Forward of the primary Olympic contest for Canada’s males’s basketball squad in over 20 years, the group determined to step away from the courtroom for a bit.
The nationwide group made a visit to a historic website on Thursday, the place Canada as soon as stood victorious in the course of the First World Struggle. Vimy Ridge was thought-about an essential commentary level and industrial area in Northern France — and the victory was seen by many as a defining second for Canada.
Profitable the Battle of Vimy Ridge earned Canadian troops a fame as formidable and resilient, because the small contingent completed what different, bigger allied forces couldn’t. It was a victory that got here at a heavy price, nonetheless, as greater than 10,000 Canadian troopers have been killed or wounded.
That sacrifice was clearly not misplaced on the Canadian males’s basketball group, as they made the quick journey from Lilles, France, to Vimy Ridge to pay their respects.
Canada Basketball shared a submit on X (previously Twitter), displaying Kelly Olynyk and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sharing a second of silence atop the tribute website. The group additionally introduced a Canadian flag with them and took a group photograph.
And in lower than 48 hours, the group will open its 2024 Olympic marketing campaign, hoping to medal for the primary time in almost a century. The boys’s group final medalled on the 1936 Olympics in Germany, when it took dwelling silver.
Regardless of that, and the very fact it’ll be the boys’s first Olympic look since 2000, expectations shall be excessive. After ending third within the FIBA World Cup simply final 12 months, and carrying an much more proficient roster now, the trail to a medal is seen.
Their pursuit of that objective will start on Saturday towards Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece as a part of Group A motion. Spain and Australia are the opposite two squads within the group.
