Ayim, Carleton rebounding from disappointing Games

Miranda Ayim and Bridget Carleton are hoopsters headed in different directions. But both are using their Tokyo Olympic experience as a teaching tool as they journey forward.

Nobody expected it to end this way. Not the experts. Not the fans. And, especially, not the team.

But there they were, off the court, pacing their rooms in the Olympic Village, rooting for every Australian shot to clank off the rim, their Olympic destiny and hopes for a medal out of their hands.

It wasn’t meant to end this way. Not for the team ranked No. 4 in the world. Not for a team packed with a constellation of stars: Vets and rookies. Pros and amateurs. Standouts all. But there they were, sitting on the sidelines on the short end of a long cold streak. No, it wasn’t meant to end this way for Team Canada’s women’s basketball squad.

But it did.

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She had the weight of the country in her hands. Problem was, Miranda Ayim couldn’t exactly figure out how to carry it. 

Named Opening Ceremonies flag bearers a few weeks earlier, Ayim and men’s rugby sevens player Nathan Hirayama hadn’t exactly worked out the details on how to jointly carry the flag. In the concourse under the stadium, Ayim and Hirayama brainstormed a bit about how to make it work with four hands and one flag. Hand over hand over hand over hand. Side by side. “Those didn’t look super hot,” Ayim laughed.

For trivia buffs, Tokyo 2020 was the first time a duo from different sports carried the Canadian flag into the Opening Ceremonies. Most recently, figure skaters Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue led Canada into Pyeongchang 2018, while trampolinist Rosie MacLennan carried the flag solo at Rio 2016.

It was advice from three-time Olympic gold medal-winning rower Marnie McBean that finally set the pair straight. McBean shared the duties as Canada’s flag bearer with rowing partner Kathleen Joan Heddle at the 1996 Closing Ceremonies in Atlanta.

Ayim and Hirayama landed on simply taking turns. “We decided we’re going to walk in together, then he’ll take it first and do his thing, then I'll take it and I’ll do my thing, and then we'll finish together.”

Tokyo 2020 had a different vibe than previous Games, perhaps best illustrated by the fact that Tokyo 2020 was taking place in 2021. Within the Olympic Stadium, there were minimal attendees for the Opening Ceremonies, including much smaller contingents of athletes from participating countries. But that didn’t make the event any less special.

“It was maybe not the same energy, but it was still pretty exciting, pretty incredible,” Ayim said. “We still knew we were representing our entire country in those moments, so we were focused on doing the best we could for the people who couldn’t be there at that exact moment – all the people who were with us in Japan, all the people back home in Canada. This was an exciting moment.

“People love the Olympics for a reason. It represents the ideals of sport, of coming together, of community. After the last year and a half we’ve been going through, this moment was important to us and made it much more of an honour.”

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It was a bit of a mess almost from the start. Hard to see it any other way.

Sure, the coaches and players said all the right things afterward, even though they looked like they wanted to say a whole lot more. But you don’t come into the Olympics as the No. 4 team in the world, lots of hype, lots of talk of a medal, and then fail to exit pool play. Can’t happen. 

Team Canada was making its third consecutive Olympics appearance in Tokyo after competing at London 2012 and Rio 2016. They were predicted to best the highest Olympics placement of any Canadian women’s basketball team. (That would be fourth at Los Angeles in 1984.)

In Tokyo, the roster included six previous Olympians, with veterans Ayim, Natalie Achonwa, and Kim Gaucher making their third appearances, and three WNBA players, Achonwa, Kia Nurse, and former Forest City standout Bridget Carleton.

The team was stacked with talent. But it just didn’t work.

Admittedly, it had been an odd run. The team hadn’t played together since qualifying for the Olympics in February 2020. A lot of factors went into that: There was a pandemic. There were pro commitments. There was even a new mom on the squad.

The 2021 FIBA AmeriCup in June would have been a perfect warmup for a team with medal hopes, but that Team Canada roster was missing five key players from the eventual Olympic roster, including Carleton, Nurse and Achonwa, as well as team captain Kim Gaucher and Miah-Marie Langlois.

