Image details: San Antonio Silver Stars v Los Angeles Sparks served by picapp.com

Whenever the Olympics roll around, you hear quite a bit about the professional sports leagues and how many of their players will be representing various countries at the Olympics. The Women’s NBA is no different. At last count 30 WNBA players (current and former) will be playing in Beijing for their respective countries. Here is the latest list (from the WNBA site):

On the U.S. Women’s Olympic Team

• Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx)
• Sue Bird (Seattle Storm)
• Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever)
• Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky)
• Kara Lawson (Sacramento Monarchs)
• Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks)
• DeLisha Milton-Jones (Los Angeles Sparks)
• Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks)
• Cappie Pondexter (Phoenix Mercury)
• Katie Smith (Detroit Shock)
• Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)
• Tina Thompson (Houston Comets)

For Australia

• Tully Bevilaqua (Indiana Fever)
• Lauren Jackson (Seattle Storm)
• Suzy Batkovic (former WNBA)
• Erin Phillips (former WNBA)
• Belinda Snell (former WNBA)
• Laura Summerton (former WNBA)
• Penny Taylor (former WNBA)

For Belarus

• Yelena Leuchanka (former WNBA)

For Brazil*

• Erika Desouza (Atlanta Dream)
• Kelly Santos (Seattle Storm)
• Adriana Moises (former WNBA)

For Mali*

• Hamchetou Maiga-Ba (Houston Comets)
• Nare Diawara (former WNBA)

For Russia*

• Becky Hammon (San Antonio Silver Stars)
• Kelly Miller (Phoenix Mercury)
• Deanna Nolan (Detroit Shock)
• Maria Stepanova (former WNBA)

For Spain

• Amaya Valdemoro (former WNBA)

* Many of the rosters have not yet been finalized and I do expect this list to grow somewhat.

We had so much fun at the USA Gymnastics Olympic Trials that the anticipation for the Olympic Games is building rapidly. Here is a photo I took at the Trials as they set off four big cannons filled with confetti and blanketed the arena.

Some Olympic team updates:

• While the US women’s gymnastics team has named two members to its squad (and will announce the rest after July 20), the Aussies are set! The AustralianOlympic Gymnastics team will consist of Dasha Joura, Shona Morgan, Lauren Mitchell, Ashleigh Brennan, Georgia Bonora and Olivia Vivian, and alternate Emma Dennis.
• The first nine members of the US Women’s Olympic Basketball squad was named last month with Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie leading the list.  Others include Sue Bird, Cappie Pondexter, Diana Taurasi, Katie Smith, Tina Thompson, Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles. The remaining three members have not yet been named.
• The US Swimming Olympic Trials are happening as I write this and these athletes are fast! Records are falling! The world record in the women’s 100m backstroke fell twice in prelims Monday when Hayley McGregory broke the record with a time of 59.15 followed by Natalie Coughlin breaking McGregory’s record with a time of 59.03 in the next heat.
• Nine members of the 2004 gold medal winning women’s soccer team have been named to the 2008 Olympic Soccer team - that is half of the team! Just the experience alone will give the team such an advantage.

New York Liberty basketball star, Shay Doron, is an amazing example for kids! PressPassTV recently produced a very nice piece on Shay as she returned to her alma mater, University of Maryland, as they retired her #22  jersey.

View the video piece about Shay, University of Maryland women’s basketball and Shay’s travels.