Diana Taurasi's role has changed, but Olympic gold still goal - ESPN

Time has changed Diana Taurasi.

Three years ago, when she was preparing for her fifth Olympics, the Phoenix Mercury guard didn't want to look back at her international career.

Eyes forward, stay in the moment, focus on another gold medal. That was the priority.

Taurasi is taking a new approach, on and off the court, this time around. The Paris Games will be her final Olympics, and Taurasi — who has said over the years that she'll look back when she's retired — has started to reflect a bit.

«There's so much that goes into this, and sometimes you think it's just all on you, but you have to have all the right ingredients and the people around you,» Taurasi told ESPN last week. «And I've just been lucky in that sense.»

Taurasi's inner fire won't let her spend too much time taking in the sights and sounds of France over the next couple weeks. She is adamant there's just one way she'll enjoy her final and record-sixth Olympics.

«Win a gold medal,» she said. «That's the only way I know how to handle basketball. I'm not distracted by anything. It's the only thing I think about. It's the only thing I prepare for, and that's my only mindset.»

With five Olympic gold medals already in hand, Taurasi knows better than anyone — except retired WNBA legend Sue Bird, who also has five golds — what it takes to outlast the rest of the world on the Olympic stage. At 42, Taurasi will do whatever is asked of her by national team coach Cheryl Reeve to make a sixth gold — and the team's eighth consecutive overall — happen.

«There's no substitute for that level of experience,» Reeve said. «She's done it all in big games, won us big games, makes big shots… her understanding of her teammates, how to put them in position to be successful. All those