headlines, as eight women's college sports athletes filed an appeal on Wednesday claiming that the approved NIL back-payment plan violates Title IX, the federal law banning gender discrimination in schools.
On June 6th, a federal judge approved a settlement between the NCAA and former student-athletes, with the college sports governing body agreeing to have schools directly distribute billions of dollars in back pay to players barred from financially benefitting off their name, image, and likeness since 2016.
Wednesday's appeal to that back-pay plan calls out alleged payment inequities written into the settlement ruling, which could see up to 90% of the $2.8 billion distributed to former NCAA men's sports athletes.
"The calculation of past damages is based on an error that ignores Title IX and deprives female athletes of $1.1 billion," said Ashlyn Hare, one of the lawyers representing the appellants. "Paying out the money as proposed would be a massive error that would cause irreparable harm to women's sports."
"If Nike wants to [pay male athletes more], that is their choice. If the school, or a conference acting on the school's behalf tries to do that, they are violating the law," John Clune, another lawyer on the team, clarified.
"They can either pay the athletes proportionately, or they can return all of their federal funds," said Clune. "But they can't do both."