She lead the Canadian women to a Gold Medal in basketball at the Pan American Games, so it’s only fitting that 19 year-old Kia Nurse carry the flag for the final closing ceremonies.
Nurse tallied 33 points in Canada’s 81-73 victory over the United States, which is the first basketball Gold Medal for Canada in any major International Games.
It was made official early Sunday morning for Nurse that saw her cap a coming-out party for the young guard on the squad.
She told the media “I’m super ecstatic, and I wish (my whole team) could be here, and wish all 12 of us would definitely attempt to hold the flag together, but I’m so pumped for this and really excited and fortunate to have the opportunity.”
The basketball team moved into the athletes village the day after the opening ceremonies, so players didn’t march. Only a few were still in town to march Sunday night.
Canada’s women’s team has been quietly on the rise, finishing fifth at last summer’s world championships. But outside of basketball circles, their performances had largely gone unnoticed — until Monday night’s thrilling gold-medal victory in front of a capacity crowd at Ryerson University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Nurse’s name was trending on Twitter in Toronto that night.
At Sunday morning’s news conference or “presser” she thanked Canadian fans who “stepped up to the plate.”
A couple of days following Canada’s victory she took the time to visit a basketball camp for young girls in Hamilton in hopes that this will inspire girls to pursue the sport.
“The girls were so excited to see the gold medal, and it’s just an opportunity for me to go down there and show them you know, you can do this too, it’s not impossible.
After the victory, Nurse credited her athletic family for her big-game poise.
Her brother is Edmonton Oilers prospect Darnell Nurse and her Father (Richard) was a wide receiver for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, while Mom (Kathy) played basketball for McMaster.
It should also be known that her uncle is NFL legend Donovan McNabb, so it’s apparent that sport runs in her Family.
The Canadian women went undefeated through the Pan Am Games tournament, recording wins over Venezuela, Argentina and Cuba, before defeating Brazil in the semi-final just prior to the Gold Medal performance.
“The last couple of days have been a little crazy, but it’s been so amazing to see the support that our basketball team has been getting, and we’re just hoping to keep pushing that through with our Olympic qualifier,” she said.
They now head to Edmonton, where they open the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament on Aug. 9.
Mary Spencer who is a Boxer carried Canada’s flag into the closing four years ago when the games were held in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Congrats to our Canadian Team!!!!
