Fast, loose and unchallenged

The Dream team wears make-up for the cameras. They braid their hair. They laugh a lot. After their official interviews are over, they laze around anyway, happy to talk, sprawled along the floor or draped across their chair - they turn furniture into fashion accessories. They are lithe, radiant, loving the whole deal.

"Man . . ., I am a long way from Astoria in New York right now and that's what my grandma always reminds me, she's like, this is how far you have come and now you have the opportunity to go out and win a gold medal for the US and just embrace it, you deserve it and you know you might never get this feeling again so just enjoy it," gushes Chamique Holdsclaw, the youngest member of the USA women's team.

It's the American women who are the real hoop stars of this Olympic tournament. The fast evolving history of the women's game is perfectly represented by this unique bunch of athletes.

Theresa Edwards, who, at 36, retires after these games is seeking her fifth Olympic medal. Lisa Leslie, a two-time USA athlete of the year hit a total of 156 points during the Atlanta games, a record. Sheryl Swoopes (could any ball player have a cooler name?), another veteran from the '96 Olympics was one of the pioneers of the WNBA four years ago.

Dawn Staley plays point guard for the Charlotte Sting club and spends her spare time running a youth foundation in her own name. Holdsclaw has just graduated to the WNBA after three seasons as the nation's star colleges player. This team has medals, honours and personality to burn. And, oh, do they torch them.

"This experience has been great and it's time to start playing now, so I just can't wait. Can't wait. Give it up! Give it up! Whoooh," shouts Yolanda Griffith.

But it is the men, of course, that draw the global spotlight. 'Zo Mourning, Allan Houston, and Gary "the glove" Payton glide in to meet the glare of a thousand camera crews and hardly bat an eyelid.

For privacy, they have spurned the Olympic facilities, running instead in a shack of a gym up in Penrith. Any other arrangement would, of course, lead to crowd chaos. These are the games true world stars.

Point guard Jason Kidd is a pin-up everywhere from Scandinavia to Asia. Vince Carter is the post-Jordan poster boy. Garnett leaped from high school to a multimillion dollar contract in Minnesota. Ray Allen was the star of Spike Lee's He got Game. These players inhabit a different universe.

But there is a slight chink in their collective armour. NBA rings. Between them, this team has nary a one. Could be that this Olympic team dream only about someday lifting an NBA championship.

"All the guys here would love to win an NBA championship," admitted Payton. "But I think that this is a substitute for it. I think that winning a gold medal would be something we'd have for the rest of our lives and for our kids - when they grow up and it's show'n'tell in school, they can always say that their fathers went to the Olympics and won a gold medal." (You can just hear Shaquille O' Neal falling around the place with laughter.)

In Barcelona and Atlanta, the hoop stars had enough NBA medals between them to hand around like candy. There was a true dream element to them. Because of that distinct lack of gaudy jewellery, this current team is uncomfortable with the whole dream tag. So what kind of team is this?

"That's a good question," mused Jason Kidd. "I think we are out here as the dream team, but this team is a lot younger than those of the past so maybe if you put `young' before dream team, well that could be our label."

And perhaps because of this relative dearth in finger-moulded gold bullion, this bunch is incredibly earnest about assuring the world about the esteem in which they hold the games.

"First of all, I'd like to thank the Lord for this opportunity, it's truly a blessing bein' here," said Houston, adopting his best choir boy face.

"Well, first off I'd like to thank god for givin' us this opportunity," echoed 'Zo. "Second of all, I'd like to thank the Lord for blessin' me with an opportunity to play here and get back home and witness the birth of my daughter. I'll miss about two games unfortunately, but I do trust that my teammates will be able to hold down the fort until I get back."

Hallelujah! The, em, "young dream team" decided to participate in the opening ceremony, donning camcorders and big smiles as they strolled through the Olympic stadium with the rest of the world's athletes. It is about the only time we will see them mingling. With the women, it's different.

"It's great, me and Ruthie (Bolton-Holfield) were hanging out yesterday and had a chance to go to the Olympic village. We got to eat there and when we went into the cafeteria there were just so many people from every nation in the world. You got to see that this thing is just so big. . . . And afterwards, all the others were like: `You guys did that?'," says Holdsclaw. Protocol decrees that if the dream team live away from the village, so should the women's team. "No, we aren't staying in the village," laughed Lisa Leslie. "I guess because the men's team have such a high profile, they gotta have protection a little bit. And we women have to be treated equally . . . so we are all staying in a hotels."

Not that they'll sit in flicking the remote.

In 1996, the women's team took gold in a final match which brought their winning streak to 60 games unbeaten. This time, the juices are flowing at the thought of a hot rivalry against the host team.

It's all about building the profile of the women's game, chasing down the men's celebrity. "Hey, they had 50 years to get their game where it is," says Theresa Edwards.

Think these girls will need half a century? Dream on.