Steve Nash participant in 1993 Summer Universiade
National team career
In the early 1990s, Nash was cut from the Canadian junior national team by head coach Ken Olynyk, the father of future NBA player Kelly Olynyk. At age 17, he was the youngest member of Team Canada at the Summer Universiade, where the team won a silver medal.In 1993, while in college, he played for the senior national team at the Tournament of the Americas and competed in the Canada Games (for the British Columbia team) and Summer Universiade. He won a bronze medal at the Canada Games and won a silver medal at the Summer Universiade, losing to Team USA in a closely contested final, which included players such as Michael Finley and Damon Stoudamire.At the 1999 Tournament of the Americas, Nash led Canada to the silver medal, qualifying the team for the Olympics for the first time in 12 years; he was named tournament MVP. Nash captained Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He led Canada to win their round robin group with a victory over Spain and a stunning 83–75 win over favoured Yugoslavia when he scored 26 points with eight rebounds and eight assists. Canada was eliminated in the quarterfinals with a five-point loss to France and Nash left the court in tears. Nash expressed disappointment with the result, saying "It hurts a lot. I feel like I let everybody down. We could have been in the championship game. We were good enough." Nevertheless, he did see a possible silver lining, saying "Hopefully kids [in Canada] will be inspired to play ... that's what I really hope." A victory in its final game of the tournament, a placement game against Russia, enabled Canada to salvage seventh place. Nash's Olympic performance propelled him to stardom in Canada, and he finished fifth in voting for the 2000 Lionel Conacher Award, which is handed out to the Canadian male athlete of the year.Nash again led Team Canada during qualifying for the 2004 Summer Olympics at the FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He led the tournament in assists and was named tournament MVP, but Canada finished fourth, missing out on the three Olympic spots available. That was the last time Nash played for Canada; he was reportedly upset about the firing of head coach Jay Triano in 2004. In December 2007, he said, "In my mind right now, I'm not going to play for Canada any more."On 8 May 2012, Nash became general manager of the Canadian senior national team. Three months later, he rehired Triano as head coach.On 5 March 2019, Nash transitioned to a senior advisor role and was succeeded as general manager by Rowan Barrett, his former national team teammate.
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