Wait Continues for Canada Basketball
The wait to see Canada suit up for Olympic basketball will continue.
It's been 20 years since the Canadian men have stepped onto an Olympic basketball court. Back in 2000 the team was led by 27-year-old Steve Nash, Michael Meeks and RJ Barrett's father Rowan Barrett.
This year that streak was supposed to be snapped. The team had commitments from Utah's Jamal Murray, Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Memphis' Dillion Brooks. They just needed to win the qualifying tournament on home soil in Victoria to punch their tickets to Tokyo.
All that optimism will now have to be paused as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Tuesday that the Games would be postponed likely for one year.
This will be the first time the Olympics have been postponed in modern history. Previous Olympics were cancelled in 1916, 1940 and 1944 due to ongoing the world wars.
“It was the right thing to do,” Glen Grunwald, President and CEO of Canada Basketball, told TSN on Monday. “It’s a tough situation for everyone involved but we have to do what’s right for our community and our world. I think it showed good leadership on the part of the COC to take that initiative and step, and hopefully it will result in a safer world and an Olympics that can take place [at a later date], celebrating excellence and community and health.
The IOC's decision came after the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) decided it wouldn't send Canadian athletes to the games if the Games were not pushed back.
At the time, Grunwald said he supported the COC's decision.
"Our athletes are considered by many to be role models and to put them in an unfair position to ask them to continue training and preparing for the Games sends the wrong message to all Canadians," he said. "Basketball, and sport in general, has an ability to bring people together and when it is safe to do so, we will use the power of our game to help heal our communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast.”
Though it remains unclear what the future hold for Canadian basketball, Grunwald said he is hopeful the qualifying tournament will remain in Victoria when it is eventually played.
