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Canada West Basketball Official From Kamloops Chosen To Go To 3rd Olympics

steveseibelolympics Evan Daum, Canada West Communications (Courtesy of Canada West) A pair of Canada West officials got the news they’d been dreaming of last month, as Karen Lasuik and Steve Seibel are headed to the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Lasuik (Stony Plain, Alta.) and Seibel (Kamloops, BC) were given their Olympic assignments in late February, adding another line to the pair’s impressive résumés. Both have been part of the Canada West Officials Panel since its inception 15 years ago. The Panel assigns top officials from across Western Canada to Canada West men’s and women’s basketball games, assuring the highest level of officiating possible across the conference. Lasuik and Seibel are two of Canada’s most experienced officials and will draw key Canada West and CIS assignments before their dream trips to Rio in August. Lasuik will officiate this weekend’s Canada West Women’s Final Four in Saskatoon, while Seibel will be part of the officiating crew at next week’s CIS Men’s Final 8 in Vancouver. The pair are among North America’s top officials, with Lasuik having worked around the world as a FIBA referee, including at this past summer’s FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament in Edmonton. This will be her first Olympic Games. In addition to working Canada West games, Lasuik officiates in three NCAA Division I conferences (PAC-12, WCC, and Big Sky). In 2014-15 she worked 61 DI women’s games and has been assigned to the last two NCAA DI women’s tournaments. Seibel is no stranger to the Olympics, with Rio marking his third consecutive Olympic Games. He has also worked two world championships, the most recent being the Men’s World Cup two summers ago in Spain where was the crew chief in the gold medal game. The pair, who are the only Canadian basketball officials headed to the Rio Olympics, are only part of a group of Canada West officials who have their FIBA licenses. Of the 22 FIBA carded officials in Canada, 11 are Canada West officials, including Michael Weiland (Calgary, Alta.), who will work one of the three FIBA Olympic last chance tournaments later this year, and Matthew Kallio (Edmonton, Alta.), who has officiated a full schedule this season in the NBA D-League and is set to work the FIBA U -17 World Championships this summer. In addition to the 11 FIBA officials in the conference, Canada West is also home to Michael Thomson (New Westminster, BC), who is one of only three FIBA commissioners in Canada and has worked a number of tournaments for FIBA in this capacity. “I am very proud of all of the officials in Canada West. I believe that we have set a standard in Canada West that speaks for itself,” said Canada West supervisor of basketball officials Bill Crowley. “Karen and Steve’s assignments along with Michael and Matthew’s assignments this summer speak to the standard of officiating in Canada West basketball. Needless to say, I am extremely happy and most proud.”
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