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Australian Opals hoping to turn gold Four years ago in Atlanta, the United States women’s team were spurred onto a basketball goal medal by an adoring home crowd. This time however, it is the Australians who want the Super Dome in Sydney to be the venue for a Opals coronation and in the most open Olympic competition for years, the host nation may just possess the firepower to deliver. Unlike the male equivalent, there is a genuine possibility that the medals may not be presented to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner. Only one loss in two years of preparatory fixtures has given the USA team an aura of invincibility but with eleven of its dozen-strong squad coming off a tiring WNBA campaign, a chink of hope has opened up for their Sydney competitors. “The women's landscape in international basketball us much more even than the men's game,” relates US coach Nell Fortner. “I think that most of the general public doesn't understand that when we go to   Australia, it is their home court and they have worked very hard to put themselves in contention for a gold medal. When you're playing on your home court, there's a definite advantage to it.” Australian guard Michelle Timms could make herself one of the home heroes in Sydney if she can realise her country’s golden dream. Having avoided both the Americans, Russia and European queens Poland in the qualifying pool, her side look strong contenders to improve upon their bronze of 1996. “I think we'll win a gold medal -- I don't think anyone should go into the Olympics without high expectations, but I think we really believe it this year.  I think our greatest strength is that we have players right across the board who can contribute offensively -- we have a number of go-to players  whereas in previous years, I don't think we had that consistency offensively.”

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