Canadian Women’s basketball team prepared for Olympic breakthrough

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A lot of the attention from Canadian sports fans this Olympics will be on the men’s basketball team; after all, that team is competing at an Olympics for the first time since 2000. However, there’s another group of Canuck hoopers just as deserving — if not more so — of home country support. Unlike the men, who only recently have grown into a world power, Canada’s women have been knocking at the door of the best of the best for some time. They finished fourth at the most recent FIBA World Cup and enter the 16-team field in Paris ranked fifth in the world.

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The women’s soccer team brought everyone together in winning gold at the last Olympics and their friends on the hoops side are eager to finally get on the podium after nearly falling short of even qualifying for France. Canada (missing veteran leader Kia Nurse and young stars Aaliyah Edwards and Cassandre Prosper) squeezed in despite going 1-2 at the qualifying tournament because Spain beat Hungary by one point, allowing Canada to claim the third and final berth from that tournament.

“We know we were honestly like two seconds away from not making the Olympics,” veteran Nirra Fields recently told reporters at training camp in Toronto. “So going in with that mindset, knowing we are grateful to be here and almost didn’t make it, to have that chip on our shoulders going in, I think that’s going to be the mindset and to really take advantage of the moment.”

They’ve come close to playing for a medal in the past, and Canada Basketball chief executive officer Michael Bartlett is hoping the time is now for a breakthrough.

“We enter every camp and competition now expecting to compete for podiums,” Bartlett told Postmedia. “I’ve said openly, both publicly and to our organization: being in is not the win. You know what’s better than being in? Winning. And the way that the women’s team talks and also the way that their trajectory is, they anticipate an opportunity to compete well enough to compete for a medal. And that’s not putting pressure on them,” he added. “That’s what these athletes get out of bed for.”

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Bartlett believes “Canada’s sleeping on (the team) a little bit. And they shouldn’t, because maybe we’ve taken it for granted that they just always seem to be in the mix,” he said. “I think the women’s program this summer in Paris has a real opportunity to galvanize the country and for the country to fall in love with these athletes, because they’re super humans, and they’ve been showing up for decades.”

Nurse and Edwards are joined on the roster by two other active WNBA players (Bridget Carleton and Laeticia Amihere) and three others who have played in the league, including team co-captain and Canada’s first four-time Olympian in women’s basketball Natalie Achonwa.

There’s also a mixture of other proven veterans and the up-and-comers like Prosper and the superstar-in-waiting Syla Swords, an incoming five-star Michigan freshman, who at 18 becomes the youngest person to ever play Olympic basketball for Canada.

“We’ve got talent coming out of the wazoo in Canada,” Nurse said on a conference call before an April WNBA exhibition game in Edmonton. “And it’s no longer just players that are going to the NCAA and playing those roles where they kind of come off the bench (and) they play 10 or 15 minutes, you’ve got stars. We’re talking about stars at (the) March Madness tournament, and they’re Canadians and it’s so exciting to kind of have that and it’s only — from what I’ve seen in our little young program — it’s only going to get bigger and it’s only going to be more of them.”

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This group was put together by Denise Dignard, Canada Basketball’s longtime director of women’s high performance. It will be helmed by Victor Lapena who, like men’s head coach Jordi Fernandez, is a Spaniard. Lapena took over from longtime head coach Lisa Thomaidis in January 2022 and was recently signed through 2026, when Seattle Storm head coach Noelle Quinn was added as his lead assistant coach. Steve Baur and Carly Clarke are the other assistants.

“A great complement of expertise,” Bartlett said of the staff, creating what he called a “perfect balance … where we’ve got the best of all worlds that are now contributing to a team.”

But will that be enough? The mighty Americans have struck gold at seven straight Olympic Games and could be waiting in the quarterfinals if things don’t break right for Canada. Before that, Group B is stacked with Australia, France and Nigeria standing in Canada’s way (the top two teams in each group advance, along with the two best third place teams). Australia has been on the podium four times since 2000. Host France, Canada’s first opponent, has finished second, fourth and third since 2012.

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Still, Canada believes. Nurse is now fully recovered from the ACL injury that cost her the 2022 WNBA season and the qualifying tournament in Hungary. Carleton has come into her own, shooting 43.5% on three-point attempts for second best in the WNBA among players who have attempted at least 80 three-point shots. Edwards, of Kingston, is 14th (tied with Caitlin Clark) in blocks per game and 18th in rebounds in her rookie season. The other young players are developing rapidly and the veterans are as solid as ever.

They’ve also played a bunch of tune-up games against quality competition, which served the men well at last year’s World Cup.

“If it comes down to team versus team, and one team beats us, then fine,” Bartlett said. “But it’s not going to be because we weren’t prepared.”

WHEN: The women’s basketball tournament tips on July 27 and the gold medal game will be held on Aug. 11.

WHERE: Lille, followed by Paris.

OPPONENTS: Canada will take on host France on July 29, Australia on Aug. 1 and Nigeria on Aug. 4.

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(Top two teams in Group B advance to quarterfinals, along with top two in Group A and Group C, plus the two best third-place finishers).

CANADA’S WORLD RANKING: 5 (United States, China, Australia, Spain, Canada).

NOTABLE: After failing to qualify for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, Canada finished eighth in 2012 in England, seventh in 2016 in Brazil and ninth in Tokyo. The World Cup finish was its highest finish since third in 1986. Canada also won World Cup bronze in 1979.

The United States has won gold at the Olympics seven straight since winning bronze in 1992 and has a 72-3 record since women’s basketball was added to the Olympics for the Montreal Games. Australia finished second in 2000, 2004 and 2008 and third in 2012, while France finished second in 2012, fourth in 2016 and third in 2020. The USA has also won six of the last seven women’s World Cups.

ROSTER: 

• Natalie Achonwa (Guelph, Ont.)
• Kayla Alexander (Milton, Ont.)
• Laeticia Amihere (Mississauga, Ont.) #
• Bridget Carleton (Chatham, Ont.) #
• Shay Colley (Brampton, Ont.)
• Aaliyah Edwards (Kingston, Ont.) #
• Yvonne Ejim (Calgary, Alta.) ^
• Nirra Fields (Montreal, Que.)
• Sami Hill (Toronto, Ont.) ^
• Kia Nurse (Hamilton, Ont.) #
• Cassandre Prosper (Montreal, Que.) ^
• Syla Swords (Sudbury, Ont.) ^

# = Current WNBA player

^ = Making Olympic debut

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