TORONTO, ON — Two UConn women’s basketball alumnae will be traveling to Paris this summer to represent Team Canada at the 2024 Olympic Games, according to a release from Canada Basketball and the Canadian Olympic Committee on Tuesday.
Kia Nurse, UConn Class of 2018, and Aaliyah Edwards, UConn Class of 2024, were named to the 12-person roster that will represent Canada at the Olympic games.
Nurse, 28, is making her third Olympic appearance, the release said. She represented Canada at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Nurse currently plays for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association. At UConn, Nurse won two national championships and appeared in four Final Fours.
Edwards, who turns 22 on July 9, will make her second Olympic appearance later this month. Following her career at UConn, Edwards was drafted by the Washington Mystics in April. As a Husky, the All-American appeared in three Final Fours.
Canada Basketball is appearing in its fourth consecutive Olympic Games after qualifying by finishing third in one of four FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments this past February. According to the release, Paris 2024 will be Team Canada’s eighth overall appearance in the Olympic women’s basketball tournament since it debuted in 1976 in Montreal.
The release said it will be the first time in 24 years, since the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, that Canada’s women’s and men’s basketball teams will compete together at the Olympics. Canada’s best Olympic finish in women’s basketball was fourth place at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
The women’s basketball tournament at the Olympic Games will take place from July 27 to Aug. 11 over the course of 16 days. The preliminary phase will be played at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, the release said. The final phase will shift to Paris at Bercy Arena.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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