Kacie Bosch and Taylor Crozon are among multiple athletes with ties to the University of Lethbridge who are competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics. (Photo: University of Lethbridge Pronghorns)

By Christian Oldale

Multiple current, former Pronghorns to represent Canada at 2024 Olympics

Jul 5, 2024 | 11:27 AM

Multiple athletes and coaches with University of Lethbridge Pronghorns ties will represent Canada in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Kacie Bosch and Taylor Crozon, two basketball coaches at the U of L, will compete for Canada in the 3×3 basketball event. They qualified for the Olympics with a dramatic bronze medal win in the final 3×3 women’s basketball Olympic qualifying tournament.

The duo will join Olympic veterans Michelle and Katherine Plouffe on the team. They had some hardships along the way to qualifying. They fell one win short at an Olympic qualifying event in Japan, then needed a top-three finish in Hungary to secure their Olympic berth, only to lose a semifinal game to Spain on a buzzer beater shot.

Crozon said, “It doesn’t really feel real yet. We’ve been preparing the last five years for this, just hoping and wishing we’d get this opportunity. I’m so proud of our team and the resilience we showed to even get to this point, and we are honoured to play amongst these women in Paris.”

The 3×3 basketball tourney will run beginning on July 30 through August 5.

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In addition to Bosch and Crozon, there are multiple athletes with ties to the U of L competing in the games. Former Pronghorns swimmer Apollo Hess and cyclist Sarah Orban will compete for Canada in Paris.

Hess swam for the Pronghorns for two seasons, winning gold in the 200-metre and 50-metre breaststroke at the 2022 U SPORTS Championships where he was named U SPORTS Rookie of the Year. Hess is the first Blood Tribe member and swimmer of Indigenous descent to participate in the Olympics.

Orban played Horns women’s soccer and ran track, and ended up the Alberta Regional Final. She also won team sprint gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze at the 2023 Pan American Games.

Pronghorns track coach Larry Steinke will also return to the Olympics for the sixth time as the Team Coach for the track athletes.

He said, “It’s always an honour to represent Canada at the international level. This one will be unique, as each one is, but we go in with the best Team Canada we have ever had in track and field, including six world champions. Without a doubt it will be a special Olympics in that regard.”

The 2024 Summer Olympics begin on July 24.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now.

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