Wrapping up the Canadian Senior Women's Basketball Performance in Tokyo/Looking Ahead to Paris 2024
Reflecting on the Olympic appearance for Team Canada and a brief look ahead to Paris 2024 Olympics.
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The Canadian Senior National Women’s Basketball Team had huge aspirations coming into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The team told the media that it was going to be a “medal or bust” for these Olympic Games. Canada had qualified for the Olympics for the third straight time and as the fourth-ranked team in the FIBA World Rankings they were looking to better their seventh-place finish overall in Rio five years ago.
The team held higher expectations for themselves, but the Canadians faltered in these Olympics. They took a step backward. In their opening game against Serbia, they missed many free throws and shot poorly from the three-point line. In a game that was lost by just four points, Canada could’ve used those 8 missed free throws to make the difference and win. In their second game against the Republic of Korea, they bounced back. They shot the ball better, the defense was better and they won by double digits.
In their third and final game of group play, Canada faced a team ranked just ahead of them in Spain. When the draw was announced, this was anticipated to be the toughest game for Canada in their group. Spain has many talented players such as Alba Torrens and Astou Ndour-Fall, just to name a few. Spain had total control of this game in the first and third quarters. Despite Canada fighting back in the second and fourth quarters, Canada could not close the gap and Spain held on to win by ten points.
Canada fell to the wildcard spot and had to wait to see if they could make it into the quarterfinals, but Australia won convincingly against Puerto Rico to advance and it was enough to knock Canada out of the quarterfinals.
If Canada had just won against Serbia, it would’ve been enough to advance to the quarterfinals because as previously mentioned, they also beat Korea. A 2-1 record would’ve put them directly into the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, it ended up being a disappointing ending for the team and they headed home earlier than expected.
Canada now looks ahead to the Olympic Games in Paris. The games will take place in three years, in the year 2024. Team Canada’s roster will most likely have some new faces added to the roster and some veterans will be dropped. Most notably, long-time veterans will not be on the team such as Miranda Ayim and Kim Gaucher. Ayim has already said she will retire from professional basketball. Gaucher, who is 37, has not yet said publicly anything about her decision, but it is very unlikely that she will be on the team in three years.
Some of the youngest players on this year’s Olympic team will have significantly more experience at the highest levels of the game and be expected to step into the void left by the departing veterans. Laeticia Amihere of the South Carolina Gamecocks will be 23 years old in 2024. Aaliyah Edwards of the Connecticut Huskies is another prime example. She will be 22 years old in 2024.
Although Canada had such a disappointing end in the Tokyo Olympic Games, they have plenty of time before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games start to improve their chances to become an outside medal contender. The FIBA World Cup, held in Australia next year, will be a prime opportunity to bounce back and see how they perform against the top countries in the world.
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.