During the 2024 WNBA season, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark was snubbed from Team USA’s women’s basketball roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

This came with a lot of backlash, especially for USA coach Cheryl Reeve. Still, Team USA went on to win gold without Clark, winning all of its games emphatically, except for the gold medal game, where France kept it close.

Recently, Clark won Time’s 2024 Athlete of the Year. In an interview with the popular magazine, the former Iowa Hawkeyes star spoke on her Team USA omission, admitting that she didn’t want to be there just to bring attention.

“I don’t want to be there because I’m somebody that can bring attention,” Clark said. “I love that for the game of women’s basketball. But at the same time, I want to be there because they think I’m good enough. I don’t want to be some little person that is kind of dragged around for people to cheer about and only watch because I’m sitting on the bench. That whole narrative kind of upset me.”

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark.

Following Time’s announcement, Clark took to social media to make a celebratory post regarding her latest achievement.

“TIME Athlete of the Year,” Clark captioned her Instagram post with heart and star emojis.

One day later, the Olympics’ official account left a response in the comment section, sharing its opinion of the Fever superstar.

“You are an ICON of sport!” the Olympics wrote. “Congratulations, Caitlin.”

Barring an unexpected career decision or an injury, Clark will likely be heading to Los Angeles in four years for the 2028 Games. If this is, in fact, the case, she will also likely have one of the main roles on the future Team USA squad, along with bringing a lot more attention to the women’s national basketball team as she has for the WNBA.