Canadian 3x3 pioneer Michelle Plouffe leaves behind basketball legacy greater than gold

Michelle Plouffe's athletic career might not have ended with an Olympic gold medal.

But the Canadian basketball star's legacy may be even rarer than that vaunted accomplishment: she built an Olympic team from scratch — and will continue to oversee its growth.

After a run that included a trio of Olympic basketball appearances for Team Canada, Plouffe is moving onto the next phase of her career as high performance director for Canada Basketball's 3x3 program.

"I think I was just ready to close a chapter, and it seemed like the right time just based off of where I felt like I was at mentally and physically. I didn't really have the urge to play another season," said Plouffe, the 32-year-old from Edmonton.

"When there were conversations about hiring someone on with the 3x3 programs, I was like, 'Well, that could be a good fit just to continue working with 3x3 and continue to build on the foundation that we have.' So yeah, it kind of seemed like God's timing."

Still, Plouffe admitted it might be weird when a team featuring two former teammates — sister Katherine Plouffe and Paige Crozon — compete at the 3x3 World Series stop beginning Thursday in Bordeaux, France.

After two Olympic appearances with the five-on-five team, she felt her time there had come to an end. Meanwhile, she was training in Edmonton with Steve Sir, who was just latching onto 3x3 on the men's side.

Plouffe told Crozon her plans to leave the senior squad. As it turns out, Crozon had also had the idea of 3x3 put into her head.

They brought in Katherine Plouffe, a plan was born and a goal was set.

"We started off with a bang, went big. We didn't say, 'Let's try and make a 3x3 team and play in a tournament.' We said, 'Let's try and qualify Canada for the Olympics,'" Plouffe said. "So it was a pretty lofty ambition, but I think that when you put something big out in front of you're going to be fully committed and do everything it takes to get there. And so that's kind of what we did."

The only problem? They'd have to pay for it all out of pocket. For a year, they doled out for flights to Europe and Asia, where they'd play World Series events that didn't even offer prize money.

It wouldn't have been sustainable for more than a year, Plouffe said. But the team believed, and it just kept improving.

"I don't know how to explain why we thought we could just start a team and make it to the Olympics. But at the end of our first season we were one of the best teams in the world," she said.

However, Plouffe and Co. weren't even given the opportunity to play at Tokyo 2020 due to a quirky FIBA rule that meant only Canada's men's team could attempt to qualify.

"Obviously that was a huge bummer, but it's what it needed to be," Plouffe said.

Despite entering those Games among the medal favourites, a disappointing fourth-place finish, also featuring Kacie Bosch, did not dampen the team's spirit.

"We enjoyed each other's company. In 3x3 you're travelling with four people. It's a small group. So if one person is not willing to be part of that group, that's a quarter of your team. So it really requires every individual to be an adder and not a subtractor of the group," Plouffe said.

"And so we've always just had a lot of fun, but we've always had a lot of trust in each other that we're just going to show up and do our best."

Now, she'll try impart that wisdom on the next generation.

"Coming from someone who knows how the game is played, knows what to look for and maybe from experience knows what a program now needs to build on that foundation, I think that it made sense to continue to add value in that way and then be a part of the men's program as well," Plouffe said.

The next step for 3x3 in Canada, she said, is to increase the sport's prominence across the country.

Plouffe said five-on-five and 3x3 aren't mutually exclusive, citing her experience in the latter assisting her while she was still competing in the former.

"It's such a fun game and it's super unpredictable. I think it's also just a lot of fun. It's not as structured as five on five. So I think there's just a lot of opportunity for players to be creative and grow and have an experience in a high-performance environment," she said.

Of course, there's also still the matter of that first Olympic medal for the program.

And while it won't be draped around Plouffe's neck whether it comes at Los Angeles 2028 or decades later, there's no doubt that she will have played a large part in earning that hardware.