Canadian women’s basketball team has sights set on medal

Natalie Achonwa has worn a wide smile since touching down in Toronto on Thursday night.

The 22-year-old forward for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever said there’s a transformation that happens when she suits up for Canada, a sentiment echoed by her Olympic teammates on Friday.

“Everyone was laughing at me (Thursday) because I was tearing up seeing everybody, and the fact I was so excited to practise,” Achonwa said. “You get chills, it doesn’t matter how many games you’ve played in, it doesn’t matter how many FIBA Americas you’ve been to. The passion. . . it’s something deep.

“I was trying to think of how to put into words what this environment with Canada Basketball feels like, and you literally can’t. It’s something you just embody. The pride and passion that this group plays with, and they live in, is something that can’t be replicated. And it’s contagious.”

Canada Basketball unveiled its 12-woman Olympic roster for Rio on Friday, a team that has built on the momentum that began with its quarter-final appearance at the 2012 Games in London, and continued with last summer’s thrilling and historic gold at the Pan American Games.

The roster remains identical to the Pan Am squad. Achonwa joins six returning Olympics from London - Lizanne Murphy, Kim Gaucher, Shona Thorburn, Tamara Tatham, Michelle Plouffe and Miranda Ayim. Kia Nurse, Miah-Marie Langlois, Nirra Fields, Katherine Plouffe and Neyo Raincock-Akunwe are the team’s first-time Olympians.

Gaucher, the team’s 32-yearold team captain from Mission, B.C., said it’s an athlete’s “hugest honour” to play for Canada.

“I get chills that run down my spine every time I hear our national anthem played before a game, and you have your hands around 11 of your greatest friends ” Gaucher said.

Four years after the London Olympics, where Canada clinched literally the last women’s basketball berth, just a month before the opening ceremonies, Canada’s goal this time around is significantly more lofty.

“Oh, we want a medal,” Achonwa said. “I’ve proudly said that to anyone who’s asked me. We want a medal. In 2012, we were happy and excited to be there. But with the time and prep we’ve put in the past four years, we have a goal to win a medal, and a goal to wear our jersey with pride, no matter where we are or what we’re doing.”

The team carries itself with a quiet confidence that Achonwa said has developed over the past few years, instilled by the veterans such as Gaucher and Murphy, and injected with some youthful “edge” from the likes of Nurse and herself.

“It’s more of an edge now. We’ve always had that getdown-and-dirty, fight-no-matter-what idea,” Achonwa said. “But now we have the confidence to go with it. We can see that the work that we put in brings results, and I believe that’s where our confidence comes from.”

Their strength, according to head coach Lisa Thomaidis, is both in their chemistry and depth.

“Any time you can have more time, more experience playing together, that’s going to generate better chemistry and cohesion,” Thomaidis said. “Every one of our players is a better individual player from last year, which then again makes our team that much better.”