The team was only physically together for a few weeks before The Olympics at the Toronto Raptors’ temporary training facilities in Tampa, Fla. (COVID restrictions in Alberta prevented the team from centralizing at its usual home in Edmonton.) Soon afterward, the team traveled to Kariya City, Japan, the sister city of Mississauga, Ont., for the final pre-Olympic training camp. Then, the Games began.

That lack of cohesion played out in every game. You saw it in the clunky halfcourt offense and way, way too many turnovers. It also didn’t help that the team couldn’t hit the broad side of a 納屋 with its shots.

Bridget Carleton (6) and Miranda Ayim share the floor during a win over Korea at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this summer.

“Not playing together consistently leading up to The Games changes things up a little bit, but it’s something we have to deal with,” said Carleton, a guard/forward with the Minnesota Lynx. “That is our reality – and the United States deals with the same thing – when we choose to play in the WNBA. No excuses. But as many Zoom calls we had with the team over the course of the pandemic, it’s hard to translate that onto the court.”

This year’s pool play seemed simultaneously shorter and longer. The team had three games – when it would usually be four or five. Yet, despite fewer games, there was longer time between them, often two or three days. Great for recovery, sure. But difficult to establish a positive rhythm or get back out to avenge a loss while fresh in their hearts and minds. Plus, COVID-19 measures limiting athlete travel and interactions in Tokyo made those days seem like eons.

On July 26, Team Canada’s first game was a tough matchup against Serbia, the 2021 FIBA Eurobasket champions. The Canadians had their chances but dropped a very winnable opener 72-68 against the No. 8 team in the tourney. Canada forced 28 turnovers, but they couldn’t make shots from anywhere – 28% from the field, including an especially woeful 5-for-23 from three-point range.

“We didn’t start the tournament in the manner we should have, especially against a team of that calibre, a team who has been playing together for so long and who are so experienced,” Ayim said. “Although we made a comeback toward the end of the game, it wasn’t enough. You want start on a win; that eases the pressure of whatever else happens in the rest of the tournament.”

Three days later, a second-half surge pushed Canada past No. 19 Korea 74-53. Defensively, Canada stifled Korean shooters, who finished 5-for-26 from beyond the arc. Canada also had a huge rebounding edge, especially on the offensive glass where it dominated 22-9.

“This was definitely a completely different team,” Ayim said. “That's what's interesting about the Olympics. You’re playing all different styles of basketball. The casual observer doesn’t realize it’s quite a big adjustment to go back and forth between continental differences. But it’s the best part of the challenge.”

On Aug. 1, Canada was never in the game against No. 3 Spain and fell 76-66 in its final group stage game. This one was ugly.

“Spain plays with a confidence and swagger,” Carleton said, name-checking Alba Torrens, one of the best European players ever. “She’s just so good, so talented, so smart. She’s a vet and that means a lot in the Olympics. She is a great example of how far that can get you.

“It’s the Olympics – so we expected to play against the best at their best. We’re playing against teams that have been together all summer, which was definitely a challenge for us.”

After cutting Spain’s lead to 6 at halftime, Canada was undone by a sloppy start to the second half. Turnovers and missed shots led to a 16-4 Spain run that pushed the lead to 18. With a late run, Canada cut Spain’s lead again to 6, but never got closer.

“That team – just the thorn in our side,” Ayim said. “They have been for years and years. We really thought it was our time to beat them. But it just was not.”

*   *   *

Even the mourning process after the team’s final loss was odd. With a 1-2 record in pool play, they weren’t immediately out of it, and had to wait until the next day to see if they missed the knockout rounds on a point differential tiebreaker. (Australia needed to defeat Puerto Rico by 24 points or more, and they did just that, notching a 27-point victory.)

“That was pretty gnarly to experience. Waiting. I cleaned like our entire suite, rearranged the furniture. I had to have a productive outlet so not to be miserable in my room,” Ayim said. “It doesn’t feel great to have to depend on other people’s results for whether you go on or not. That was our fault. You shouldn’t let things fall into two other people’s hands; we should have just won the game.”

