Strong UConn Presence On USA Olympic Women's Hoop Team

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — Five former members of the University of Connecticut women's basketball team were selected to the 2020 U.S. Olympic Women's Basketball Team.

The squad, announced Monday morning, includes Sue Bird, Tina Charles, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi.

Four-time Olympians Bird and Taurasi are to become the seventh and eighth basketball athletes to compete in five Olympics. The others are Teresa Edwards, USA, 1984 to 2000; Juan Carlos Navarro, Spain, 2000 to 2016; Adriana Moisés Pinto, Brazil, 2000 to 2016; Oscar Schmidt, Brazil, 1980 to 1986; Andrew Gaze, Australia, 1984 to 2000; and Teofilo Cruz, Puerto Rico, 1960 to 1976).

Charles will compete in her third Olympics while Stewart will appear in her second. Collier is on her first Olympics roster this year.

The XXXII Olympic Games women’s basketball competition will be held July 26 through Aug. 8 at the Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan. It was pushed a year out because of the coronavirus pandemic.

All 12 athletes took part in the 2019-20 USA Basketball National Team expanded training program, which featured US team post a 17-1 record, including a 5-1 mark against NCAA Division I teams in exhibition games and a 12-0 record against international teams in FIBA-sanctioned competitions.

The USA, which owns an all-time record of 66-3 in Olympic play, enters the Tokyo Olympics riding a 49-game winning streak in Olympic competition, which began with the 1992 bronze medal game and includes a record six-straight gold medals.

In 2016, the most recent Olympic Games, the U.S. took the gold medal, while Spain captured silver and Serbia won bronze.

Here is the USA roster:

• Ariel Atkins, G, Washington Mystics,/Texas 2018
• Sue Bird, G, Seattle Storm/UConn 2002
• Tina Charles, C, Washington Mystics/UConn 2010)
• Napheesa Collier, G/F, Minnesota Lynx,/UConn 2019
• Skylar Diggins-Smith, G, Phoenix Mercury/Notre Dame 2013
• Sylvia Fowles, C, Minnesota Lynx/LSU 2008
• Chelsea Gray, G, Las Vegas Aces/Duke 2014
• Brittney Griner, C, Phoenix Mercury/Baylor 2013
• Jewell Loyd, G, Seattle Storm/Notre Dame 2015
• Breanna Stewart, F, Seattle Storm/UConn 2016
• Diana Taurasi, G, Phoenix Mercury/UConn 2004
• A’ja Wilson, F, Las Vegas Aces/South Carolina 2018