France shocked many people when they defeated Team USA in the group stage at the Tokyo Olympics, but history did not repeat itself on Saturday. Team USA defeated France in the gold medal game despite their early struggles, and Rudy Gobert was clearly devastated.
Gobert sat with his head down for several moments after Team USA beat France 87-82. Evan Fournier went over to pick Gobert up, and the NBA Defensive Player of the Year appeared to be crying as he shook hands with Kevin Durant and others.
Rudy Gobert took France's loss to Team USA pretty tough… https://t.co/Ce3jy1zLHN
— Steve DelVecchio (@SteveDelSports) August 7, 2021
Gobert later congratulated Team USA on Twitter.
Congratulations to @usabasketball for winning the gold. You guys earned it. Words cannot describe how proud i am of my brothers and what we’ve accomplished as a group. We will be back stronger.
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) August 7, 2021
The silver medal for France was the team’s third overall at the Olympics. They have never won the gold, so you can understand why Gobert was emotional after coming so close. Of course, many fans took the opportunity to mock Gobert and bring up how he cried after his All-Star snub two years ago.
Team USA captured the gold despite falling to France earlier in the tournament and losing two exhibition games. Durant and Draymond Green were quick to call out their haters after the game.
