By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Lille, France – The best case scenario for the basketball teams that compete for the first week of the Olympics in Lille and not in Paris, would have been to travel by the TGV fast train to Paris and back, which normally takes roughly one hour per ride.
However, that was not the case in the Paris Olympics. As Eurohoops has confirmed, the option the teams had was to travel by bus, escorted to Paris for their convenience, but still that’s a 420-kilometer roundtrip. Plus the next day the men’s teams of Australia, Spain, Greece, Canada, Germany, Japan, France, and Brazil have a game.
The Greek national team, with Giannis Antetokounmpo being the first flagbearer of the parade, made the trip, while others proved to be luckier, like the USA national team which competes on Sunday and hasn’t yet left Paris for Lille. Still, even the US stars are expected to travel by bus on their way to Lille.
Giannis’ family made the trip to Paris on Friday morning and the former NBA champion entering first the parade, which traditionally is opened by the Greek delegation, is already considered an iconic moment.
LeBron James is the flagbearer of the USA, Dennis Schroeder has the honor for Germany, following Dirk Nowitzki’s footsteps and Emma Meeseman will also be the female flagbearer for Belgium, since for the first time the countries can have two flagbearers, representing men and women.
In theory, the fast trains could have been a better solution to the traveling woes, but an arson attack on the French rail lines created chaos with many trains being rerouted to traditional non-high-speed tracks. As a result delays and cancellations were the norm for Friday and the damages are expected to be prepared by Monday.