It was a moment for those who like their symbolism writ large.
A video feature about the late Victoria basketball player Chuck Chapman played on the arena big screen Wednesday while the Canadian team warmed up for the second half of their 109-79 Olympic qualifying game victory against China at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Brothers Chuck and Art Chapman and fellow Victoria star Doug Peden were on the only Canadian basketball team to have won an Olympic medal, capturing captured silver at Berlin in 1936.
Nobody needs to tell the current Canadian team the weight of history that rides on its shoulders. You don鈥檛 have to go back to Berlin 1936 when it comes to droughts. sa国际传媒, with its current Golden Generation of NBA players, is attempting to get back to the Olympics in men鈥檚 basketball for the first time since captain and two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash of Victoria led the national team to the 2000 Sydney Games.
sa国际传媒 took another step toward the Tokyo Olympics, set to begin July 23, by beating China to move to 2-0 in the qualifying tournament taking place on Blanshard Street. Andrew Wiggins of the Golden State Warriors had 20 points and R.J. Barrett of the New York Knicks 16 as sa国际传媒 won its pool and advanced to the semifinals Saturday against the second-place team from the other group, still to be decided. The championship game is Sunday with the winning team taking the lone berth available to Tokyo out of the six-team tournament.
鈥淲e do understand there has been a drought but we just take it game by game,鈥� said veteran Canadian player Andrew Nicholson, who had 14 points.
鈥淲e want to make a big jump for our program and for ourselves,鈥� added the former NBA first-round draft pick and Orlando Magic player, who now plays pro in China and knows many of the Chinese players.
Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who scored 11 points against China, was also asked about the Olympic medal and appearance droughts that sa国际传媒 is trying to end. He is making his debut for sa国际传媒 and is one of eight current NBA players on the roster.
鈥淲e like the pressure. 鈥� We want to prove we鈥檙e ready now to make it,鈥� said Dort, a native of Montreal.
The first two days of the qualifier have been played behind closed doors. Provincial health authorities, however, are allowing a limited number of fans into tournament games beginning Thursday when Greece plays China and Uruguay meets the Czech Republic to close out the preliminary round. They will be among the first spectators to watch a sporting event live in Western sa国际传媒 since March 2020.
Ten percent of capacity was agreed to between the provincial health office and organizers of the tournament before the government鈥檚 sudden announcement Tuesday that 50 percent capacity will be allowed for indoor events beginning as part of sa国际传媒鈥檚 relaxation of COVID-19 guidelines.
Organizers say they were blindsided by that announcement and confirmed they are in negotiations to have attendance increased beyond 10 per cent of capacity for the weekend semifinals and final in the 7,400-seat Memorial Centre.
But Clint Hamilton, chairman of the Victoria organizing committee, said that while there could be an increase negotiated for the weekend, he doubted that it would be to the 50 per cent level.
In Quebec, health authorities have rejected the Montreal Canadiens' request to increase fan numbers for the Stanley Cup finals games at the Bell Centre from the current 3,500 to 50 percent-capacity 10,500. Instead, authorities are allowing several downtown outdoor big-screen viewing zones with 5,000 people allowed into each.
鈥淸The Olympic basketball qualifier] is an international event with bubble protocols that are incredibly involved and complicated,鈥� said Hamilton.
He allowed himself to imagine what could have been if the Tokyo Olympics qualifier in Victoria, originally scheduled for last year, had been held in normal, non-pandemic times.
鈥淚t would have been standing-room only,鈥� said Hamilton. 鈥淭he roof would have come off this place.鈥�
sa国际传媒 Basketball president and CEO Glen Grunwald said it鈥檚 a credit to the organizers that the qualifier is taking place at all. The original plans, labeled We the West, called for outdoor concerts and festivals around town tied to the tournament and three-on-three, First Nations and wheelchair basketball tournaments. The in-game entertainment was to be NBA level and provided by the Toronto Raptors production team.
But none of that was possible due to the pandemic as the focus shifted to basically a no-frills hosting of the games so a qualifier for Tokyo could be decided.
鈥淭he Victoria organizers have overcome tremendous odds just to stage this tournament. Their persistence through all this has been incredible,鈥� said Grunwald.
The organizing committee is known informally as the Friends of Victoria Basketball, he said. 鈥淏ut I call them Angels from Heaven.鈥�
