ATHENS, Greece - The U.S. women could have lost their gold-medal game, just as the men were stopped in the semifinals. The reason they didn’t was the trio of players who sat down together after the medal ceremony to talk about their third straight Olympic title.

There were the three "old ladies" of the team, 34-year-old point guard Dawn Staley, 32-year-old center Lisa Leslie and 33-year-old forward Sheryl Swoopes. Against Australia, as against Russia in the semifinals and Spain earlier in the tournament, when the game got tight, their experience on the biggest of international stages is what pulled their team through.

They were like the Fab Five on the Olympic Soccer Team, the old-timers who couldn’t be panicked, the veterans who showed the younger players the way.

And if you want to know the biggest reason the U.S. men lost and the women won, this trio is it.

"The difference between us and the guys," said Staley, "is that we have experienced Olympic basketball players on the team. They don’t have any."

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The average age of the men’s team is 23.6 years, and their two established veterans are Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson. Stephon Marbury is the other veteran. Everyone else is barely wet behind the ears.

"It’s not always about having those veterans who will score a lot of points," said Swoopes. "If the men had those veterans when things weren’t going as they should go, they could have gotten the guys together."

"Being with some very young guys, there was nobody Tim Duncan could turn to and say, ‘All right, guys, let’s get it going’," added Leslie.

With the men, Olympic basketball is pretty much one and done. Players who have been there usually don’t choose to come back. But, as the women showed, those are the players who win games, because they know how to win.

Against Australia, the moment came in the third quarter, when the Aussies, who had been behind most of the game, pulled ahead behind the play of WNBA star Lauren Jackson. Their lead was never more than four points, but it was a lead, and the women in the tight, green body suits were playing well.

That’s when the veterans grabbed their teammates and straightened things out. Leslie was huge offensively. Swoopes, who did not have a good statistical tournament, could still play defense and direct traffic. And Staley, playing in her last Olympics, had the court vision and presence to find the open man.

The statistical hero for the Americans was Tina Thompson, a WNBA veteran who was overshadowed in college by Leslie and in the pros by her teammate, Swoopes. Not known as an offensive player, Australia, which had Jackson playing her, switched Jackson to Leslie. Staley saw the switch before the coaches did, and started feeding Thompson for the shots that buried Oz.

By the last minute, the game was over, with only the final score of 74-63 to be settled. With 17 seconds left, coach Van Chancellor pulled his starters out and put in three players –Suzanne Bird, Ruth Riley, and Swin Cash - who had spent the entire game on the bench. The veterans came off and hugged. The three subs, who had played little during the entire tournament, had a taste of being on the court when the clock expired. Afterwards, they hugged Chancellor and thanked him for picking them for the team.

Those three will be back, and Leslie will be back. Swoopes, too, may return. And in between are a lot of players who now have the experience of the greatest stage in their sport.

Unlike the men, there is no question all will return. The Olympics and standing on the top step of the medal stand is why these women play the game.

"When we get together for USA Basketball, it’s a selfless environment, an innocence," said Staley. "It’s basketball the way it should be played.

"We come back because it’s great basketball. It takes you back to your childhood days when you played just for pride."

And the ultimate source of pride, she said, is playing–and winning–for her country.

Added Swoopes, in explaining the biggest difference between the triumphant women and the disappointing men: "the good news about USA Basketball is we picked the best players, and the best players wanted to play."