For the tourney, Ayim posted 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists, scoring a personal tournament high of 6 points in 3-for-7 shooting against Spain.

“We are all still in the state of absorbing, reflecting on what we could have done better,” she said. “I don’t have huge takeaways yet. It was a disappointment – a big disappointment. We came into the Games with big expectations, we wanted to medal. We were in a position where we thought we could go up against anyone – and then we let that drop. Disappointing is the word.”

Carleton was widely considered Canada’s most impressive player, especially in the final two games where the 24-year-old shined. She was perhaps at her best against Korea, where she posted 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists on 6-for-11 shooting in 32 minutes of play. Her 25 PER was a single-game high for the team in the tournament.

In the final game against Spain, she posted 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists in 4-for-9 shooting and 14 PER.

She also played a trademark stellar defense in both games.

“I get a lot of my energy from my defense. When I’m playing good defense, I feel more confident on the offensive end,” Carleton said. “That goes the other way for a lot of people – when they’re playing well on offense, they get more energy and they’re willing to defend. For me, defense is non-negotiable. It’s something I can control. It’s something that no one else can take from me if I decide I want to play great events that day – which I always decide to play great defense.

“Everything for me steps back to defense and just being locked in and engaged. It’s the mental aspect of the game. I try to be as focused and energized and engaged as possible. And when I’m in that mindset, in that state of mind, I usually have a good game. I try to get to that place before every game.”

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For Canada Basketball, you have to expect the fallout of these Olympics will need to be solved off the court. Hard to fault the players for fielding an Olympic team that didn’t play as a team in a year and a half. That’s not the most direct route to the podium.

For London’s hometown heroes, specifically, their post-Olympic lives are heading in opposing directions.

Carleton is back to the WNBA as one of the league’s brightest young stars. The league’s regular season wraps up at the end of September, with the playoffs immediately after. Carleton’s Minnesota Lynx clinched its 11th consecutive playoff berth last week. Following the playoffs, she’ll head to Israel to play professionally in Ligat ha'A, the Israeli Female Basketball Premier League.

Despite her busy professional schedule, however, she has eyes on Paris 2024, starting with the World Cup qualifying tournament in February 2022 in advance of the World Cup in September 2022. With a shortened Olympic qualifying window, things are going to start moving fast.

But before she starts thinking about the next Games, she hopes to take to heart the lessons of these ones.

“On the court, there’s so much value in being a multidimensional player. That’s what I’ve learned from these Olympics,” said the Chatham, Ont., native and London Ramblers alumna. “I want to continue to grow as a player, not just as a three-point shooter, not just as a good defender, but also being able to create for others. That’s what you see the best in the world doing for their teams and leading their countries. I want to be able to step into that role and be a leader for Team Canada going forward on and off the court.”

In March, Ayim announced she will be retiring from basketball following her appearance in the Tokyo Games. It was a decision that, the Chatham-born, London-raised Ayim admits, is now hitting home as she walked off the court for a final time.

“For me personally, this was not how I envisioned my career ending, so that was a tough pill to swallow,” she said. “You’re always thinking, ‘What could I have done better? What could we have done as a group that would have changed the outcome?’ But at the same time, the other teams really came up and performed. There were some brilliant games. There were some great performances.

“We didn’t have what it took this time around. There are lots of lessons to be to be learned, lots of tweaks to be made. My silver lining is that I always learn more in failure than in success. Hopefully, the program is able to absorb this and come back really strong for Paris 2024. Obviously, I won't be a part of that on the floor anymore, but I feel confident we have a depth of talent and culture. Hopefully, they can rebound.”

Personally, however, Ayim maintains a healthy perspective on the game she has committed her life to – and a contagious optimism about the future.

“The work I’ve done in mental performance, resiliency, and mindfulness puts a lot of things in perspective for me. I’m a highly motivated and competitive person. But it’s more important to me how I do things than what the final result is,” she said. “So, if I can be proud of the person I am when I’m in those situations, whether they fall for me or not, whether they go well or not, I can be OK. That’s how I’ve been continuing on with my life after this and looking to this next chapter. Even though there are some regrets and disappointments, you gotta keep moving.”