Diana Taurasi Wins Her Fifth Olympic Gold

Vegan basketball star Diana Taurasi has won her fifth Olympic gold medal. The USA beat hosts Japan 90-75 in the final at the Saitama Super Arena today (Sunday, August 8), their seventh Olympic women's basketball title in a row.

Taurasi ran the offense from the start, finishing with a team-high eight assists, according to the official box score. Brittney Griner did the damage inside with 30 points, a new scoring record for an Olympic final, and Breanna Stewart added 14 points and 14 rebounds. Taurasi and her long-time team-mate Sue Bird both now have five golds.

At 39, Taurasi is already the WNBA's all-time leading scorer, and she was not in a hurry to say goodbye. Asked if this was her last Games, she simply said "I love Paris." She also told FIBA what wearing the shirt means to her:

There is nothing like playing in the Olympics. I have been part of college and the WNBA, but when you put that USA on your chest, you are playing for everyone in the country.

Taurasi and her partner moved to a plant-based diet for health reasons in 2015, and she has said cutting out inflammatory foods helped her keep going at the top level well into her thirties. As she put it: "I have been vegan for about three years now and I think it is something I have really benefitted from." She eats plenty of lentils, beans and kale, and once said veganism "opens a whole new world into different foods you never thought were possible".

It's been a good week for plant-based Americans in Tokyo. Kaylin Whitney won 4x400m relay gold yesterday, Alex Morgan won bronze in the football, and JaVale McGee won gold with the men's basketball team.

Five golds, powered by plants.