The greatest stage Sue Bird found success — and championships — at every level of the game. But nothing could beat the Olympic stage.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third of a five-part series exploring Sue Bird’s career leading up to her jersey retirement on June 11. Read Part 1 , Part 2, Part 4, and Part 5.

by Mark Moschetti, Seattle Storm

She’s an icon at UConn. Was fabulous in the FIBAs. Outstanding overseas. Sensational in Seattle.

A pair of NCAA titles. Four golds (and a bronze) at the World Championships. Five national titles, five EuroLeague titles, and two Europe SuperCups while playing in Russia. And of course, four WNBA trophies with the Storm.

Pick any basketball stage, put Sue Bird on it, and she shined in the spotlight.

But ask her about her favorite hoops stage, where the games had the most meaning, the emotions ran highest, the camaraderie with teammates was one of a kind — and then give her a minute to think about it — Bird wouldn’t even need the last 59 seconds of that minute to come up with her answer.

Whether in Athens or Beijing, London or Rio or Tokyo, Bird’s favorite …

… was the Olympic stage.

That’s because during her high school basketball days at Christ the King in Queens, New York, going for the gold was about as far and as high as a female basketball player could go — period.

“My story, which is now unique — in a good way — is there was no WNBA (when I was) growing up,” Bird said during a press conference in June 2021 on the day it was announced that she would be on her fifth United States Olympic team. “The other players on this team had the WNBA (while) growing up, to look up to, to aspire to.

“For me, it was the Olympics – that was the end-all, be-all,” she said. “There was nothing else to achieve, or to reach for.”

Now, of course, there is the WNBA to reach for. In fact, by the time Bird got to play in her first Olympics, the 2004 Games in Athens, she was already in her third year in the league.

But the chance to put on a USA jersey, has been, for Bird, a feeling that can’t be replicated in any situation.

It’s better than cutting down the nets. It’s better than lifting a trophy. It’s better than a postgame champagne celebration.

“It kind of got put on my radar when I went to watch the team when they were on tour in 1995,” Bird recalled. “I saw Jennifer Azzi, and she looked like me. That was my see-it, be-it moment.

“For me, it’s the goal of a lifetime that’s getting achieved when I’m standing on that podium.”

Bird was part of Team USA that won the FIBA World Championships in 2002, shortly after the conclusion of her rookie year with the Storm. It was her first high-level international tournament.

While it would seem that a player of her caliber would be a lock to make any Olympics squad, Bird said she never presumed anything — not for her first one, not for her fifth one, not for any of the three in between.

Every player in training camp and in tune-up games was a star at some level. Some simply weren’t going to make the cut.

It always came down to waiting for “the phone call.” Nowadays, that call comes from Carol Callan, the director of the USA national team.

“Every time it’s coming, once you kind of learn how the logistics of how it all goes, you know there’s going to be a call — something’s coming,” Bird said during that June 2021 Olympics announcement news conference. “Once her name pops up (on the cellphone screen), you kind of have an idea of what it is. But she calls everybody, so if you made the team or not, there’s a phone call made.

“Obviously, you have to answer and see what happens.”

For Bird, it happened for five consecutive Olympics: She was on the team. And each time, as she’ll tell you, she took it all in stride, consistent with her laid-back personality.

“I’m not that much different as a person than I am as a player — not too many highs, not to many lows,” she said. “I try to keep it even-keel. The same goes for moments like this. I tend to celebrate after the fact, after the win, when things are done and I’ve taken care of business.”

During her inaugural Games in Athens, even with all of her accomplishments at that early part of her career, it was Olympics veterans such as Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley, who took care of more of the business. Bird came off the bench, averaging 14.8 minutes, 3.3 points and 1.3 assists per game. She didn’t see any action in either the semifinals or in the gold medal game, a 74-63 victory against Australia, which was led by Storm teammate Lauren Jackson.

While on the way back to Seattle, some passengers on her flight taught her what that gold medal meant.

It was a completely-out-of-the-blue kind of thing. But it had a lasting effect on Bird.

A flight attendant had recognized her and asked if Bird had her gold medal with her. Naturally, she did. That same flight attendant then asked if she could take it up to the cockpit and show it to the pilots. Bird said yes and handed it to her.

“Before I knew it, that gold medal — literally fresh out of Athens, like, one day old — was being passed up and down the aisle of that airplane,” Bird said. “People just wanted to see it, wanted to touch it. For me, it was a goal as an athlete because it meant so much more than just sport.

“But it was in that moment where I realized this impacts Americans and just people worldwide. And this has significant meaning behind it, and you’re representing all of these people.”

Bird, of course, was just getting started. By the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, half of the roster had turned over. Stalwarts such as Staley and Sheryl Swoopes were gone, although Leslie, Tina Thompson, and Tamika Catchings were still there. Among the newcomers were future WNBA stars Candace Parker and Sylvia Fowles.

The results were essentially the same. The U.S. cruised through nearly every game, its closest margin of victory being 15 points against Russia (67-52) in the semifinals. The gold medal game was a rematch against Jackson and Australia, and was another American win, this time by a 92-65 score. Bird averaged 18-plus minutes, 3.0 points and 1.8 assists.

By 2012 in London, Bird was the leader on the floor, averaging 25 minutes, 6.1 points, and 4.5 assists per game — and all of that after recovering from a knee injury. Team USA, with Bird serving as a co-captain, won by double digits in all eight games, including 86-50 in the final against France for Bird’s third gold.

Gold medal No. 4 came at Rio in 2016. Bird was rolling along through group play, averaging six assists per game. But she suffered a leg injury during the quarterfinals against Croatia, did not play in the 86-67 semifinal win against France, then was back for 17 minutes in the gold medal game against Spain, a 101-72 United States victory.

Then there was 2021 in Tokyo. And even before the first basket was made, there was a sense of coming full circle.

In 2004, when Bird was in the early part of her career and Dawn Staley was in the latter part of hers, it was Staley who carried the U.S. flag for the opening ceremonies.

Now, with Bird in the final stages of her career, she was selected by other Team USA athletes to carry the flag, along with baseball player Eddy Alvarez.

While that was a first for Bird, it was a second for the Storm, as Lauren Jackson carried in the Australian flag at the 2012 London Games.

“It’s pretty crazy to have two players from Seattle be flag bearer for her country,” Bird said during a press conference shortly before the Tokyo opening ceremonies. “I do remember when Lauren was a flag bearer, and I do remember thinking — similar to Dawn — how incredible that was.”

On a U.S. team that also included Storm stars Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd, Bird showed why she was still playing at this highest level, even after reaching the big 4-0. In an 81-72 group stage victory against Nigeria, she dished 13 assists, her most ever in Olympics action.

She then had six assists and four rebounds against Japan — a team she and the Americans eventually would face again for the gold medal — then racked up another four assists plus six points in a 93-82 win against France to conclude group play.

In the final Olympics game of her career, Bird tallied seven points, three assists, and three rebounds as the U.S. finally pulled away from host Japan, 90-75.

It was during the postgame press conference that she brought up the concept of passing the torch, as Staley did when Bird was younger, and now as Bird was hoping to do for the likes of new Olympics stars such as Stewart and Loyd.