Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Sheryl Miller was the name chosen instead of Sheryl Swoopes.
With the official release of the U.S. Olympic Basketball Team roster this week, the women’s basketball world has been receiving unprecedented attention recently.
All indications are that this won’t include Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark, who has taken the WNBA by storm this year, just as she did when another player entered the league 20 years ago.
Diana Taurasi knows all too well what it feels like to be the youngest player on a team surrounded by seasoned veterans. Shortly after graduating from the University of Connecticut, Taurasi was selected to the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, and she told USA TODAY Sports it was an overwhelming experience.
“I was by far the youngest guy on that team, and I had some really great veterans mentoring me and really giving me guidance,” Taurasi said of playing alongside some of the all-time greats in Athens, including Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Dawn Staley and Tina Thompson.
“They were the Mount Rushmore of basketball, and I was up close and personal with them, watching their every move. The way they prepared, how serious they took it. I had to take my cue.”
Taurasi won gold at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics and has earned an astonishing record by competing on the national Olympic team in five consecutive Olympic Games. When the 2024 Olympics begin in Paris next month, Taurasi will be aiming for sixth place.
Diana Taurasi on Caitlin Clark’s Olympic refusal
Meanwhile, while Clark may be disappointed not to have been selected for the U.S. national team, Taurasi said she thinks he’ll be OK in the long run.
“Basketball is all about evolving, it’s all about getting used to your environment,” Taurasi said, “College basketball is a lot different than the WNBA or international basketball. Each one is like a different dance that you have to master. Once you learn the steps and the rhythm and have the skills to be better than anyone else, everything else will fall into place.”
Taurasi said the attention women’s basketball is getting now shows that the hard work put in by so many people decades ago is paying off.
“It’s a culmination of a lot of the influence that’s come to this country over the last four or five years: social media, culture, women’s sport,” she says.
“Sometimes you need all of these elements in a perfect storm, and that’s what we have right now. And the timing couldn’t be better.”
