NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen’s Women’s Basketball Worldwide) - As the dust settles on the action in Rio, it’s time to reflect on a roller-coaster ride which may have had a familiar outcome, but also a gripping sub-plot.

First word must go to USA for doing what they do best – conquering all that is placed before them and in typically emphatic fashion. Their dominance does destroy the allure of global competition for some people, but when you have a five-year-old sat next to you watching the Final and saying ‘wow – who is that scoring all those amazing long shots dad?’ Then, it just becomes a joy to wax lyrical about a legend like Diana Taurasi for example and her fellow Olympians like Sue Bird and Tamika Catchings.

So, hats off to USA and it is not their problem they are so wonderful and streets ahead. The problem lies with everyone else in trying to close the gap – which brings us to Spain. More specifically, to head coach, Lucas Mondelo. He is now a bona-fide legend of the Spanish game for me. He has to be. No arguments. He took Spain to a first ever appearance at the FIBA Women’s World Championship back in 2014 and now he has repeated the feat on the Olympic stage.

To have done so without your best defensive presence in Sancho Lyttle made it an extra special accomplishment. He is a real history maker, although I am sure he would be the first to hand credit to the players. I was most pleased for Laia Palau, another fabulous veteran player.

As everyone knows, I love watching Serbia. I put my neck on the line again by saying they would get a medal at their first Olympics. After a poor start, they came up with the goods and congratulations to Marina Maljkovic and her team. They were awful against Spain in that Semi-Final, but that is what I love most about them, you could sense they would come back against France as they always have a big performance in them.

I am thrilled they got the bronze and let’s not lose sight of something very important. They may be unpredictable and exciting from one game until the next – or even quarter by quarter, but they have consistently performed at major tournaments for almost an entire Olympic cycle. Semi-Finals at EuroBasket Women 2013, Quarter-Finals at the 2014 FIBA Women’s World Championship (but should have made the Semi-Finals), crowned champions at EuroBasket Women 2015 and now a bronze medal at their first Olympics.

France, Turkey and Japan deserve credit in my book too. That was a hammer-blow for Les Bleues to lose someone like Celine Dumerc and especially on the eve of the tournament, so to come within touching distance of the podium was a very good effort from Valerie Garnier and her team. Meanwhile one of the abiding memories of Rio for me will be the photo of Lucas Mondelo consoling Turkey play-caller Ekrem Memnun backstage after that game – yes, that game. It was horrific for Turkey to have had one foot in the Semi-Finals and then lose in such agonising fashion to a shot [and in a game] that will be shown over and over, for decades.

I was pleased that Japan showed they can actually land some punches outside of Asia again and they won some nice games, but got the short straw in the Quarter-Finals with USA. The difference between their last global outing in Ankara two years ago, was like night and day.

Elsewhere, Senegal had a couple of very competitive games which was heartening for African basketball and they battled well to instil some real pride for their Continent and it was a tough tournament for Belarus who lost some heartbreakers. In fact, more heartbreakers than I can ever remember for one team at such a high profile tournament. Once again Yelena Leuchanka was a colossus and what a career she has had for her country.

As for the underachievers, it’s a harsh term to use for Australia but I guess they are in the results business and with such a tradition, it can’t be categorized any other way. I just can’t sugar coat them not making the last four. It’s arguably a similar situation for Canada, who might not have that tradition behind them, but who I still thought might be able to hit the Semi-Finals and didn’t quite have that cutting edge with Kia Nurse not 100%.

With so much to pack in, there will be many more Olympic reflections in weeks to come and not least around those who have taken their last international footsteps.

FIBA

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