体坛英语新闻：United States thrash France for fifth-consecutive title at London Olympics

LONDON, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The United States women's basketball team thrashed France 86-50 in the final of London Olympic Games to clinch the fifth consecutive Olympic title on Saturday.

With the victory, the U.S. extended their Olympic winning streak to 41 games, and also claimed the seventh crown in the past eight Olympics. Three players in the team, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Tamika Catchings, took their own collection of gold medals to three.

"It's really hard to put it into words. You get a lot of chances to win national championships, but to win an Olympic gold is a once in a lifetime. This is an unbelievable group of players to coach. I've 12 players who all want to play and they are great players," said the U.S. coach Geno Auriemma, whose players are mainly the U.S. Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) stars.

The U.S. and France were the only two teams which kept a perfect unbeaten record before the final, while France seemed to have more pressure standing on the unchartered final territory as they entered the London Games as qualifiers.

The French team managed to keep pace with the U.S. in the first quarter and only trailed by five points, but were trapped by lower shooting percentage in the second quarter. They only scored four points in the final 7:26 in the second quarter, during which the U.S. used a 13-4 run to establish a 37-25 lead.

The defending champions continued their dominance in the second half, enlarging the winning margin to 30 points in early fourth quarter to seal the victory.

The U.S. outplayed the new-comer in every field as their shooting percentage reached 47%, nearly 20% more, and they grabbed 46 rebounds, eight more.

Candace Parker scored the game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds for the U.S., Bird added 11 points and Taurasi contributed nine points and six assists.

"We all just get along really well. It's good to do this together. It's a special feeling," said an excited Taurasi. Looking ahead to the next Games, Taurasi simply said "Rio baby. We're coming."

Gruda Sandrine and Lawson-Wade Edwige scored 12 points apiece for France, which also created the history by entering the final after they made the Olympic debut in the Sydney 2000 by finishing fifth.

In the bronze medal match, Australia defeated Russia 83-74 to continue a run of winning a medal in the women's basketball in the last five Olympics. They had won silver in the previous three Games and bronze in 1996.

Australia's Lauren Jackson, who scored the game-high 25 points, increased the full-time scoreboard in women's basketball at Olympics to 575 points.