Hailey Van Lith survives under pressure to win 'emotional' basketball bronze medal

Hailey Van Lith silenced her critics by delivering a bronze medal to the United States just days after being blamed for their poor form in the women's 3x3 basketball competition at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris as she emotionally released the pressure.

Team USA lost their opening three games and stared down the barrel of a shock early exit, only to fight back with five straight wins before losing to Spain in the semifinals to earn another medal to add to the USA's tally.

It meant a lot to Van Lith, aged 22, after the TCU Horned Frogs star from the NCAA found herself to blame for the poor form by fans as they alleged she was out of her depth and holding he team back.

"Winning a medal for your country just makes you super proud," Van Lith said, per NBC 5 DFW. "Even after the game, I got super emotional. There just aren't enough words. You just feel so proud.

"You're just so thankful for your family and friends and everyone who cheered and ed you. If they will have me again at the next [Olympics], I'll be back."

USA happy with bronze

Despite the United States being the world leader in basketball, with the NBA and WNBA being the best leagues for both men and women, the girls accepted that a bronze would be a successful result considering the start.

And they got their wish as Team USA claimed bronze with a 16-13 victory over their North American neighbors, Canada, during which Van Lith posted six points whilst took the gold by one point in a 17-16 victory over Spain.

"We talked about it a little bit as a team: Going home with bronze is better than going home with nothing," Rhyne Howard said. "Which we could have done after the rough start that we had.

"We could have just laid down and not even been competing this far, but we stayed together, we stayed the course and we made something happen from very little."