Bridget Carleton and her Team Canada team qualifies for Olympics

Thank you, Spain.

Chatham’s Bridget Carleton and her Team Canada teammates booked their trip to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, but it wasn’t easy.

Canada finished with a 1-2 record and needed Spain to defeat Hungary at the final game of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament held in Hungary on Sunday. Spain, which had already qualified for the Olympics before the final game, was down to Hungary by as many as 22 points in the game. Spain came roaring back to beat Hungary 73-72, which allowed Canada to advance.

Canada dropped an 86-82 decision to Japan in their final game at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Sunday. Their hopes for an Olympic berth were now on the Spain-Hungary game.

This will be Carleton’s second Olympic appearance, as the John McGregor grad also took part in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

This is Canada’s fourth consecutive time qualifying for the Olympics and it will be the first time since 2000 that both the women’s and men’s teams have qualified for the Olympics.

Despite a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double from Kayla Alexander, 19 points from Bridget Carleton and 17 points from Nirra Fields, Canada couldn’t slow Japan down the stretch in Sunday’s loss.

“Japan’s a really good team,” Carleton said on Basketball Canada’s website. “We had a tough group. We lost two tough games to two really good teams. We fought hard, we scored a lot of points, but Japan’s really good. They’re hard to guard, they’re quick, they shoot threes really well.”