Brondello extends Australian Opals coaching contract to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles

1 of 2 |

New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello calls out from the bench against the New York Liberty during the first half of Game 4 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series, Oct. 18, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)

2 of 2 |

New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello speaks during a ceremony after a parade in honor of the Liberty’s WNBA basketball championship at City Hall in New York, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

SYDNEY (AP) — Sandy Brondello is set to coach Australia’s Opals to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, extending her involvement with the national women’s basketball team to a seventh Olympics.

Brondello, who guided the Opals to an Olympic bronze medal in Paris last year, helped the New York Liberty win the WNBA title in October.

She played for the Opals in the 1988, ’96, 2000 and 2004 Olympics and was appointed coach in 2017, guiding the team at the Tokyo Games and in Paris.

“Having represented at six Olympics as a player and now coach, the Opals is such a big part of my life and one that I am most proud of,” Brondello said in a statement on Tuesday. “Having the pleasure to work with such motivated and talented athletes is such a joy, and the success that we have had is such a testament to the wider team who make up the Opals.”

Basketball Australia appointed Paul Goriss as associate head coach to lead the program while Brondello has WNBA commitments.

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Olympic Hightlights

1 of 7 |

FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

2 of 7 |

FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7’s championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

3 of 7 |

FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men’s high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

4 of 7 |

Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

5 of 7 |

USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team attacker Ryann Neushul, left, trains at Long Beach City College Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. Following in the footsteps of two older sisters who won gold with the U.S. women’s water polo team, Ryann Neushul is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

6 of 7 |

Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, 28, practices at the Lotta Club Seggiano gym, in Pioltello , northern Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

7 of 7 |

FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)