A hat-trick queen has been crowned, along with other facts and tales from Olympic football thus far.

"When you see everyone collecting medals left and right, you say to yourself: 'Now, it's our turn'," said France head coach Thierry Henry after his team qualified for the Men's Olympic Football Tournament final for the second time in their history.

Henri Michel's squad won gold in the Los Angeles Games 40 years ago. Henry's team hopes to replicate this success on home grounds.

Spain stands in their way; they are one win away from winning the country's second gold medal in the Men's Olympic Football Tournament. This would be a huge feat, similar to their predecessors' success in Barcelona in 1992.

In the women's competition, the United States will look to win a record-extending fifth Women's Olympic Football Tournament gold medal when they face Brazil in Paris on Saturday. Emma Hayes' squad has won all of their games, but they have faced strong competition in the knockout rounds against Japan and Germany to keep their title dreams alive.

Brazil, which won silver medals in Athens and Beijing, will face the United States for the third time in a gold-medal match in the Women's Olympic Football Tournament. The Seleção advanced to the final of the quadrennial tournament by defeating European opponents in the semifinals, like they had done in 2004 and 2008.

Previously, it was difficult, with the South Americans reaching the knockout stage as the eighth and final qualifier after losing two of their three group-stage games.

With so much going on, it's easy for a historical remark, statistic, or interesting tale to be overlooked. Here are several from the summer tournament.

A Momentous Finale

While this will be the first time a European team has won gold in the men's event since Spain's victory in Barcelona in 1992, it also marks the end of Latin American domination, with Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico winning two apiece in the previous five editions of the competition.

Spain is the first European team to reach the gold medal match in consecutive tournaments, following Germany DR in 1976 and 1980.

Crystal Palace link.

Crystal Palace fans have every right to be happy as France travels to Paris, with both Jean-Philippe Mateta and Michael Olise performing admirably. Both finished last season on a high note and continued that momentum into the summer games. Olise drew interest from clubs around Europe and has recently joined Bayern Munich, parting up with Mateta after 61 games together in Eagles colours.

During their time together, they scored three goals, while for Les Bleus, they scored two goals in five matches: the quarter-final victory over Argentina and the semi-final tie against Egypt. If Spain is to win, blocking these two from creating scoring opportunities is critical.

Morocco made history by capturing its first medal in the Men's Olympic Football Tournament with a thrilling victory over Egypt. Following a 2-1 semifinal loss to Spain, Tarik Sektioui's team recovered impressively, winning the bronze medal with their best win of the tournament. Abde Ezzalzouli and Soufiane Rahimi scored for the Atlas Lions, who led 2-0 at halftime. Bilal El Khannouss added a third goal in the 51st minute, while Rahimi scored his second of the game and eighth in Paris 2024. In the 73rd minute, Akram Nakach increased Morocco's lead to 5-0, and three minutes later, Achraf Hakimi sealed the victory with a wonderful free kick.

Roi Rahimi

Barring a stunning finish, Rahimi should be the leading scorer in this men's competition. As previously said, he capped a great individual season by scoring twice in Nantes. In doing so, he increased his goal total for the Games to eight and became the first player in tournament history to score in six consecutive games. Furthermore, it is the joint third-most in a single Olympics, tied with Carlos Tevez's effort in 2004, with only Polish legend Kazimierz Deyna (9 in 1972) and German marksman Gottfried Fuchs (10 in 1912) scoring more.

Well worth the wait.

Morocco ended on a strong and emotional tone. However, it is fair to say that the Atlas Lions began their journey in Paris by making history. The North African nation astonished Argentina on July 24 by winning their first Olympic match in an incredible 7,280 days. Iraq's wait for a victory was only three days shorter, having defeated Australia in the quarterfinals 20 years before.

Age is just a number.

The men's competition is unique in that it is effectively a U23 event with three overage players permitted. But when it comes to age, Paraguay's Carlos Jara Saguier became the Games' oldest coach at 73 years and 266 days when he took charge of his team's match against Japan, surpassing Jean Rigal, who was 69 years and 264 days old when he guided France to Rome in 1960.

Leaving it late.

Paraguay scored twice in the third and sixth minutes of second-half stoppage time in an exciting match at Parc des Princes. Fabian Balbuena and Marcelo Fernandez scored key goals to assist their team win 4-2 over Israel. For the first time in 32 years, a side scored twice in added time during a group-stage encounter. The last time this happened was in 1992, when Egypt's Hady Khashaba scored two goals in short succession to secure a 4-3 victory over Colombia at the Barcelona games.

Remember the gap.

The greatest age difference between two goalscoring teammates in the same match was 12 years. In Paraguay's upset against Israel, 19-year-old Julio Enciso scored first, followed by Balbuena, who was exactly 12 years and five months his senior, in stoppage time.

