In the fullness of time, the women who made Canada’s debut in Olympic 3x3 basketball will surely come to understand what they’ve done: the giant strides they have taken to put the sport on the map in this country, the accomplishments along the way.
Today, that five-year journey — creating something literally out of nothing — is covered in disappointment after failing to mount the Olympic medal podium.
A pair of Monday losses — 16-13 to the United States in the bronze-medal game and a buzzer-beater in the semifinals, 16-15 to eventual champion Germany — relegated Canada to a fourth-place finish in the sped-up version of the sport.
It’s a gutting result in the moment for the Canadians: Edmonton twin sisters Michelle and Katherine Plouffe, Humboldt, Sask. native Paige Crozon and Kacie Bosch of Lethbridge, Alta. The team, fully formed in just 2021 and a force on the global stage ever since, was ranked No. 1 entering the eight-team Olympics and the Plouffe sisters were the top two individually. All that’s missing is the medal.
“It really sucks, but very thankful. Super grateful for this experience, to have made it here with all the support from our family and friends and the country and people who’ve been with us along our journey from 2019 till now,” Katherine Plouffe said in a post-game interview with CBC.
“It’s been worth it. I would rather have my neck a little bit heavier right now, but the journey is worth it, and there’s so many serendipities along the way that I would never trade, so I’m still positive on what we did.”
Hall of Fame point guard was frustrated by an unheralded player to steal the moment the last
If there was one issue that plagued Canada throughout the tournament and Monday’s medal round, it was a penchant to foul too often.
In 3x3, a free throw counts as much as a one-point basket. After a team reaches seven fouls (known as the double bonus in the vernacular) opponents get two foul shots and keep possession.
In the 10-minute bronze-medal game, the Americans outscored Canada 5-0 at the free-throw line, a vast advantage.
Canada was 10-for-25 (40 per cent) overall from the field (3-for-14 from beyond the two-point arc). The U.S. was 11-for-24 overall and missed all seven two-point attempts.
“I think that’s a factor that we don’t always control,” Michelle Plouffe said in Paris. “Depends on which refs we have, and unfortunately some like to call more fouls on us and not on the other team, so that’s all I’ll say about that.”
Canada finishes the Olympics 5-5 after going 4-3 in the preliminary round, winning a play-in quarterfinal and dropping Monday’s two games.
The U.S. lost its first three before rattling off four wins in their pool, plus three in the playoffs.
That Canada bowed out of the Paris Games so meekly was a surprise on one hand but it continued a
Only Germany dominated by winning nine straight, capped with a 19-16 victory over Spain for the gold.
“We have called it the ultra-marathon of 3x3 tournaments,” Crozon told reporters in Paris. “To play 10 games in five days is just physically, mentally, emotionally so draining, but the most amazing tournament to play in.”
What they’ve done is establish a Canadian 3x3 program that didn’t exist before the Plouffes, who played in the Olympics for Canada in the traditional style of basketball before making their way to 3x3 in 2019.
An Olympic medal would have been a fitting end to the journey, but their legacy should touch generations to come and that’s not a bad consolation prize.
“That was our goal, which was to grow the game of 3x3 when we started, and we put a team together for Canada,” Michelle Plouffe told reporters. “Our vision was always bigger than just our team. And to have an actual program and to have the support of Canada basketball. and to have girls who are now interested in playing 3x3, it’s huge.”
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