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The Team USA selection committee is working hard this summer in selecting the 12-man roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
All eyes are on Fever rookie Caitlin Clark, the No. 1 overall pick in Indiana in last month's WNBA Draft and the only college athlete invited to Team USA's 14-player training camp in April.
Clark missed the final camp before the summer games because he played in the Final Four at Iowa, but fell short to South Carolina in the national championship game.
Clark, NCAA Division I's all-time leading scorer, is perhaps the best shooter in college basketball history and will definitely help Team USA offensively.
However, her rookie status may give some people a bad impression.
Clark, 22, has yet to participate in a senior team camp, and his last camp before summer games took place in Cleveland last month, which The Athletic noted was “Pay your dues to Team USA.” 'It's against the system. .
It is reported that the Olympic women's basketball team will be announced in June.
Clark has yet to play a regular season game in the WNBA and has been the subject of notable disdain in previous years, including Candice Parker in 2016 and Nneka Ogwumike in 2021, before joining Team USA. There is also a possibility that the addition of the group could be seen as a polarizing move.
Other big names, such as Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu and Phoenix's Karlea Copper, have yet to make Team USA's initial roster.
The selection committee, consisting of Dawn Staley, Seimone Augustus, Delysha Milton-Jones, Jennifer Rizzotti, and WNBA League Operations Director Bethany Donafin, was selected for many reasons, including Clark's celebrity status. Regardless of the decision, it will likely raise some eyebrows.
Fourteen players, including Clark, were invited to the final roster announcement training camp in Cleveland last month, and nine of them are past Olympians: Diana Taurasi, Ariel Atkins, Chelsea Gray and Britney. Greiner, Jewel Lloyd, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart, Aja Wilson, Jackie Young.
Shakira Austin, Ryne Howard, Aaliyah Boston and Ionescu attended the camp.
Clark said in an interview with “Today” last month that representing the United States “means everything” to her.
“That's one of my dreams as a kid. When you grow up, you want to be an Olympic gold medalist,” she said. “I have been fortunate enough to play on several junior national teams in the basketball system, so I know how special it is to represent America. Doing it at the highest level Hopefully, it will be a dream come true.”
Clark will be in the spotlight going into Paris as she played a key role in the dominance of college basketball and the NCAA women's tournament.
Her star power drew sold-out crowds throughout Iowa State's season and generated $82.5 million in benefits for the state's economy, according to a report by the Common Sense Institute.
USA Basketball is vying for its eighth straight Olympic title and 10th overall gold medal at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, just 11 weeks away.
He said he will continue to evaluate the depth of the U.S. women's national team from 2021-24 before deciding on the team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In the 2024 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Antwerp, Belgium in February, Team USA won 3-0.
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