Ogwumikes join Bird, Taurasi for Olympic cycle
NEW YORK — Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are back for another run at Olympic gold with the U.S. women’s basketball team.
Chiney and Nneka Ogwu- mike, sisters who played to- gether at Stanford, are looking for their first.
The Ogwumikes and fourtime Olympic gold medalists Bird and Taurasi were among the 29 players chosen Thursday for the national-team pool for the Olympic cycle that culminates at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Eleven members of the 2016 Olympic team that won a sixth consecutive gold medal for the Americans are in the group. The only player missing from that team is Tamika Catchings, who retired after the 2016 WNBA season.
“Our strength has always been our best players play over and over. Our veteran players want to play,” U.S. nationalteam director Carol Callan said. “They appreciate representing our country and being part of the USA Basketball culture. We’ve selected athletes that are a mix of young with the older players. We cover each position well.”
The U.S. already has qualified for next year’s FIBA World Cup, which will be held in Spain.
There are five college players in the pool: UConn’s Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson, South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson, Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell and Louisville’s Asia Durr. Most, if not all, of them won’t participate in a training camp that will be held in South Carolina, Feb. 9-11. U.S. national-team coach Dawn Staley, who coached South Carolina to a national championship in April, said that Wilson, if her class schedule permits, will be around for the training camp.
“If she doesn’t have class, I want her to sit front and center to see how the Olympians, two-, three-, four-time Olympians operate and approach things,” Staley said. “I want the entire team to witness what it’s like to see our country’s best athletes come together and practice and gear up to play.”
All 29 players in the pool have previous international experience. They’ve combined to win 100 gold, two silver and four bronze medals.
Callan said the pool is fluid and players can be added.