TMU basketball coach helps lead Team Canada at 2024 Olympics

Carly Clarke is packing her bags once again for the Olympic Games – but this time, the assistant coach of the Canadian women’s national team can more easily focus on the task at hand: helping Team Canada reach the podium.

The last time that Clarke– also head coach of the TMU Bold women’s basketball team– was Olympics-bound was for the 2020 Tokyo Games – when the COVID-19 pandemic and a dizzying array of health and safety protocols were the toughest challenge of all. 

“Priority number one is trying to win COVID,” Clarke told TorontoMet Today in advance of the Tokyo tournament (which was actually played in 2021).

At the Tokyo Olympics, players and coaches had to mask at all times (except when training), stay within the confines of their hotel and training centre, report for mandatory Covid-19 testing each morning, and had extremely limited training time together before the tournament began.

For Paris 2024, she says it’s a whole new ball game.

“I mean, we’re allowed to socialize and go for dinner,” she said, slightly chuckling at the novelty of the concept.

“This year, I think the chance to train together more, design the intensity of our schedule, be able to connect, and also rest and recover appropriately before the Games start, is probably the biggest difference that stands out right now,” she said.