Women’s basketball team has luxury of time to prepare for Rio
TORONTO The Canadian women’s basketball team peaked at the perfect time this summer, using a gold-medal run at the Pan American Games in Toronto as a springboard for a dominant performance at the FIBA Americas women’s championship in Edmonton.
Now, with a berth at the 2016 Summer Olympics locked up well in advance, the trick is figuring out how to do it again next summer.
Canada won’t have the benefit of playing in backto-back tournaments on home soil so it will take careful planning to ensure the team is playing its best basketball heading into the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But unlike the 2012 Games in London, Canada has the luxury of time as it prepares for a podium run in Rio.
“Leading up to the Olympics we’ll be able to get some more games in direct preparation, so hopefully we’ll be able to get some games on home soil again before we head to Brazil,’’ head coach Lisa Thomaidis said on a conference call Monday. “It’s just a huge advantage to know this far out.’’
Canada qualified for Rio on Sunday with an 82-66 win over Cuba in the final of the FIBA Americas tournament. That gives the Canadians an advantage they didn’t have in 2012, when they needed to play in a late qualification tournament to nab one of the last spots at in London.
“The biggest thing is we can prepare for exactly when we need to peak,’’ Thomaidis said. “The last time we had maybe two weeks to prepare and turn around and get to the Olympics.’’
Qualification for Rio capped a successful summer for the Canadians that saw the emergence of guard Kia Nurse as a budding superstar. The 19-year-old Hamilton native had 20 points in Sunday’s win over Cuba and was named the most valuable player of the FIBA Americas tournament.
The University of Connecticut player was also dominant in Canada’s 81-73 win over the United States in the gold-medal match of the Pan Am Games in Toronto. Nurse had 33 points against the Americans and was named Canada’s flag-bearer for the closing ceremony.
“I didn’t think she could do more that what she did in that Pan Am final but it seems the bigger the game, the more she rises to the occasion,’’ Thomaidis said. “Her toughness and her will to win and fearlessness was showcased this past week.