The United States women’s basketball team is looking to stay golden.

Winners of the past seven Olympic gold medals, the U.S. enters the Paris Games as the team to dethrone when the tournament tips off July 28.

Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Serbia and Spain are the 11 other teams that qualified for the 2024 Games, but the Americans are the overwhelming favorites.

The Americans haven’t won anything less than gold since 1992, a streak that started at the last Summer Games on home soil — in Atlanta in 1996. The U.S. men’s and women’s teams have combined to win 25 gold medals to date, 18 more than the rest of the world’s total.

The U.S. women’s team is currently tied with the U.S. men’s team for most consecutive Olympic gold medals. The men took home seven straight from 1936 to 1968. Both are the longest streak for golds in a traditional team sport in Olympic history.

Team USA roster

Indiana Fever rookie sensation Caitlin Clark didn’t make the roster for the U.S., but the team is sure not short of star power.

The roster shows a preference for veterans with the selection of A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Alyssa Thomas, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Sabrina Ionescu, Chelsea Gray and Kahleah Copper.

Taurasi is going for a record sixth gold medal. She is currently tied with Sue Bird for most gold medals in Olympic basketball history at five. Bird last played in the Olympics in 2020 before retiring in 2022.

Seven of the 12 players have appeared on Team USA before — and an additional two were on the three-on-three team, known as 3×3, the last time around. (Rhyne Howard, Cierra Burdick, Hailey Van Lith and Dearica Hamby — who was named to the team after Cameron Brink tore her ACL — make up the 3×3 team in 2024.)

Tournament format

The tournament starts with the group stage, as the 12 teams are divided into three groups. Each team plays every team in their group once, racking up two points for a win, one point for a loss and zero points for a loss by forfeit.

The top two teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals, which starts the knockout phase. Any ties within groups are decided first by head-to-head results. If more than two teams are tied, additional criteria may be needed to break the tie, starting with point differential in games between the tied teams. The two third-place teams with the most points will also advance, with any ties among those teams decided first by standings points and then point differential.

The U.S. enters play in Group C with Japan, Germany and Belgium.

Game locations

Group-stage games will be played at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, about 140 miles north of Paris.

The advancing teams then travel to Paris for the knockout round, where games will tip off in Bercy Arena.

Schedule

Spain and China open the tournament as the first game on July 28. The U.S. first plays the following day against Japan and will play through at least the end of the group stage on Aug. 4.

Below is the full group-stage schedule, with Group A games in blue, Group B in green and Group C in red.

Group-stage schedule

DATE
5 A.M. ET
7:30 A.M. ET
11:15 A.M. ET
3 P.M. ET

July 28

Spain-China

Serbia-Puerto Rico

July 29

Nigeria-Australia

Germany-Belgium

Canada-France

USA-Japan

July 31

Puerto Rico-Spain

China-Serbia

Aug. 1

Japan-Germany

Australia-Canada

France-Nigeria

Belgium-USA

Aug. 3

China-Puerto Rico

Serbia-Spain

Aug. 4

Japan-Belgium

Canada-Nigeria

Germany-USA

Australia-France

Advancing teams move from Lille to Paris for the knockout stage, from Aug. 7-11.

Knockout-stage schedule

ROUND
DATE
TIMES (ET)

Quarterfinals

Aug. 7

5 a.m., 8:30 a.m., noon, 3:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Aug. 9

11:30 a.m., 3 p.m.

Bronze-medal game

Aug. 11

5:30 a.m.

Gold-medal game

Aug. 11

9:30 a.m.

How to watch

The U.S. games will air live on USA Network and stream on Peacock and NBC Olympics platforms. The gold-medal game will be live on NBC.