Like many Americans, WNBA superstar Breanna Stewart was watching the 2026 Milan Cortina Games from home, hoping that every time she turned on to watch athletes compete in any sport, a member of Team USA was on the podium at the end.
Team USA accumulated a record 12 gold medals in the Winter Olympics, and as a three-time winner herself in women’s basketball during the Summer Games, Stewart couldn’t help but think about what’s in store two years from now in Los Angeles.
“I’ve been talking about LA28 a little more these days. I think it’s going to be crazy,” Stewart told Fox News Digital while discussing her partnership with Throne Sport Coffee as the first female athlete to join the brand.
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Whether it was 20-year-old Alysa Liu smiling after a fantastic gold-medal figuring skating performance, or the men’s and women’s hockey teams both defeating Canada in overtime to secure victory in Milan, Stewart knew exactly how they felt with that medal around their neck and watching as the American flag rose to the rafters.
It’s a feeling Stewart still gets “goosebumps” thinking about.
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“When you’re on the podium, you see the flag raise, and the national anthem is going with the gold medal around your neck, it’s really just satisfaction and justification of why you’re doing it and why you’ve gone through those hard moments and times,” she explained. “To me, the Olympics is the highest of the high. You’re playing your sport at the highest level against everyone else in the world, and you see that. It’s just a goosebump feeling no matter how many times you do it. Just the pride and knowing you’re representing something bigger than yourself always comes through full circle.”
While American pride is on display, many back home were also learning more about sports they rarely get to watch leading up to the Games. Stewart felt the same way.
“I think there were so many events I really learned a lot about, whether it was bobsledding, or curling, or watching hockey,” she said. “Just wanting to cheer on the USA in whatever event they were doing, and see the pride and passion the athletes were having whenever they stepped up to compete with their sport.
“The Olympics are special every time I get to do them, and I know that it’s the same for all of those athletes. I thought it was a really cool moment for everybody and, I mean, women’s hockey what an incredible ending. Men’s hockey, the same thing. Listen, I would never want to get my teeth knocked out by a hockey stick, I can tell you that much.”
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Stewart is, of course, talking about the hit Jack Hughes took from an errant stick by Canada, which chipped his front teeth. But he was the men’s hockey hero, scoring the overtime goal and donning the American flag around his back, bloody mouth and all, as he smiled in celebration on the rink in Milan.
Megan Keller was also a hero for the U.S., putting a nifty deke on a Canadian defender and back-handing a shot into the net to send the American bench into a frenzy after her overtime goal sealed gold just days before the men accomplished the same feat.
Two years down the road, Stewart is hoping to earn her fourth Olympic gold medal, and even more so considering this will be her first time staying at home in the States to compete against the best in the world.
“Even just fast-forwarding to two years from now, the fact we’re finally going to be in our home country, I feel like, especially speaking from the women’s national basketball team, we’re always playing against other people in their host countries, and we’re always being root against,” she said. “To have that home crowd behind us is going to be something people haven’t felt in a long, long time and I’m excited to say I’ll be feeling that, too.”
HEALTHY BOOST WITH THRONE SPORT COFFEE
Between her hard work on the court as a WNBA superstar, and her duties as a mother at home, Stewart needs some caffeine throughout the day to keep her going.
But Stewart isn’t just drinking any coffee to get her fix — she’s partnered with a brand that is perfect for the pro athlete she is.
Stewart has joined Throne SPORT COFFEE, becoming the first female athlete to partner with the brand that prides itself on being much more than just a coffee provider.
It just seems really natural and fitting for me,” she told FOX Business in an exclusive interview about the partnership. “I think that being an athlete, being a mom, there’s so many reasons why we constantly need caffeine. But to have it in a healthy way, and also have the protein in it — every time I walk in the gym, I’m having one. I’m letting everyone know that not only am I drinking coffee, but I’m getting some positive protein benefit as well.”
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