Marta’s reprieve, a magical end?

Marta became the second Brazilian to reach 200 appearances for the Seleção during their 2-1 loss to Japan. Unfortunately, she was dismissed in her 201st match against Spain.

She had already indicated that she would retire from international football after the 2024 Olympics, having been named FIFA World Player of the Year six times.

After leaving the ground in tears following the regrettable but accurate call, one wondered whether that was the end of an amazing career. She had never won an international title, despite finishing second in the World Cup final (2007) and second in the Summer Olympics (2004, 2008). 

The South Americans placed third in their respective groups and had to wait to know if they would advance to the knockout stages. Other results went their way, but they faced a difficult battle against hosts France, who were missing their captain and had home advantage.

Gabi Portilho's late goal sealed the game and advanced this unassuming Brazil team to the last four. Regardless of what transpired next, they had extended Marta's sixth and final Olympic Games by assuring a third-place playoff. However, they refused to settle.

In the semi-final against incumbent world winners Spain, Arthur Elias' side was dominant, defeating the European favourites 4-2. Many had written Brazil off following a lackluster performance in the group rounds, but their willingness to send their famous No. 10 off with a gold medal match sparked an incredible run of success.

This group grew up watching Marta, idolizing her incredible career and relishing the opportunity to play with her. Reaching the final was their way of thanking the 38-year-old's amazing legacy throughout her 22 years on the national team.

"Honestly, in these games without Marta, we did it for her," stated midfielder Angelina.

"We want to give her a great send-off." It was my dream to play with Marta, and now it has come true.

"To do it in the final in the Olympics, it's just perfect." 

Curse persists.

Women's football has been represented at the Summer Olympics for the past 28 years, or eight cycles. However, the World Cup holders from the previous year have yet to complete the double and capture a gold medal, dating back to the first event at the 1996 Atlanta Games and continuing through seven editions.

Even the famous German team, the first to win back-to-back World Cups in 2003 and 2007, could only finish third in 2004 and 2008. Teams from the United States, which were declared world champions in 2015 and 2019, fared significantly worse, being eliminated in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

Champions of the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023, La Roja arrived in France as one of the favourites for gold, but a 4-2 defeat to Brazil in Marseille destroyed their hopes, and the curse of never having the two most prestigious awards at the same time persists.

Spain can still finish its maiden Olympic experience on a good note in the bronze medal match against Germany. That fact may have helped Jennifer Hermoso remain philosophical about the semifinal defeat.

"What constitutes failure? That's football at the end of the day. Some days you're on fire, while others nothing seems to go your way. We did not play well against Brazil. It was an opportunity to earn a medal, but now we have another final against Germany, and we need to give it our all."

Katoto-dépendance

As hosts, France sought to rise to the challenge in the women's competition. Hervé Renard, who is stepping down this summer, saw his team start with a nail-biting 3-2 triumph against Colombia before losing 2-1 to reigning winners Canada. But they recovered with a 2-1 victory over New Zealand, with Marie-Antoinette Katoto closing the group stage in fine form.

She scored five of France's six goals in the first round to lead the scoring statistics, accounting for 83.3% of the total. She joins Sun Wen of Sydney 2000 and Barbra Banda of Tokyo 2020 in scoring 80 percent or more of her team's goals, with three or more coming in this round of the competition. Katoto and his teammates were eliminated by Brazil in the first round of the knockout stage.

Game of the Competition

This game. 🤯

The comeback from 

@TheMatildas👏

#Paris2024

If there was one game you had to watch, this was it: no defense, just vibes, as the youngsters would say. Unsurprisingly, Australia's 6-5 triumph over Zambia set a number of new records. Perhaps most amazingly, Australia set a new record for the longest time a team had trailed a game before winning it, trailing from the 21st minute until the 78th minute, when Steph Catley tied the game at 5-5.

They broke Sweden's 43-minute record by coming back from a goal down to upset Nigeria in Athens in 2004. The match was also the second-highest-scoring game in tournament history, and the Matildas became the first team to come back from three goals behind to win.

Brilliant Banda.

Barbara Banda became the first player to achieve three hat tricks in the Games in a thrilling match against Australia. She already had the distinction for becoming the first player to score hat tricks in consecutive matches at Tokyo 2020, and her third treble propelled her even further into Olympic history.

However, she did not always win the game when she performed this exceptional accomplishment. Prior to the 6-5 loss to Australia, they had drawn 4-4 with China and lost 10-3 against the Netherlands.

To say Banda has carried her country is an understatement: she has scored ten of Zambia's twelve goals in six Olympic women's football games. Nevertheless, they have failed to secure a single victory.