Fever's Tamika Catchings named to US Olympic Basketball Team - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

The Indiana Fever's Tamika Catchings, the reigning MVP of the WNBA, has earned her third selection to the U.S. Olympic Women's Basketball Team.

Indiana Fever chief operating officer and general manager Kelly Krauskopf is a member of the USA Basketball Women's National Team Player Selection Committee.

Tamika is a 2004 and 2008 Olympic gold medalist, as well as a 2002 and 2010 FIBA World Championship gold medalist. In 2006 she earned a bronze medal in the FIBA World Championship.

Catchings among U.S. Olympic Team Records: ranks 10th among all-time USA athletes for Olympic career points (109) and fifth for career rebounds (78) and steals (36); ranks third (tie) for single competition field goal percentage (.724 in 2008) and fifth for steals (22 in 2004).

Catchings on selection to her third Olympic team:

How does it feel to be named to your third Olympic team, especially after being injured at the end of last summer and having to work your way back all winter?

"It's an honor, obviously. Anytime you get to represent your country is just an incredible honor. I'm looking forward to going back to the Olympics with another team full of young and old players. It's going to be a lot of fun."

You mention the younger and older players. You were a rookie in 2002 in your first stint on the USA National Team. How has your role evolved over the last decade?

"The one thing that has remained the whole time comes from a defensive standpoint. Even making the team that first time, my role was being that defensive stopper, being that defensive player for the team. I think that still remains the same. When you have a team full of players like this, everybody can score. But at the same time, having that player you know you can count on to make that stop. Or that player who can kind of be, whether it's the point guard, the point guard, shooting guard, the four player, the five player, just having somebody you can rely on is important. I think that (defensive effort) remains the same. From a leadership standpoint, being one of the younger players early on to now being one of the older players, I'm now filling that role of a leader also."

What makes the Olympic Games so special?

"You get to represent your country. When you get to put the U-S-A on, it's just one of those things that it's now not just representing you and your family, or your WNBA team, it's representing every single person who doesn't have that chance to be at the Olympics and to be a part of that atmosphere. That's what makes it so special: knowing that every single thing that we do is representing the whole United States of America."