Sudbury basketball phenom Syla Swords named to Olympic team
It was a history-making day for Sudbury’s Syla Swords, who was named to Canada’s Olympic basketball team on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old rising star will be the youngest person ever to play Olympic basketball for Canada.
The six-foot guard was named to the team by the Canadian Olympic Committee.
“Swords is the daughter of Shawn Swords, who proudly represented Canada in Sydney in 2000,” the official announcement said.
“At 18 years old, she will become the youngest basketball player to ever play for Canada at the Olympic Games.”
She is ESPN's 11th-ranked 2024 prospect and has committed to play next season for Michigan University.
Her previous team, Long Island Lutheran Girls Basketball Team, posted a tribute to Swords after the announcement Tuesday.
And on June 16, Canada Basketball posted a YouTube video of an interview with Syla, Shawn and her sister Savvy.
Shawn said he encouraged his daughters to play other sports – “I actually pushed them to get into hockey,” he said.
“But they really didn’t like at all,” he laughed.
“What’s unique about our relationship is that he’s been through what we want to do,” Syla said in the interview.
“We both want to be Olympians and we both want to represent Canada to the best of our abilities. So he just understands the game from a player’s perspective.”
She said both of their parents “know we want to play at a high level but never demanding anything of us, making sure that we’re the ones who want to get ourselves there and them doing the best they can to be resources for us is what has made us so successful,” she added.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Britain's Labour on track for landslide victory, exit poll suggests, amid anger with Conservatives
Britain's Labour Party headed for a landslide victory in a parliamentary election on Thursday, an exit poll suggested, as voters punished the governing Conservatives after 14 years of economic and political upheaval.
Trying to sell or buy a home this summer? What a realtor says you should know
In the first few weeks of summer, the real estate sector is experiencing an upturn marked by more housing inventory, a Canadian realtor says
'Talks have broken down': Union not hopeful deal will be reached with LCBO as deadline nears
Thousands of employees with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario are set to walk off their jobs on Friday as the union says 'talks have broken down' and it is not hopeful that a deal will be reached to avert a strike.
No Frills grocery stores drop 'multi-buy' offer
As receipts tick ever higher for Canadians at the grocery store and shoppers continue to search for savings, one Canadian grocer has ended a perceived deal.
Saskatchewan has the lowest hourly minimum wage. How does it stack up to the rest of Canada?
Hourly minimum wages increased in several Canadian provinces this spring with more on the horizon, which economists say will likely impact workers and businesses differently.
Canada to host the 70th annual NATO session in Montreal
Canada will host the 70th annual session of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Parliamentary Assembly from Nov. 22 to 25 in Montreal, Que.
Son asks court to sell B.C. home he co-owns with his mother, despite her objections
A B.C. judge has ordered the sale of a Surrey home despite the objections of the woman who lives there, who owns it jointly with her son.
Hurricane Beryl churns toward Mexico after leaving destruction in Jamaica and eastern Caribbean
After leaving a trail of destruction across the eastern Caribbean and at least nine people dead, Hurricane Beryl weakened as it chugged over open water toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday, going from the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic to Category 2 by the afternoon.
Montreal MP, Jewish group condemn antisemitic poster telling him to 'get out of Canada'
A Montreal MP is speaking out after he was the target of a poster loaded with antisemitic references that he says is offensive to the entire Jewish community.