Diana Taurasi to represent Team USA in Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Feb 4, 2024, 3:50 PM
Diana Taurasi #12 of the US National Team looks to shoot close to Karoline Striplin #11 of the Tennessee Lady Vols during an exhibition game at Thompson-Boling Arena on November 05, 2023 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
(Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
The USA Basketball Women’s National Team announced its roster for the 2024 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Sunday. Five-time Olympic champion Diana Taurasi will represent the Phoenix Mercury.
The team will compete at the 2024 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament from Feb. 8-11 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Taurasi is one of seven Olympians on the qualifying roster, while Aliyah Boston and Rhyne Howard will make their USA Basketball senior debuts in Belgium.
Taurasi and teammate Brittney Griner participated at the USA Basketball Women’s National Team minicamp this weekend at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, but Griner did not make the final roster.
The rest of the final roster includes Ariel Atkins, Napheesa Collier, Kahleah Copper, Sabrina Ionescu, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas and Jackie Young.
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The U.S. women will attempt to win an eighth consecutive gold medal at the Paris Olympics this summer. USA Basketball will continue to assess its pool of players before naming its final Olympic roster. College players, like Caitlin Clark, could still be named to the final Olympic team.
This will be the first Olympics for the U.S. without Sue Bird, with Taurasi the only remaining player from the 2012 Olympic team. Stewart is the second-most experienced player on the qualifying roster, having won gold medals at the last two Olympics.
Coach Cheryl Reeves will lead the U.S. at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Although the U.S. already qualified for the Olympics with a gold medal at the 2022 World Cup, the U.S. will participate in the four-nation pool in Antwerp and will play Belgium on Feb. 8, Nigeria on Feb. 9 and Senegal on Feb. 11.
Three more Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will take place in Brazil, China and Hungary, which will also each feature four teams. The top three teams at each tournament will qualify for the Olympics, in addition to the U.S., and France who are already qualified as Olympic hosts.
After the qualifying tournament, the U.S. team will have another training camp in April at the Final Four in Cleveland.
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