Beaverlodge's Dani Smith (#5) and Team Canada re going for a spot at the 2020 Olympics this weekend. Photo supplied by Volleyball Canada.

By Curtis Galbraith

Volleyball

Beaverlodge athlete chasing Olympic berth this weekend

Aug 1, 2019 | 5:30 AM

A Beaverlodge athlete and her team mates are chasing a spot at the 2020 Olympics this week in Russia.

Dani Smith and the rest of Canada’s women’s indoor volleyball team will be up against South Korea, Mexico, and the host Russians in one of six Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournaments being held this weekend. The tournaments involve a total of 24 teams and they are being played on four different continents.

Smith says a win will get her team to Tokyo 2020. She expects Korea and the host side to be their stiffest competition.

“We’ve played Mexico before, even earlier this summer, and we’ve handled them well, so those two teams (South Korea and Russia) are who we’re gunnin’ for.”

She adds it would not only be great to go to the Olympics herself, but be part of the first Canadian team to do so in a long time.

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“I can’t really put (it) into words. I think it’s just been a really interesting journey for me and there’s so many parts to it that I feel like have led me to this point in my career and my life. It would just be the biggest honour, I think.”

Canada has not had a women’s volleyball team at the Olympics since 1996.

Canada will also have a women’s volleyball team in Lima, Peru for the Pan Am Games. Smith says a different 12-woman team will represent Canada there. Smith thinks they should do well.

“It’s a great competition , a huge event, multi-sport games. A lot of these teams, we’ve already seen before this summer. We were just at the Pan Am Cup in Peru.”

The Pan Am Games are underway, with the women’s volleyball set for August 7 to 11.