She is the all-time NCAA Division I scoring leader, causing a 265% increase in Fever game attendance and adding more than 1.3 million followers to Fever platforms over the last four months.  

It was a common assumption that she would be a lock on the Olympic team. As a rising rookie, Caitlin Clark is a once-in-a-lifetime, generational talent. Clark continues breaking records on and off the court.

But this assumption was wrong, as she was not chosen for the team. 

Clark should have been on the 2024 United States women’s Olympic team because of her outstanding talent and feel for the game, as well as through-the-roof numbers and ratings that she would have brought in. 

As a junior in college, Clark was taking the world by storm because of her success at the University of Iowa. She took her team to the National Championship for the first time in program history. 

Off this success alone, she proved to be able to compete at the highest level and lead any team. So why wasn’t she on the Olympic team? She obviously has the leadership, and her skill set is unmatched. 

Numbers don’t lie, and Clark’s presence brings in more viewers than ever. For the rate of women’s basketball is growing already; wouldn’t the WNBA want to have more people tune in for the Olympic games?

The fans of Clark will probably never know why she wasn’t chosen. It is so interesting what went on in the National Olympic Committee’s head not to select her. She would have only added more positive reinforcement. 

While the 2024 women’s Olympic team ended up winning gold this year without Clark, in four years, when she is hopefully on the team, the result will be the same, but with much more attention she will bring to women’s basketball.