CCI Alumna Cierra Burdick Wins Olympic Bronze for USA 3×3 Basketball
Olympic bronze medalist and former Lady Vols star Cierra Burdick (’15) rarely slows down, on and off the basketball court. Between traveling to play internationally, visiting with family, and making appearances, the personable power forward made time to give an interview with her alma mater just weeks after winning a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Almost always on the go, she was taking a two-week breather to spend time with her family in Charlotte, North Carolina before heading back to Europe to join her newest team in Spain.
“It’s non-stop, I need to learn how to sit down,” Burdick said with a chuckle.
Medaling at the Olympics in 3×3 Basketball
Burdick, an alumna of the School of Communication Studies, came through in the Games as her 3×3 team’s veteran player, helping to cinch the team’s win against Canada and earning them a place on the podium—an experience she’s still processing weeks after the fact.
“It’ll probably take me weeks, months, to process everything that happened in such a short amount of time. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and opportunity and there’s just a lot of gratitude to be there as an athlete and competitor. It’s the pinnacle of any athlete’s career and dream, and for that to come true is just incredible,” she said. “To have my family and friends there kept everything in perspective and kept me grounded.”
Burdick found her love of 3×3 basketball before she even graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, winning gold for USA Basketball in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) 3×3 World Championships in 2014.
A 3×3 game is played over ten minutes on a half court, ending when one team scores twenty-one points or when the time hits the ten-minute mark.
“It’s a completely different sport. I’ve heard it referred to as a ten-minute sprint, or ten minutes of hell. It’s super fast and super physical and there’s not a lot of room for error or mistakes and it’s continuous play,” she said. “It’s fun, but it can be brutal. In the women’s series you can play six games in a matter of thirty-two hours. Physically, mentally, emotionally it weighs on every aspect of you.”
The opportunity to play for Team USA in the Olympics first presented itself in 2020, but Burdick didn’t make the team that go-around. This year, she attended a training camp in Massachusetts and days of playing 3×3 games with other USA players and then against international teams put her in the running again for the 2024 Games—but it was more than two agonizing months of suspense before she was surprised with the news of her selection.
Thinking she was just going to lunch with a friend in downtown Charlotte, Burdick said she rounded a corner at the restaurant and, instead of her friend, was greeted by CEO and President of USA Basketball Jim Tooley and Director of 3×3 USA Basketball Jay Demings.
“They presented me with my jersey right then and there and it was one of the biggest surprises of my life,” she said.
Finding Success in International Basketball
Despite her achievements, getting to this point wasn’t a smooth path, Burdick said. After her time playing under Lady Vols Coach Pat Summitt, she was drafted into the WNBA but bounced around eight franchises over five years—which wasn’t the outcome she had expected. But, as someone who knew from the age of five that she was meant to play basketball professionally, Burdick didn’t let those hiccups get her down and she found her niche in international basketball instead.
“I learned a lot of lessons during my time in the W and I’m grateful for it. I don’t think I expected to fall in love with Europe the way I have. I’ve really found my home in European basketball,” she said. “Whereas, earlier in my career, I couldn’t wait to come home early in the season, now I don’t want it to be over. I spend eight months out of the year there. It has quickly stolen my heart.”
She’s heading back to Europe Aug. 31 to play the next season with Perfumerías Avenida Baloncesto, a team in Salamanca Spain. Burdick said the game is played differently in Europe, and she enjoys the fluidity and teamwork that contrasts the explosive athleticism and one-on-one play characterizing American basketball.
A Beacon of Servant Leadership
Throughout all her adventures and travel, one thing has stayed consistent: the love of fans who have followed her since her Lady Vols days.
“It’s almost 2025 and I’m almost ten years removed from Tennessee, and yet I still feel so much love on social media, and any time I come back to Knoxville it’s nothing but love and support. I’m just so grateful for the people I’ve met in Tennessee and the people who continue to believe in me,” she said.
Her time at UT has served her well in both terms of basketball and the work she does off the court. Though she initially started out as a journalism major, she switched to communication studies when her busy schedule didn’t allow her to take all the journalism courses required to graduate. She still wanted to have the option to one day transition into a broadcast role, so staying at the College of Communication and Information was a given. That’s when she found the School of Communication Studies and its major.
“I switched to communication studies and it all ended up working out in my favor. I love my major and it was exactly what I needed to be doing. The majority of what I do now is write and talk, and just having a background in communication studies—all the papers I had to write and speeches I had to deliver in my time at Tennessee—prepared me for life after graduation. It’ll set me up for success in life after basketball, whether I decide to coach or become a sportscaster or do commentary, and hopefully one day write a book,” she said.
In addition to excelling on the court, Burdick said that, under the watchful eye and strict rules of Coach Summitt, she also applied herself to her studies.
“The standard that Pat set when it came to academics was always one of excellence, and if you missed class, you missed a game; you couldn’t even be late to class. I think when you have standards in place like that and you have Pat Summitt holding you accountable, you really only have one choice, and that’s to be successful,” she said, noting Summitt’s players had a 100-percent graduation rate.
But not every Lady Vol was given the Torchbearer—UT’s highest award for undergraduate students—and Burdick was honored with this top-tier award as a senior in 2015. For her, it was an acknowledgment not just of her commitment to academics and athletics, but her commitment to “walk in love, serve in love, and lead in love.”
“I think that’s very much an embodiment of the Volunteer spirit and just the things I’ve learned from role models and mentors I have had in life, but more specifically in my time in Tennessee—whether it was my head coach, Pat, or assistant coaches, or the people I met along the way. I’m very fortunate to be surrounded by an incredible village of people and I think they all embody that spirit to lead and to be a servant leader. And to be like them, that’s my biggest goal,” she said. “And we’re passionate, we can’t forget that! Orange runs through our veins!”
CCI Alumna Cierra Burdick Wins Olympic Bronze for USA 3×3 Basketball written by Hillary Tune and originally published on the College of Communication & Information site.