Nick Nurse is all in for the Olympics. Will Canada’s NBA stars follow?

By OlympicTalkDec 4, 2020, 3:32 PM EST

Getty Images

Canada could have one of the strongest Olympic men’s basketball rosters — should it qualify for the Games for the first time since 2000 and should its NBA stars commit to playing.

Both are unknowns.

This week, Sportsnet published a video in which Canadian head coach Nick Nurse (also the Toronto Raptors coach) said a gold medal would be bigger than the NBA title, which his Raptors won in 2019.

Andrew Wiggins and Jamal Murray, two of Canada’s best players in the NBA, were less outspoken when asked this week about Olympic participation given a shorter-than-usual turnaround from the end of the NBA season.

“I don’t know,” said Wiggins, a small forward for the Golden State Warriors. “I’m going to cross that bridge when I get to it.”

Murray, a breakout performer as the Denver Nuggets point guard in last season’s playoffs, said, “We can talk about the Olympics, if they’re happening” after the 2021 playoffs.

But Murray might have to address it earlier than that, given a potential NBA Finals Game 7 will be the day before the Opening Ceremony (and Olympic men’s basketball games start two days after that).

Or he might not have to decide. Canada hasn’t qualified for the Olympics — yet. It hosts a last-chance qualifying tournament in British Columbia, from June 29-July 4, during the NBA playoffs.

Canada, likely without some of its NBA players and potentially without Nurse on the sideline, must beat a field that includes China, Greece, the Czech Republic and Turkey.

In the last Olympic cycle, Canada lost winner-goes-to-the-Olympics games to Venezuela and France. Wiggins led the team that was upset by Venezuela in 2015, then skipped the last-chance qualifying tournament in the Philippines that France won in 2016. Murray, drafted by the Nuggets in 2016, wasn’t on either team.

At Canada’s last Olympic appearance in 2000, Steve Nash led a scrappy team that nearly reached the medal round. Nash and center Todd MacCulloch were their only NBA players. Nash’s devotion was such that he was reportedly sobbing and had to be dragged off the floor after Canada lost in the quarterfinals to eventual silver medalist France.

In the two decades since, Canada developed a bevy of NBA players. A potential Canadian team in Tokyo includes Murray, Wiggins, guards RJ Barrett and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and veteran big man Tristan Thompson.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

At the French Open, a Ukrainian mom makes her comeback

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 10:42 AM EDT

Getty

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, once the world’s third-ranked tennis player, is into the French Open third round in her first major tournament since childbirth.

Svitolina, 28, swept 2022 French Open semifinalist Martina Trevisan of Italy, then beat Australian qualifier Storm Hunter 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the last 32 at Roland Garros. She next plays 56th-ranked Russian Anna Blinkova, who took out the top French player, fifth seed Caroline Garcia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 on her ninth match point.

Svitolina’s husband, French player Gael Monfils, finished his first-round five-set win after midnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. She watched that match on a computer before going to sleep ahead of her 11 a.m. start Wednesday.

“This morning, he told me, ‘I’m coming to your match, so make it worth it,'” she joked on Tennis Channel. “I was like, OK, no pressure.

“I don’t know what he’s doing here now. He should be resting.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Svitolina made at least one major quarterfinal every year from 2017 through 2021, including the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019. She married Monfils one week before the Tokyo Olympics, then won a singles bronze medal.

Svitolina played her last match before maternity leave on March 24, 2022, one month after Russia invaded her country. She gave birth to daughter Skai on Oct. 15.

Svitolina returned to competition in April. Last week, she won the tournament preceding the French Open, sweeping Blinkova to improve to 17-3 in her career in finals. She’s playing on a protected ranking of 27th after her year absence and, now, on a seven-match win streak.

“It was always in my head the plan to come back, but I didn’t put any pressure on myself, because obviously with the war going on, with the pregnancy, you never know how complicated it will go,” she said. “I’m as strong as I was before, maybe even stronger, because I feel that I can handle the work that I do off the court, and match by match I’m getting better. Also mentally, because mental can influence your physicality, as well.”

Svitolina said she’s motivated by goals to attain before she retires from the sport and to help Ukraine, such as donating her prize money from last week’s title in Strasbourg.

“These moments bring joy to people of Ukraine, to the kids as well, the kids who loved to play tennis before the war, and now maybe they don’t have the opportunity,” she said. “But these moments that can motivate them to look on the bright side and see these good moments and enjoy themselves as much as they can in this horrible situation.”

Svitolina was born in Odesa and has lived in Kharkiv, two cities that have been attacked by Russia.

“I talk a lot with my friends, with my family back in Ukraine, and it’s a horrible thing, but they are used to it now,” she said. “They are used to the alarms that are on. As soon as they hear something, they go to the bomb shelters. Sleepless nights. You know, it’s a terrible thing, but they tell me that now it’s a part of their life, which is very, very sad.”

Svitolina noted that she plays with a flag next to her name — unlike the Russians and Belarusians, who are allowed to play as neutral athletes.

“When I step on the court, I just try to think about the fighting spirit that all of us Ukrainians have and how Ukrainians are fighting for their values, for their freedom in Ukraine,” she said, “and me, I’m fighting here on my own front line.”

Svitolina said that she’s noticed “a lot of rubbish” concerning how tennis is reacting to the war.

“We have to focus on what the main point of what is going on,” she said. “Ukrainian people need help and need support. We are focusing on so many things like empty words, empty things that are not helping the situation, not helping anything.

“I want to invite everyone to focus on helping Ukrainians. That’s the main point of this, to help kids, to help women who lost their husbands because they are at the war, and they are fighting for Ukraine.

“You can donate. Couple of dollars might help and save lives. Or donate your time to something to help people.”

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

Marcell Jacobs still sidelined, misses another race with Fred Kerley

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 7:07 AM EDT

Getty

Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy will miss another scheduled clash with world 100m champion Fred Kerley, withdrawing from Friday’s Diamond League meet in Florence.

Jacobs, 28, has not recovered from the nerve pain that forced him out of last Sunday’s Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, according to Italy’s track and field federation.

In his absence, Kerley’s top competition will be fellow American Trayvon Bromell, the world bronze medalist, and Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, the world’s fastest man this year at 9.84 seconds. Kerley beat both of them in Rabat.

The Florence Diamond League airs live on Peacock on Friday from 2-4 p.m. ET.

Jacobs has withdrawn from six scheduled head-to-heads with Kerley dating to May 2022 due to a series of health issues since that surprise gold in Tokyo.

Kerley, primarily a 400m sprinter until the Tokyo Olympic year, became the world’s fastest man in Jacobs’ absence. He ran a personal best 9.76 seconds, the world’s best time of 2022, at last June’s USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. Then he led a U.S. sweep of the medals at July’s worlds.

Jacobs’ next scheduled race is a 100m at the Paris Diamond League on June 9. Kerley is not in that field, but world 200m champion Noah Lyles is.

The last time the reigning Olympic and world men’s 100m champions met in a 100m was the 2012 London Olympic final between Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. From 2013 to 2017, Bolt held both titles, then retired in 2017 while remaining reigning Olympic champion until Jacobs’ win in Tokyo, where Kerley took silver.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

More: Olympics

More: Olympics

More: Olympics