PARIS – The United States returned to the top of the world with its 1-0 victory over Brazil in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 gold medal match on Saturday. Twelve years after taking home the gold in London’s Wembley Stadium, the U.S. did it again – for a record fifth time – in Paris’ Parc de Princes.
Parc des Princes, a bowl of sunlight beneath a hot Paris day – temperatures reaching 85 degrees before kickoff – held the twinge of freshly manicured grass in its atmosphere before the voices of thousands of fans pierced its veil of solitude.
In the 100th cap for Mallory Swanson, who has played at the senior national level since she was just 17 years old, came the decisive moment that made history. Now, at 26, she’s met the century mark and earned a gold medal on the other side. In her 100 appearances, Swanson has made 31 assists and scored 38 goals, but the challenges she’s overcome off the pitch outweigh any one of those marks.
Swanson tore her patellar tendon in 2023 – an injury that typically demands at least six months of recovery time. The full rupture required surgery, and the site became infected just a week post-operation. Swanson underwent a second surgery – an emergency procedure to remove the infection – and was on IV antibiotics for nearly six weeks.
And on her 100th cap, Swanson was the difference.
In the 57th minute, Korbin Albert sent the ball skidding through the back line and into the stride of Sophia Smith, who had to turn and run away from it.
“I was telling Soph to leave it because she was offsides,” Swanson said.
As Smith ran to the center of the field Swanson appeared from the left side, tapping the ball once to set up her right foot, and then again to send it into the back of the net, far post. Goal.
“Mal just made me start crying,” USA goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher said, “...just to see her journey, to see her maturity…I've obviously been fortunate to be with her every step of the way the last few years. And just to see her come into this tournament, to score that goal in this game, I love her to death. And just to see her emotional, to see that joy in her face again of being back on the field…I’m just so incredibly proud.”
Naeher had her own moment in the match as she negated Brazil’s tying try with a save in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Brazil’s Adriana received a cross to the right edge of the six-yard box, which she redirected off her head toward the back post of the goal. Naeher’s right hand reached up and palmed the on-target attempt to preserve the shutout, and in doing so, made herself the first goalkeeper in women’s soccer history to have a shutout in both an Olympic final and a World Cup final.
The USWNT has an extensive history with the Brazilian national team in the Olympic Games. The Americans banished Brazil to back-to-back silver medals in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games after defeating the canary yellow of Brazil in both of those gold medal matches. In eight appearances at the Olympic level, during an era in which Marta was world player of the year six times, the Brazilian team’s best outcomes are now three second-place finishes.
The U.S. felt at home beneath the red, white, and blue of the Paris Saint-Germain branding garnishing Paris’ Parc des Princes. Some felt more at home than others.
Albert and Lindsey Horan each play their club soccer in France – Albert for Paris Saint-Germain and Horan for Olympique Lyon, though she began her professional career with PSG. The USWNT advanced to the gold medal final in an extra-time thriller in Lyon, and now they’ve won gold in Paris.
The USWNT won gold in a major tournament for the first time under new coach Emma Hayes. Hayes elected to conclude her responsibilities with Chelsea FC Women before taking over responsibilities as USWNT manager, leaving her with little over two months to prepare the team for a run at gold after a disappointing 2023 World Cup exit in the round of 16.
“Sometimes we always look at negative experiences or setbacks as something that just shouldn't happen,” Hayes said. “I feel the opposite…I’ve always had belief. I've said it before, winning is in my DNA. I'm used to being in finals. I'm used to competing for trophies, and so is the U.S. Women's National Team.
“That mentality is why I love the country. It’s why I’m so made for it, because that mentality – that never ever say die, and gut it out, and grit it out, and grind it out – like we had to find things in ourselves that weren’t there before. But they've impressed me immensely, these players, at their ability to stay true to their beliefs, their identity.”
The USWNT has returned to its gold standard of international soccer, but the players believe this is just the beginning of what they’re capable of achieving with Hayes at the helm. Horan and Smith even found it appropriate to speculate at their potential while atop the podium, just seconds before receiving their gold medals.
“I was up on the podium when I was talking with Soph,” Horan said. “And we were just like, ‘Imagine, you know, what we can do now in the next two and a half years before World Cup.’
“...Now we sit here and we know that there's so much more in us, there's so much more potential, the way that we can play, the way that we can break down opponents. You know, today was not an easy game by any means. It was crazy. It was a battle. It was the hardest game…but my gosh, the way this team is now, and seeing the potential for 2027, yeah, it’s very exciting.”
With an Olympic championship establishing a new generation’s potential for success as a young team, the USWNT looks to continue a winning tradition that so many of these women grew up watching on TV screens.
Madie Chandler is writing for Team USA as a graduate student in the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University Indianapolis.