Canada Basketball announced the roster for the senior women’s Olympic team on Friday. Looking at the list, it’s really difficult not to get excited about their chances in Rio this summer.
The team of 12 is as follows:
| Position | First | Last | Height | Hometown | Team/Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Natalie | Achonwa | 6’3 | Guelph, ON | Indiana Fever (WNBA) |
| Forward | Miranda | Ayim | 6’3 | London, ON | Bsket Landes (France) |
| Guard | Nirra | Fields | 5’7 | Lachine, QC | UCLA/Phoenix Mercury (WNBA) |
| Guard | Kim | Gaucher | 6’1 | Mission, BC | Mondeville (France) |
| Guard | Miah-Marie | Langlois | 5’8 | Windsor, ON | Enisey Krasnoyarski (Russia) |
| Forward | Lizanne | Murphy | 6’1 | Beaconsfield, QC | Angers (France) |
| Guard | Kia | Nurse | 6’0 | Hamilton, ON | University of Connecticut (NCAA) |
| Forward | Katherine | Plouffe | 6’3 | Edmonton, AB | Nantes Reze (France) |
| Forward | Michelle | Plouffe | 6’3 | Edmonton, AB | Mondeville (France) |
| Forward | Nayo | Raincock-Ekunwe | 6’2 | Penticton, BC | Bendigo Spirit (Australia) |
| Forward | Tamara | Tatham | 6’1 | Brampton, ON | Dynamo-Guvd Novosibirsk (Russia) |
| Guard | Shona | Thorburn | 5’9 | Hamilton, ON | Nantes Reze (France) |
The roster was chosen from a group of 18 that attended their Phase 2 Camp in Edmonton and their Phase 3 camp in Toronto. It returns seven players from the 2012 Olympic team that reached the quarterfinals, plus five Olympic rookies, led by Kia Nurse. If the roster looks particularly familiar, it’s because it’s also the exact group of 12 that won gold at last summer’s Pan-Am Games and at the 2015 FIBA Americas, punching their ticket to Brazil. Led by coach Lisa Thomaidis, this group has a great deal of experience together by international standards, and that showed as they began tuning up this summer.
Over the last few weeks, Canada went 7-1 in exhibition play, and they’ll now head to the U.S. for three games as part of the USA Basketball showcase, one last practice run before the Olympics get underway Aug. 5.
Canada, who are ranked ninth in the world by FIBA as of October, are in a group with the U.S. (1), Spain (3), China (8), Serbia (14), and Senegal (24), and will need to finish in the top four to advance. Given the momentum of the program and the abundance of talent on the roster, you have to like their chances of doing so. Bookmakers, meanwhile, have Canada tied for sixth in odds to win the entire tournament, and while the U.S. is a heavy favorite for good reason, this Canadian squad is good enough to realistically have a medal in mind.
(Photo Courtesy: Canada Basketball)
