PARIS — It was never going to be a slam dunk for Team Canada, rather a beast of a tournament, and on that front it lived up to their expectations.
But Paige Crozon, Kacie Bosch and the Plouffe twins, Michelle and Katherine, envisioned leaving the Olympic 3×3 basketball competition with a medal, so the fact that they were standing there empty-handed at the end of the bronze-medal game against the U.S. on Monday broke their hearts.
They got into foul trouble and lost 16-13 to the Americans, just two hours after they got into foul trouble and lost the semifinal to Germany.
They were fourth, the cruellest of Olympic finishes.
“Obviously we didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but like we’ve always said, even in the wins and the losses before this, it doesn’t make the journey any less important or less special than it was,” said Michelle. “The whole point, I think, was the journey, and I’m very proud of our team … It obviously sucks to go out this way, but it’s been such a blessing and I’m so grateful for the last five years, really.”
The Plouffes and Crozon started the team in 2019 and soon showed they were good enough to win consistently, a fact that eventually warranted the attention and then funding from Canada Basketball. Bosch joined up in 2021 and they have been winners ever since on the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series tour.
But they came into the Olympics ranked fifth and finished fourth. Not the dream.
“It really sucks. Yeah, it really sucks,” said Katherine. “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, you know, people who’ve been with us along our journey from 2019 till now. It’s been worth it. You know, 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 like what we did. Definitely.”
They finished the tournament at 5-5, having started with wins over Australia and China, then close losses to the playoff-bound teams; Spain, Germany and the U.S. (with a win over France in between), bounced back with wins over Azerbaijan and then Australia in the play-in game, but couldn’t get it going in the playoffs. Ups and downs, that’s the 10-minute, high-octane game in a nutshell.
“You know, so bittersweet because we were expecting a medal of ourselves. So to leave empty-handed as far as medals is concerned is very tough,” said Bosch. “Are we satisfied? No, I don’t know anybody in the world of sports who would be satisfied with a fourth-place finish. But yeah, we’re going to learn from it.”
This exposure might give the game some momentum in Canada, and that too was always on their minds. The Plouffes might hang around, they might decide to do something else. Regardless, at some point this team has to hand it off to the next ones who may or may not already be in the pipeline. Canada Basketball has a next generation program, but it is young. A medal would have shone a brighter spotlight on the game and bolstered that program, but that’s the way it goes.
“It was never just about us, it was always about leaving something, leaving a legacy behind,” said Michelle, “and I think we’ve made a big leap forward in doing that. I don’t know what the future holds exactly, but I think always when it’s bigger than us, we’re thinking of future generations and we’re thinking of who’s coming up behind and who can stand on our shoulders. And I think that’s what leaving a legacy means, is to think of a generation before and a generation behind, and what you can make a way for.”
They are friends and sisters, all of them, and if this is the one and only trip to the Olympics, so be it. They had a great ride. They won together, lost together, hung out in the village and baked baguettes together. And then they finished fourth. C’est la vie. They were pumped to start and so tired at the end and their game showed it. They took fouls and made errant passes that rarely surface in their game.
“Everyone is tired,” said Katherine. “Day seven, oh my gosh, 10 games in seven days is a beast of a tournament. And we’ve said that from the beginning that this is a beast of a tournament and yeah, fatigue was there. Other things played a role and we could have done some things better, but you know, it’s in the past now and the Olympics are done. So moving on.”
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