When a reporter from Texas asked TCU’s Hailey Van Lith if she was having fun in Paris, she replied, “I’m not here to have fun, I’m here to win.”
And win she did.
In fact, Van Lith, along with her other teammates, helped secure the bronze in the 3x3 basketball competition at the Olympic Games in Paris. And although TCU had a cohort of nine current and former athletes competing in various categories, Van Lith was the very first Horned Frog basketball player to win an Olympic medal.
That deserves a good ol’ Riff Ram Bah Zoo for sure.
Van Lith transferred to TCU from LSU after she and her defending championship team lost to the legendary Caitlin Clark and Iowa, who went on to the Final Four and eventually the NCAA National Championship. Now in her fifth and final season as a graduate student, Van Lith made history on the world’s stage in Paris over the course of ten games.
This win was made possible due to Van Lith leading Team USA in cumulative scoring. She was also the only active collegiate player competing for USA Basketball in 5-on-5 or 3x3.
TCU Athletics
In all, this marks the second consecutive medal for Team USA who took the gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games. This year, Team USA faced off with the People’s Republic of China securing their spot in the play-in with a 14-12 win. Team USA would repeat this success playing defense on their second match with the People’s Republic of China, which ended with an encore of 21-13, behind teammate Dearica Hamby for the win.
Team USA would prevail over Spain, France, Canada and China (twice), which propelled them to the medal round after dropping the first three games. It was during this era of time Van Lith made the opening statement. Team USA would be bested by Spain, who won the semifinal rematch 18-16 in overtime giving them the silver. Germany would ultimately take the gold.
Born in Wenatchee, Washington, Van Lith is the only active Division I women’s basketball player with at least 1,900 points, 500 rebounds, and 350 assists.
Before she donned TCU purple or the purple and gold of LSU, Van Lith spent her first three seasons with Louisville, reaching a Final Four and another Elite Eight before joining four-time champion coach Kim Mulkey at LSU.
Van Lith averaged 14.5 points, four rebounds and 2.8 assists per game with the Cardinals and Tigers. She played mostly wing for Louisville before moving to point guard for LSU, and now the Horned Frogs.
Van Lith was also part of an Adidas grassroots add campaign geared to help student-athletes overcome pressure, which aired in March.
“Throughout my journey with the sport, I never shied away from a challenge and that’s made me the competitor I am today,” Van Lith said in a release. “Putting yourself in situations where you’re tested and proving that you can overcome internal or external pressure gives you confidence to play freely and lean into those competitive moments, like championship tournaments, with eagerness rather than fear. It's critical to remind yourself that you’ve navigated pressure before and just focus on being the player and teammate you know you can be.”
And no stage adds more pressure to an athlete like the Olympic Games. Playing off of what she already stated, Van Lith relived her time on the court during Team USA’s victory in a recent release on gofrogs.com.
“I'm most proud of us for this last game because we went from getting our gold medal dreams crushed to having two hours to turn around and play one of the best teams in the tournament in Canada,” Van Lith said. “That game was all about mental toughness. And we really got it together. We showed mental toughness. And we won ourselves a bronze medal."
