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LYON, France -- Nobody enters a tournament hoping to come third. But for Germany and Spain, competing in that infamous match at the 2024 women's Olympic soccer tournament does have something big on the line: the chance to win a bronze medal.
In the seven Olympics tournaments to feature a women's football competition since 1996, only four nations (the United States, Norway, Germany, and Canada) have ever won gold -- though Brazil have an opportunity to add their name to the list when they face the USWNT on Saturday. Looked at another way, a chance to get on the podium to claim a prestigious medal at the second most important women's football competition behind the World Cup doesn't come around too often.
"I think probably my greatest-ever sporting achievement is the London 2012 bronze," Rhian Wilkinson, a two-time bronze-medal winner with Canada, told ESPN. "I never even dreamed of winning a medal; it was such an impossibility. Becoming an Olympian was absolutely my dream but there was no way that Canada could ever win a medal and then standing there holding it and being like, 'how is this my life?' There's no other sporting event -- and I've had a few -- that has come close to that moment with my sisters stood around me."
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Similarly, Canada's Ashley Lawrence told ESPN ahead of the Games that it was watching the 2012 event at home that gave her something to aim for. "Witnessing that tournament was life-changing for myself," she said. "It opened my eyes; it allowed me to really dream and see true examples of players, Canadian players, competing at the highest level. That tournament sparked a fire in me."
The 2024 event on Friday saw Germany beat favourites (and world champions) Spain to the bronze, as Giulia Gwinn's 64th minute spot-kick gave them the lead before Ann-Katrin Berger saved a stoppage-time penalty from Alexia Putellas to seal a 1-0 win. And for some the fans who had made the trip to Lyon, it felt as important as any of the biggest games in the world.
"I would say not quite as important as the World Cup, but on the other hand, it is tougher to qualify," says Germany fan and blogger Annika. "I think it depends on whether you look at the purely sporting merit of it or take marketing and audience reach into it as well."
The type of soccer fans who attend an Olympic game are certainly different to those at a World Cup -- some are purely there for the football while others partake in the Games as a whole. For Americans Joe and Roberta, the passion is about following U.S. senior teams in all sports -- they will head north to Paris for the women's water polo bronze-medal match on Saturday instead of watching Emma Hayes' side take on Brazil -- but still wanted to get a taste of the soccer action.
"We're trying to support women's athletics as well as men's," Roberta says. "Traditionally, men's athletics have been in the spotlight so we're trying to support the women; it's always about where you put your money, so if you're willing to spend to come to another country (and these tickets were not cheap) and if you're willing to devote your resources, it's your form of support."
Germany's fans celebrate with a banner that hailed them as bronze medal winners. Marcus Brandt/picture alliance via Getty Images
Having been in Russia for the men's World Cup in 2018, and already planning to attend the tournament held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico in 2026, the couple disagreed about the importance of the women's Olympic tournament.
"This is great, don't get me wrong," Joe says. "But the World Cup in Russia when we went... we saw Uruguay vs. France, that was a quarterfinal and it was fun... so I'm hoping that this has the same vibe." However, his wife was already buzzing about the prospect of watching Spain vs. Germany. "For me personally, it has the same vibe," she says. "I'm the same level of excited; it's the same level of anticipation."
Elvin, who is in Lyon with his family, was another who was appreciative of the Games' "sport buffet" feel the Games provides, saying: "I think the Olympics are more fun, in a way, because it's a part of so many different competitions. And even though the World Cup is a bigger soccer event, this is more of a bigger festival."
Leon and Sebby, two young Arsenal fans who were kicking a ball about on the concourse ahead of the game, agreed that the women's Olympic tournament is "quite important... more than the men's." And while there was disappointment that England failed to get out of their Nations League group thus ending any chance of to have a chance of representing Team GB in France, they certainly understood the attraction of winning a medal of any colour.
"It's quite a big game, because it's winning a medal for your country," Leon said, before Sebby interjected with more purpose: "It's the Olympics, so you've got to have gold, silver and bronze."
Longtime women's football devotee Natalia said she was "happy to be away from the crowds in Paris" and was glad for how far from the capital the football tournaments played out venues fell. Attendances for the women's matches away from Paris have been substandard, with some strong support seen on the men's side even if the U23 tournament is seen as a far lesser achievement, but though there is a sense that the women's event has had a natural detachment from the Olympics as a whole because of the locations right across France: from Paris in the north, to Nantes and Lyon on the west, or Marseille and Nice in the south.
Yet some fans are willing to cross an ocean. A Canadian family of four (Denise Gray, husband Tony and children Evan and Lucy) made the long trip across the Atlantic just for the bronze-medal match.
"We love the Olympics, we're big fans of sport and we bought tickets to the game and planned our whole trip to France around it," Denise says.
"I personally like it [the bronze-medal game], it's another game to play and playing for silverware, right?" Tony adds. "Someone gets to play for a medal, it's always hard to get up for it because you lost the semifinal. On the other hand, winning bronze is it better than losing to get the silver..."
The Spain players felt the agony of defeat as they missed out on a medal after being favourites to win gold. Arnaud FINISTRE / AFP
As the game grows, and the yearly calendar begins to bulge, questions will continue to swirl around the role the Olympic women's tournament has and if it should be changed to an under-23 tournament (with three overage players allowed), following the men's. While the Olympics are not a FIFA-sanctioned event, for Thomas, who is from Milton Keynes, parity is key.
"Whatever they do, it should be the same for men and women now," he says. "So introduce age-limit rules for the women the same as the men, or, let the men's be open to their first-choice teams too like the women."
Many see tournaments like the European Championships -- which do not have a "losers match" -- as the way forward, but the players treat the women's Olympic tournament as something in its own right, something that -- because of the histories of the women's and men's games -- holds a place in the higher echelons of the game. The third-place match will never be taken away because of the way the Olympics works in every event, but the respect it receives in the women's game could be transferred to other tournaments.
A rarefied group can claim to call themselves Olympians; fewer still take home a medal. This was Germany's fourth bronze -- they won gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games but didn't qualify for Tokyo three years ago -- and it still has huge importance for every player who gets to step on the podium.
"It is a really nice feeling. I don't know what just happened in 90 minutes. I have absolutely no idea. I just know we won the bronze medal, and that's the most important bit," Germany's matchwinner Berger said after the game. "The belief from the coach [Horst Hrubesch] that every single person can actually do the job, I think that's why we won the bronze."
Source: espn.co.uk