Canada's Olympic pursuit in women's 3x3 basketball gets boost with hiring of coach Kim Gaucher

Canada's 3x3 women's basketball team was nearly perfect last season.

They ran through the entire regular season without losing a tournament in which their top four players — Katherine and Michelle Plouffe, Paige Crozon and Kacie Bosch — were in attendance, culminating in a championship.

But the year began with the slightest of disappointment, as the team earned silver at their first-ever World Cup. Players later noted how much larger champion France's travelling party was compared to two staffers on the road with Team Canada. Pressingly, Canada did not have a head coach.

On Monday, Canada Basketball announced a move it hopes kills two birds with one stone: long-time national team player and three-time Olympian Kim Gaucher was hired as head coach.

Gaucher told CBC Sports she hopes to help add that extra "0.1 per cent" to take the team over the top, beginning with the World Cup in Austria, which starts next Tuesday with live coverage available across CBC Sports platforms.

"They've stated it. We want it. We plan to leave Vienna with the gold medal. And then obviously, that sets you up for Olympic qualifiers. This team wants to be in Paris with the medal around their necks in 2024," she said.

WATCH | Canada falls to France in 2022 World Cup final:

Despite the 2022 success, Canada moved no closer to clinching its first-ever Olympic berth in the sport, which debuted at Tokyo 2020 with a rule limiting most countries to either a men's or women's team. In Canada, the women's team didn't even get to play in a qualifying tournament.

Gaucher said a spot in Paris in 2024 would help grow the discipline.

The simplest way to reach the Olympics would be for Canada to finish the season in the top three of FIBA's rankings — however, a