U.S. Olympic leader praises Caitlin Clark's impact, talks potential Olympic spot

NEW YORK — Caitlin Clark has a fan in the head of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Sarah Hirshland grinned when she was asked about Clark, who is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft later Monday.

“You can see my smile; I can’t help it. I never thought I’d see that in my lifetime,” Hirshland said at the USOPC’s Media Summit.

“Specifically, what I didn’t think I’d see happen in my lifetime was a women’s game outrank a men’s game in essentially a comparable sport,” Hirshland continued. “It’s awesome.”

Clark has helped drive interest in women’s basketball to unprecedented heights, with the women’s title game having higher ratings than the men’s championship for the first time. The final between Clark’s Iowa and South Carolina was watched by an average of 18.7 million across ABC and ESPN, peaking at 24 million.

The men’s final, between UConn and Purdue, drew 14.8 million viewers across TBS, TNT and TruTV.

There also were record ratings during the regular season, when Clark passed Pete Maravich to become the NCAA's all-time leading scorer.

“It’s incredible to see and it validates the notion of what America is looking for in sport isn’t about gender,” Hirshland said. “It’s about the quality of an incredible competitive experience and an athlete who can do something that’s amazing, regardless of gender. That’s incredible to see. It’s super fun.”

Clark has played on USA Basketball’s youth teams — she has three gold medals and was MVP of the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup — and was added to the Olympic pool last month. She was unable to attend the national team’s most recent training camp because it occurred during the Final Four but called the invitation “a tremendous honor.”

There are no more training camps scheduled before the USOPC’s July 7 deadline to submit the U.S. Olympic team. That doesn’t mean Clark is out of the running for Paris, however.

USA Basketball’s selection procedures allow for the selection committee to consider athletes who didn’t participate in a training camp. The criteria includes position, playing ability, attitude and likelihood of contributing to the success of the team.

“These selection procedures for USA Basketball teams have been written and available to athletes for a long time and it’s a very clear process,” Hirshland said. “We’ve got to let USA Basketball run their process. We’ve got to stand back, let that happen, let that unfold.”

Though rare, Clark making the Olympic team right out of college would not be unprecedented. Both Diana Taurasi (2004) and Breanna Stewart (2016) did.