BTN News: In the men’s basketball tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympics, everyone is looking at the United States. The newest ‘Dream Team,’ with stars like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant, is aiming for their fifth gold medal in a row, which would be their 17th overall. Rudy Fernández from Spain will make history by playing in his sixth Olympics, something no one has done before.
Team USA, coached by Steve Kerr from the Golden State Warriors, wants to win their sixth title in a row. If Kevin Durant’s calf is fine, he could win his fourth gold in a row. LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time top scorer with four championships, is looking for his third Olympic gold. Curry, known for his three-pointers, is playing in his first Olympics.
Alex Abrines from Spain, who won bronze in the 2016 Rio Games, knows Team USA will be tough to beat. “Everyone knows they are the favorites for the gold. They come to the Games fully prepared, and it’s hard to surprise them,” he said after training in Lille.
Since basketball started at the Olympics in 1936 in Berlin, where it was used to glorify Hitler’s Third Reich, the U.S. has mostly dominated the sport, missing out on gold only four times. The first loss was in the Munich 1972 Games, where a controversial final three seconds changed the score to 50-51, favoring the Soviet Union. The U.S. team refused to accept their silver medals in protest.
Another loss was at the 1988 Seoul Games, where the Soviet Union won gold again by defeating Yugoslavia. This was just four years after the U.S. beat Spain in Los Angeles. The 1992 Barcelona Games were different because NBA players were allowed to compete. The U.S. team, with legends like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan, easily won the gold.
However, the U.S. did not win in Athens 2004, where Argentina won gold by beating Italy, and the U.S. got a disappointing bronze. In 2008, the ‘Redeem Team,’ led by LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, won gold by narrowly beating Spain in Beijing. Spain, with players like the Gasol brothers, Navarro, and Calderón, again settled for silver in the 2012 London Games.
Since then, the U.S. national anthem has played at the end of every Olympic basketball final. Team USA will start their games against Serbia, with NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. Serbia, the silver medalists in Rio 2016, missed the Tokyo Games but is ready to compete again. In Tokyo 2020, the U.S. won gold by beating France, which now hopes their young star Victor Wembanyama will help them do well in Paris.
Team USA is in Group C, which includes Puerto Rico, with players like José Alvarado and Tremont Waters, and South Sudan, which almost beat the U.S. in a friendly game in London, losing by just one point (101-100). Alex Abrines said other teams are getting better, but the U.S. is still slightly ahead.
France, which won silver in Tokyo, is in Group B with Germany, the current world champions, Japan, and Brazil, coached by Aleksander Petrovic. Spain, coached by Sergio Scariolo, will see Rudy Fernández play his last Olympic games. Fernández has won everything with Real Madrid and the national team, including two world titles, four European championships, and three Olympic medals (two silvers and a bronze). He will retire after this sixth Olympic appearance.
Spain, the 2019 world champion and 2022 European champion, has a tough start against Australia in Group A, known as the ‘group of death.’ This group also includes Greece, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Canada, with stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray, who recently won bronze at the FIBA World Cup.
The group stage games will be held at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, about 220 kilometers north of Paris. The knockout rounds will be in Paris, where the top two teams from each group and the best two third-placed teams will compete for medals.
As the Olympic basketball tournament gets closer, everyone is wondering: can the United States keep winning, or will a new champion take their place? The world will be watching as the games unfold in Paris.
