The No. 1 overall pick, Caitlin Clark was left off of the final roster for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, next month. This was the first time that Christie Sides, the coach of the Indiana Fever, and guard Caitlin Clark, spoke together on Sunday.
Sides revealed how her star felt about the news right away, but Clark remained composed as always. Sides said,
“She got the call on the bus and she texted me to let me know and I just tried to keep her spirits up,” “The thing she said was ‘hey coach, they woke a monster,’ which I thought was awesome.”
Tuesday is when the official roster will be revealed, but on Saturday night, just after midnight, word leaked out of Clark’s exclusion. A few hours later, the complete roster was revealed.
Caitlin Clark speaks about Team USA
The roster has future Hall of Famers, MVPs, and All-WNBA players, such as A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas, and Napheesa Collier, to mention a few.
One of the key reasons Clark said she felt “no disappointment” about not making the cut was the caliber of talent and experience on the team (none of the players are younger than 26). Clark said,
“I’m excited for the girls that are on the team,”
“I know it’s the most competitive team in the world and I know it could have gone either way of me being on the team, me not being on the team. I’m excited for them, gonna be rooting them on to win gold. I was a kid who grew up watching the Olympics, so it’ll be fun to watch them.
“I think it just gives you something to work for. It’s a dream, hopefully one day I can be there and I think it’s just a little more motivation. You remember that and hopefully in four years I can be there.”
Although Clark received an invitation to the most recent training camp in April, she was unable to attend because of the Final Four. This would have been her first time working with the senior national team. Nevertheless, she gave herself a genuine shot to join the team with her strong rookie campaign debut.
