Canada Basketball CEO wants sport to produce next 'national moment' at Paris Olympics

Canada Basketball president and CEO Michael Bartlett has lofty expectations.

"Without being so bold as to promise it, as a team sport going into the next Summer Olympics and definitely into 2028, Canada Basketball could be in a position to be bringing home four amazing stories with four amazing medals," Bartlett told CBC Sports.

That would include podium appearances by men's and women's teams in traditional five-on-five basketball, plus two more in 3x3.

Only the women's five-on-five team qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, failing to even reach the knockout round.

But Bartlett's confidence isn't far-fetched. The women's five-on-five team remains ranked fourth worldwide, while the men may boast the best on-paper roster outside of the U.S.

In 3x3, the women are coming off a silver medal at the World Cup and a victory at the World Series stop in Edmonton. The men are ranked 24th.

"I'd love the next 'Where were you when' moment to be a basketball moment, a national basketball moment," Bartlett said. "You've got the 2010 Olympics [Sidney Crosby's golden goal], you've got the '72 Summit Series [Paul Henderson's game-winning goal against the Soviets]. You've got Mike Weir's Masters win, you've got [Bianca] Andreescu's [US Open]. I've got to add basketball to that list."

That moment, realistically, remains two years away, attainable at Paris 2024.

The largest remaining event on the 2022 calendar is the women's World Cup, which begins in late September in Australia.

Some members of the national team gathered recently for a training camp in New York, where they also participated in a pair of scrimmages against the third-ranked Australians.

The young Canadian squad lost both games. Still, it was an additional opportunity to get more