'A surreal experience': Lethbridge to be represented by 11 athletes, coaches, staff, officials at Paris Olympics

LETHBRIDGE -

On the court is where Kacie Bosch and Paige Crozon feel most at home and soon, they'll represent Lethbridge and Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

They're two of 11 athletes, coaches, staff and officials from Lethbridge heading to Paris.

"It's been a surreal experience," said Crozon, who, along with Bosch, is part of Team Canada's 3X3 women's basketball team.

"We've had kind of a gauntlet to qualify for the Olympics, so to have now secured the qualification spot and to be preparing for the Olympics has been absolutely amazing."

The team secured their spot at the FIBA tournament in May.

"We've been travelling around the world and competing in various stops," Crozon said.

"We just competed in the stop in Edmonton this past weekend and have played in a tournament in Quebec City and France."

But the team's journey started back in 2019.

They crossed the globe multiple times, jumping through qualifying hoops and racking up points win after win to get to where they are now – Paris-bound.

It's a position Bosch thought she'd never be in.

"I never really expected to go to the Olympics as an athlete. I used to be an avid watcher," Bosch said.

"I would record every single event on every single channel there ever was and watch them all in real time, and to be able to go and compete and experience it with my team is something I never thought I'd do, but I'm extreme grateful I get the opportunity to do it now."

Along with Bosch and Crozon, swimmer Apollo Hess, judo athletes Christa and Kelly Deguchi and track cycling athlete Sarah Orban will head to Paris.

Outside of athletics, Micheal Barwegen will be a soccer official, Jon Koopmans will return for his third Olympics as a broadcast engineer and Ryan Sommer will hold the role of mission staff for his second time.

U of L coach Lawrence Steinke and judo sport director Mike Tamura will travel overseas for the games.

The Lethbridge Sport Council held a community send off Monday at Legacy Park.

Executive director Susan Eymann calls the range of representation from the city "incredible."

"It really goes to show that the sport community is made up of so many more people than the athletes that we typically see at the forefront," she said.

Eymann says teams are still being announced and more Lethbridge athletes could join the list in the coming week.

Bosch and Crozon will head to Toronto for training camp this week before flying to Paris a week before the opener, where they'll be joined by family and more than a dozen friends.

"I’ve felt nothing but support my entire career," said Bosch.

"Everyone that is involved in sports knows the sacrifices what it requires from our families to get to this point, so I think to be in that moment and share it with people that have supported me all along, I think it's going to be so exciting."

The 2024 Olympic Summer Games get underway on July 26.