Canadian Olympic Women’s Basketball Preview 2024

The fact that Canada barely squeaked into the 2024 Olympic Games in women’s basketball was an understatement. Canada did not perform all that well in the Olympic Women’s Qualifying Basketball Tournament in Sopron, Hungary.

The Canadians finished the tournament with a record of one win and two losses. They beat Hungary 67-55, and lost 60-55 to Spain, and 86-82 to Japan.

Yes, Canada finished among the top three teams in the four team tournament which was required, but they qualified because of a miraculous comeback by Spain against Hungary to get into the Olympic Games. Needing Spain to beat Hungary, it did not look good for the majority of the game. Hungary had a 54-33 lead against a Spanish squad that had already qualified for Paris. But Spain delivered a comeback for the ages as they outscored Hungary 40-18 over the last six minutes and 48 seconds to win 73-72.

Canada is in a pool at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris with host France (July 29 at 9:15 am MT), Australia (August 1 at 5:30 am MT), and Nigeria (August 4 at 5:30 am MT). In order for Canada to make the quarterfinals, they need to be among the top two teams in their pool, or have one of the top two third place records. Group A has Serbia, Spain, China, and Puerto Rico. Group C has Germany, United States, Japan, and Belgium.

At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, Canada was unable to make the quarterfinals. Despite clobbering South Korea 74-53, Canada lost their other two games, 72-68 to Serbia, and 76-66 to Spain. You would have thought that Canada’s +/- of +7, was good enough, but you would have been wrong. France and Australia both had identical records of one win and two losses, but both countries had a +10 points for and against differential.

Canada’s notable star at the last Olympic Games was small forward Bridget Carleton of Chatham, Ontario, who plays for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA. She led Canada with 18 points in the rout over South Korea. Then at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Canada once again got 18 points from Carleton in the key win over Hungary.

There are three other players on Team Canada who are currently in the WNBA. They are guard Kia Nurse of Hamilton, Ontario (Los Angeles Sparks), forward Laeticia Amihere of Mississauga, Ontario (Atlanta Dream), and forward Aaliyah Edwards of Kingston, Ontario (Washington Mystics).

Meanwhile, there are three other Canadian players with WNBA experience. They are center Kayla Alexander of Milton, Ontario, who played seven seasons with the San Antonio Stars, Indiana Fever, Chicago Sky and Lynx from 2013 to 2020, (currently playing in Spain), power forward Natalie Achonwa of Toronto, Ontario, who played nine seasons in the WNBA from 2015 to 2023, with the Fever and Lynx, and Nirra Fields of Vancouver, British Columbia, who played the 2016 season with the Phoenix Mercury, and is presently playing professionally in Turkey.

Canada has never won an Olympic medal in women’s basketball. Their best result was a fourth place finish at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.