The United States Basketball Women’s National Team, aka Team USA, dominated the 2024 Paris Olympics. They once again went on to win gold, which marked a record eighth consecutive first-place finish in the Summer Games.

France, the home team, gave Team USA a run for their money in the championship game, but the Americans ultimately prevailed, 67-66. This hard-fought encounter does not take away from the fact that Team USA remains the most dominant force at the international level.

The national team’s performance in Paris almost made it easy to forget the controversy surrounding the selection process for the players on the squad. In particular, fans made a lot of noise after it was revealed that Team USA Coach Cheryl Reeve and her staff decided to snub Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark from the team.

At that time, Clark was in the midst of an unprecedented rookie campaign that had her breaking all sorts of records left and right. This is exactly why more than a few fans questioned the national team’s decision not to include the 22-year-old on the roster.

Fever guard Caitlin Clark

Now that she has the benefit of hindsight, however, Clark is able to reflect on that controversy with a fresh perspective. In fact, the former Iowa superstar considers the snub to be a “blessing.”

Speaking to TIME Magazine for her 2024 Athlete of the Year interview, Clark admitted that being left off the national squad for the Paris games “will definitely motivate me my entire career.”

All this has also fueled the 6-foot guard’s strong desire to make amends come the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Clark has already set her sights on making the 2028 squad, identifying it as a “huge, huge goal.”

For what it’s worth, Clark was able to make the most out of her time during the Olympic break as the WNBA season went on a one-month hiatus to give way to the Summer Games.

Apparently, she drank “a million” Shirley Temples with her boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, as they went on vacation at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico during the break. She rejoined the Fever after her much-needed R&R refreshed and ready to go for the second half of the WNBA campaign.

The rest, as they say, is history.