Where will we be able to see basketball during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games? The question arises more and more seriously. While no agreement has yet been reached between the organizing committee and FIBA, the negotiations are blocked by the interests of each. A rather incredible situation for one of the most popular sports in the world, which cannot find a hall in its capital to organize its first phase. We take stock of the situation.
Barely two years before the start of the event, it is still unclear where the first phase of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games basketball tournament will take place. After months of negotiations and controversies, the Olympic committee and FIBA will not still haven’t agreed on a location. It must be said that none of the proposals is really convincing. Blocked by the relative lack of high-level infrastructure in the Paris region, faced with the difficulty of distributing the different sports in the best place according to the constraints of each discipline, the Olympic Committee is facing a headache. And it is for the moment basketball that pays the price and finds itself homeless. The situation is already settled for the final phase, which will take place at the Accor Arena in Paris-Bercy (15,000 seats). But for the first phase, it is the most total vagueness. Initially, it was to take place in Hall 6 of the Parc des Expositions at Porte de Versailles. A room not at all suitable for basketball, which hosted the Salon de l’Agriculture this year. Suffice to say that the players were not thrilled with the image of Evan Fournier, always there to defend his sport and express the feelings of his teammates.
How can we accept to see basketball, the most popular Co sport at the Olympic Games, being sent to the exhibition center?
Ceiling too low, room unsuitable. @Jpsiutat we can’t let this pass!!!
I think I’m dreaming! pic.twitter.com/AAhGsaOjAp— Evan Fournier (@EvanFourmizz) March 16, 2022
An intervention, among others, which will have dissuaded the committee from going to the end of its approach. Back to square one therefore, basketball finds itself again without a room. Given the lack of infrastructure available in the French capital, the organizers therefore turned to an “external” solution: the Pierre Mauroy stadium in Lille.. Successfully used in basketball configuration for Euro 2015 (25,000 seats), this place still does not satisfy the basketball authorities, who wish to avoid relocation to remain at the heart of the event and limit logistical constraints. FIBA has also expressed itself on the subject through the voice of Andreas Zagklis – its secretary general – in remarks collected by theAssociated Press.
“We don’t think our athletes should be subject to the arrangements that are presented to us now. Minimum conditions, as in previous Olympics, should be respected. So we want to share our concerns. »
– Andreas Zagklis, Secretary General of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA)
As you will have understood, there is no ideal solution to resolve the complicated situation of basketball in view of these Games. It will probably take several more months to get everyone to agree on a place, and it remains to be hoped that the chosen destination is up to the most popular team sport of the Olympic Games. But nothing is certain, and it is not the procrastination of recent months that will reassure us.
After their great epic of the Tokyo 2021 Games finished in second place, the Blues could have expected to be welcomed like kings for the next home deadline. Unfortunately, everything is not going well for the moment, but a solution will have to be found. Hoping that the course of the Blues is up to the event to forget these organizational difficulties.
Sources texte : AP
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