Sixty is a magical number, embedded in our most fundamental notions.
There are 60 seconds to a minute. Sixty minutes in an hour -- and the final hour of the competition at the 1996 Atlanta Games belonged to the American women, who demolished a gritty Brazilian team, 111-87.
Sixty is the number of times this United States team took the floor since Nov. 2, 1995 -- and 60 is the number of times the Americans walked off winners. In this last game, though, they walked off as champions and gold medal winners.
And now 60 will carry another bit of history with it: A record that every other national team, from the United States or anywhere else, can try to match in this modern era of cutthroat competition and mushrooming professional leagues.
There are some other numbers worthy of note, Lisa Leslie's 29 points and her 12-of-14 shooting, for example, but numbers don't tell the story of this claws-out struggle at the Georgia Dome.
The Brazilians, never intimidated for a second, immediately went for the jugular. They attacked the offensive boards, a long-time American soft spot, like demons and at the half had 10 offensive rebounds to just two for the United States. But there's nothing free in this life, and certainly not in a gold medal basketball game, and all those Brazilians flying to the basket meant there were no Brazilians left to stop the American fast break -- which was simply devastating.
Constantly coming down the floor in three-on-two and four-on-three situations, the United States chalked up 30 assists (on 43 baskets), and when Dawn Staley capped an 18-3 run with a no-look left-handed over-the-head pass to Leslie for the layup, the final bill was rendered. That made it 85-57, and the lead eventually stretched to 31 before settling at 24.
Every American scored (only Staley, who had nine free throws, didn't make a basket), with Sheryl Swoopes (16 points and five assists), Ruth Bolton (15 points, five assists, five steals, five rebounds) and Katrina McClain (12 points, five rebounds) leading the way.
Equally important, though, was defense, and Coach Tara VanDerveer decided that the 6-0 Swoopes, rather than one of the guards, would draw 5-8 Brazilian superstar Hortencia. Swoopes responded by shutting her down (she finished with 11 points) and though Janeth Arcain (24 points), Marta De Sooza Sobral (19 points) and Alessandra Oliveira (10 points) hurt the U.S. inside, without Hortencia the Brazilian offense was never in synch. Maria Paula Silva (the self-styled "Magic Paula") had only seven points, though she did feed the Brazilian big people with 10 assists.
Still, the Americans outrebounded the Brazilians, and they also shot well from the free throw line, a weakness earlier in the Olympics. This game, in fact, was the best effort of all the 60, and it came before a 30,000-plus house at the Georgia Dome and a worldwide TV audience that had no other Olympic events to distract it.
And yes there was talk about how the win helped the women's game, and how the gold will aid the launch of two American professional leagues, but those are merely tiny ribbons on the gold medals that look as big as a sunrise to the women who worked for a year to win them.
The Brazilians had come to Atlanta to feast on gold, but like 59 teams before them, they didn't quite bring enough to the table. The Americans, though, drank deep of glory, and set a standard that may take 60 years to match.
As Teresa Edwards said after the game, we won't see this kind of team ever again. We do have the memories, though -- and they have the gold.
A look at the other final-round games.