By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The Paris Olympics are universally hailed as a roaring success. If you look at the television ratings and social media numbers, despite the applied limitations due to media rights, plus the record attendance, it was without a doubt.
Arguably the level of basketball displayed in every game of the tournament by any team involved was the highest ever.
However, as the Games become a behemoth of an event and basketball, despite its popularity which is documented also by the successful 3X3 tournament, is limited to a six-game tournament at best, for the four teams that reach the semifinals, clearly can’t live up to its full potential during the Olympics.
This is a footnote and the big games themselves compensated everyone in Paris for the short duration of the tournament, despite basketball being stretched throughout the Olympics.
But beyond the scenes, things were not as expected. Simple things that are considered standard for FIBA or EuroLeague tournaments, were completely absent in the Olympics both for the media and also for the teams themselves.
The media part, especially in Paris, can be excused to a certain degree due to the huge number of journalists being present. If you are not a television rightsholder, then you just get the feeling that you are not really welcomed, but that’s a totally internal issue.
A big surprise for the media – and also the coaches – compared to other Olympics was that there were no press conferences after the game. Even the coaches had to go to the mixed zone for quotes, which is nor the proper setup, not the thing they are used to and the only exception to the rule was the medal games.
Not having a press conference means, also, that coaches and players can decide not to speak at all, something not uncommon after a loss, or in the case of Nikola Jokic a conscious choice during the whole tournament.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, at least, held once a mini-press conference in the mixed zone of Lille but never appeared in front of the press in Paris.
The counter-argument is that all the players of Team USA were always available after every game, so that could have been addressed by press officers.
Due to the very strict rules of the Olympics, however, there were cases in which even the press officers were not fully accredited for the Games, essentially not having the right to do their job properly after the games.
All those issues could have been easily addressed if FIBA had been able to handle the tournament itself, but the Olympics wanted to have full control, and that made things even more complicated, despite FIBA providing its expertise and help.
The “Olympic” hotel and no practices on the venues
The really odd thing about the Paris Olympics was that even the athletes’ treatment was at least debatable. You may have seen the reports about the problematic nutrition in the Olympic Village and the outcry for those who were forced to swim in the Seine.
In basketball that was not the case, because in Lille a mini-village that was much more controllable was created only for the teams present in the city.
Plus the fears about the summer weather conditions that could create humidity in the hardwood of the Pierre Mauroy stadium proved to be without a real base, even if you can argue that the Olympics got lucky because the weather in Lille was autumn-like for most of the tournament days.
Still, one of the main experiences of the Olympics for athletes, being part of a global community in the Olympic Village, simply doesn’t apply to basketball anymore. The USA was long scrutinized for providing their NBA stars five-star accommodation outside the village during the Games.
In Paris, this proved to be the standard practice, actually encouraged by the local organizers. The teams that qualified for Paris from Lille were given the option to stay in a five-star hotel near Bercy Arena, initially, there was information about all of them using this option, and ultimately only the Germans stayed in the village.
This created another issue. The practice arena was located inside the village and believe it or not, no team had the option even when the arena was empty to practice in Bercy. You heard it right, not even shootarounds were held on the venues of the games.
And there’s also the elephant in the room, which is the referees. While ultimately you can’t blame them for a big mistake, the protests made from South Sudan, Serbia, and more, were justifiable, simply because the level of refereeing does not correspond to the level of the players competing.
This is a very long conversation, but the top-level referees of the world, namely those calling games in the NBA and the EuroLeague, somehow must be included in the mix.
Mistakes were made, but thankfully none on a last-second play that could have created a controversy.
That’s why Paris is a magical city.
Nothing is perfect and despite its flaws, because of the players on the court, this was the best tournament yet.
We will always have Jokic, Giannis, Bogi, Wemby, Yabusele, and of course, LeBron, KD, and Chef Curry…