TORONTO (Canada) - If Canada are searching for extra inspiration before this year's FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Australia, they could do worse than reflecting on 1979 and 1986. 

While they had the impressive achievement of finishing top of the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Ostend, Belgium, two years ago after victories over Belgium, Sweden and Japan, their most impressive results on the world stage were those of 1979 and 1986. 

Canada will hope to replicate their unbeaten 2020 Oostende OQT campaign in Osaka

That's when Canada made it to the podium of the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.

So as the country gears up for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup Qualifiers in Osaka, having named the19-strong list of candidates for the team, it can pause and remember a very good spell for Canada more than four decades ago.

One leading player from those teams, Canada Basketball Hall of Famer Bev Smith, shared some thoughts about the experience with FIBA.basketball.

“... IT FELT GOOD, BUT ALSO DISAPPOINTING, BECAUSE HAD WE KEPT OUR STUFF TOGETHER, WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN SILVER OR EVEN GOLD.”

On 1979, she said: "It was the first time Canada had been on a podium at a World Games and it felt good, but also disappointing, because had we kept our stuff together, we could have gotten silver or even gold."

As for 1986, she said: "I think the '86 bronze was an accomplishment that was above and beyond."

The story for Smith begins in 1977,  when she joined the junior team.

"I didn't have great skills yet," she said. "I could run, I could rebound, I could play defense. I had played center in high school. I had had a hook shot that I had worked on.

Smith was one of Canada's top players 

"But with Canada, when I was with the junior team in '77, I was told I wasn't going to play center. I was going to play forward. So I had to learn how to dribble, how to shoot beyond three or four feet."

Smith went to Hungary for an international tournament her first summer with the senior team and in their second game, they faced the hosts.

"They left me wide open and I went zero for 10," she recalled. "I guess they had scouted us. Afterward I thought, 'Oh, I'm going to get sent home because I had lost the game for us.'

Fortunately for her and Canada, their coach was Don McCrae.

He was a highly respected coach who also had had a lot of success as the men's coach at Waterloo University in Canada.

Smith said after her struggles against Hungary: "Don came up to me and said, 'Do you know what the difference is between a good shooter and a great shooter?' And I thought, 'God, I don't even know that. I'm really going to get sent home.' He looked at me and said, '10,000 shots. You need to work on your shot.'"

Smith heard him loud and clear and immediately set about working on her shot.

When the following year rolled around, Smith was a different player as Canada traveled to the Far East to play in the World Cup in Seoul. 

No one was talking about them before that event, but they were after. 

"We had a fairly decent training camp," she said. "We went into that tournament, which was boycotted by the Eastern Bloc.

"But we got Korea in the first game, beat them, which gave us a great bracket. I remember they left me wide open and I think I was seven of 14, and I remember thinking, 'Thank God I'm not going to be sent home.' Once we won that game, I felt like we had a real  chance."

After the win over Korea, Canada defeated Bolivia, the Netherlands, Italy, France and Australia. They were on a roll.

Going into their last game against the USA, the Canadians knew they'd win the title if they did not lose by more than 13 points. They seemed to have one hand on the gold medal.

It proved to be a struggle. Canada lost, 77-61.

USA, thanks to the 16-point win, claimed the championship while Korea were awarded the silver and Canada the bronze.

Smith (far left) was an assistant coach for Canada in 2014

Four years later, McCrae was removed as coach and his loyal players refused to accept it.

"He actually got let go in 1983 before the World Student Games and we kind of went on strike," Smith said.

"He was the first coach I had that just covered things ... I just learned so much. He was very smart, very strategic but really felt fundamentals were key to what we did.

"Don coached us in a way that was demanding but not demeaning. He was firm but fair." 

So McCrae returned to the helm before the '84 Olympics. Canada made it through qualifying to take part in those Summer Games.

"We went into that really hoping to get on the podium and played a Bronze Medal Game against China," Smith said. "We'd beaten them in the Preliminary Round, when they had had a couple of really tall players. Well, they didn't play that two (in the Bronze Medal Game) and that really put us on our heels.

"It was back and forth and they won a close game.

"Don came into the locker room after and said, 'I love you guys, but we weren't the better team today. There are lessons to be learned.'

And this is why '86 became the most special of wins.

"Don retired and I think for me and my teammates, we said, 'We have to be better, training better, eating better'.

We did that for two years and were able to get on the podium at the '86 World Championship. So that was a significant win for our federation and for our team."

At the World Championship, which was played in the former Soviet Union, Canada lost to the USA in the Semi-Finals but bounced back and defeated Czechoslovakia in the Third-Place Game.

In addition to Smith, Canada had great players like Misty Thomas, Lynn Polson, Doborah Huband and Andrea Blackwell.

Though Canada came up short of the Final, they played their part in making it a bruising encounter. USA coach Kay Yow called it "the most physical game we've ever played." 

The fact that Canada had bounced back from their Olympic disappointment after making a commitment to get better made the accomplishment of reaching the podium all the more special.

"We (Canada) played well and played really tough defense in '86," Smith said. "That was a punch in the arm, more than '79."

Canada women's team has had some really good years in the past decade and something the world will never know is if Lisa Thomaidis' squad would have been formidable in Tokyo had Covid not reared its ugly head. Canada had won the Women's OQT in Ostend in impressive fashion, downing Belgium, Sweden and Japan.

Smith firmly believes Thomaidis made the best of a very difficult situation. She is also optimistic new Spanish coach Victor Lapeña, who is currently at the helm of EuroLeague Women outfit Fenerbahce and has experience in international basketball as an assistant with Spain, will net good results although will have hurdles to clear.

"I think certainly having some of the FIBA international experience is a plus," Smith said of Lapena, although Thomaidis had a lot of it as well. "I'm hopeful."

The biggest challenge will be to get the players to understand his tactics and overall ways in a short period of time.

"Time is the incubator of success and if you don't have it, it's often a hope and a prayer that you're going to be able to turn this around. So we'll see.

"That said, I think the players are excited but they have to be fully engaged. They need to maximize what they have and maybe with that new coach, there will be some new enthusiasm and I think the players will take it as a positive thing. He's got a great background and acumen."

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