INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Fever guard Kristy Wallace is back in the states after winning the bronze medal with the Australian women’s basketball team at the recent 2024 Paris Olympics.
Wallace wasn’t there for Tuesday’s practice on the Fever’s smaller designated court. She was trekking back to Indiana. But for her return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday, the Fever fittingly held practice on the much grander, and main playing court, leading up to Friday’s game.
There Wallace stood after practice at midcourt, holding bronze balloons and wearing her medal.
“Really special,” Wallace said of getting the bronze, and the meaning behind it. “We’ve been through a lot, particularly the last few years, our family. So to have this result is really special. And it brought everyone together. I’m so proud to be Australian and to get this for Australia too.”
“And to inspire maybe some young Australian girls playing basketball,” Wallace added. “It’s why I play.”
Wallace played 21 minutes in the semifinal game versus the United States, scoring four points off the bench. Australia wasn’t able to advance to the gold-medal-match, but they did rectify the double-digit loss by beating Belgium to decide which country took home the bronze. Wallace did not play in the medal-decider. The Seattle Storm’s Ezi Magbegor went off for 30 points that day.
It was the country’s first medal in the sport in 12 years. They had gotten to the podium in every Olympics spanning 1996-2012, before the drought. Players, including Wallace, sprang from the bench as the buzzer sounded in Paris. They mobbed each other in groups, jumped together, and then all huddled as one. Then, they took the celebration to the city, Wallace said Thursday.
“Oh yeah, we went hard,” Wallace said. “You have to, you have to. We went to a bar straight after as a team, caught up with family and the crew and just celebrated. It was cool, yeah.”
Kristy Wallace ready for second half of Fever season
Wallace said her team didn’t have much time to go visit other events in Paris, though they were able to watch the Australian men’s team play on one occasion. That surely fits the bill of Olympians not having nearly as much time for rest, compared to their WNBA counterparts that remained here.
Still, how could this bronze accomplishment not give some enthusiasm for the second half?
“Oh yeah, I’m good,” Wallace said with confidence. “I feel fresh, I’m ready to go. So I’m excited to be back with the [Fever] and ready for a shot at the playoffs. We’re gonna go at it.”
Wallace has been briefed on what her Fever teammates did over the break, such as going to the state fair, and their pre-practice home run derby in the first week of August. She’s in the process of getting back up to speed on the court. The last weeks have been all about defense.
“All defense,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said Thursday. “I would start cheering when it was time to play some offense, because they put in the work. They knew we needed to work on that and they were real positive about it… we did do some things that got better over the break.”
Before the break, Wallace had been ushered out the Fever starting lineup to the bench. Though her role and minutes have diminished as of late, Wallace does have experience with her national team podium-wise in what the Fever are looking for now: snapping their playoff drought. Indiana is in the playoffs by three games, with 14 more to go. It will host the Phoenix Mercury Friday night.
Oh, and besides that bronze medal, chocolate muffins were the hit in Paris, Wallace said.
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