Team captain Kelly Olynyk helped Canada win bronze at the FIBA World Cup.
Kelly Olynyk of Kamloops, B.C., helped Canada to its first medal at the FIBA Basketball World Cup on Sunday.This summer, the Kamloops, B.C., native and his Canadian teammates enjoyed stops in Iceland, Germany, Spain, Abu Dhabi, Indonesia and the Philippines, where they won bronze at the FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup and earned a berth in the 2024 Olympic Games.
"Just to get back on the world stage, not only for ourselves but as an inspiration for all the future generations ... it means a lot," Olynyk said.With berth to 2024 Olympics, Canada erases decades of men's basketball miseryWatching the game back in Kamloops were Olynyk's father, Ken, a longtime basketball coach, and mother, Arlene. The bronze-medal game in Manila tipped off well after 1 a.m. PT, and they were up in the wee hours of the morning to watch it live.
Olynyk finished the game with 11 points and nearly won it for Canada on the final play of regulation with a 30-footer that hit the back iron as time expired."If that shot was an inch or two shorter, it was in because it came off the back rim and directly back towards him, which meant it was exactly on line and would have been in the basket," Ken said.Olynyk wasn't in the starting lineup for the bronze-medal game after starting every other game in the tournament.