Watch: Team USA Women’s basketball team hit practice full throttle ahead of Olympics opener vs Japan 

The USA women's basketball stars put the pedal to the metal in training as they look to kick off their 2024 Paris Olympics campaign on Monday. In a bid to replicate their Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medal victory over Japan, A’Ja Wilson and Co worked up a sweat in training to get themselves match-ready.

Twelve of Cheryl Reeve’s women were being put through the first full-throttle training session at the state-of-the-art facility in Lile. Players switched between the teams that wore Team USA’s white and blue training tops, allowing Reeve to look at different combinations as all the squad members received some involvement.

One team featured Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Napheesa Collier. The opposing team consisted of Kelsey Plum, Kahleah Cooper, Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu and Alyssa Thomas.

The clip showed, Taurasi knocking down a three-pointer, followed by another three from A'ja Wilson and Napheesa Collier later on.

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Team USA Women’s Basketball aims to extend historic 55-game winning streak against out-of-sorts Japan

Going into the 2024 Paris Olympics as the bookies favorites, Team USA women’s basketball team square off against 2020 silver medallists Japan, who head into the quadrennial games in poor form.

The nine-time gold medal winners have not lost a Olympic game since 1992. Cheryl Reeve’s team will aim to continue this impressive stat on Monday.

The USA, illustrious for its basketball culture, rests its hopes on these 12 women. Particularly, veteran Taurasi aims to rewrite history with a record sixth gold medal, adding another piece of silverware to her collection.

As previously mentioned, it hasn't just been Japan's training that has let them down. Their last three friendlies have ended in defeat: a 75-65 loss to Belgium, a 75-62 loss to France, and a 92-62 defeat to New Zealand. These results have left the Akatsuki Five's preparation in ruins.

USA Olympic, meanwhile, suffered a 117-109 loss to a WNBA All-Star squad on July 20 but bounced back with an 83-57 rout of Germany on Tuesday in their final tune-up for Paris and go into the tournament as the red-hot favourites.

On paper, there's no denying that the USA are by far the strongest team in Group C and should find it relatively straightforward to top the group and progress to the knockouts.

The trio of Taurasi, Wilson, Collier have been their country's most impressive performers this season, while Japan have four representatives in Rui Machida, Himawari Akaho, Maki Takada and Yuki Miyazawa.