On December 7, Beijing time, at FIBA's annual press conference, FIBA Secretary-General Zagris said that the number of 3x3 basketball teams participating in the Olympic Games will not increase in the short term, and the "expansion" of the Olympic basketball competition cannot be as simple as the Basketball World Cup.
On July 26, 2021, Chinese player Wang Lili (left) competes in the women's 3x3 basketball group at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo by reporter Zhang Xiaoyu.
At this year's Men's Basketball World Cup, the number of teams participating in the World Cup has increased from 24 to 32, but the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will still feature 12 teams from each gender. For 3x3 basketball, the number of teams participating is even lower, with only 8 teams for men and 8 teams for each gender.
"It's not that we can go from 24 to 32 in the World Cup, we can turn 12 into 16 and 8 into 12 with a stroke of the pen," Zagris said. With the addition of events for Los Angeles 2028 already confirmed, it is almost certain that there will be no events at Los Angeles that will increase the number of participants. Not only Los Angeles, but also Brisbane 2032 (Olympics) will not be. ”
On October 16, the 141st Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to add five new sports to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games: cricket, baseball, softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash. With the exception of squash, the other four new events are all team events. There's a saying in the industry that the total number of people at the Olympics can't exceed 10,500, Zagres said.
On August 8, 2021, the closing ceremony of the 32nd Summer Olympic Games. Photo by reporter Yang Lei.
The IOC certainly doesn't want to increase the number of people now, they even want to reduce it. Los Angeles 2028 will feature five new events, four of which will be collective events. Zagres said. "We certainly don't want to see only eight teams in 3x3, which doesn't reflect the universality of basketball at all, and the strength of many continents is not shown. ”
But Zagris also said FIBA understands the IOC's difficulties. "We were thinking about basketball, our own event, but the Olympics, as a comprehensive competition, were a whole other magnitude. He said. "I think we also have to thank the IOC because the Olympic qualifiers for basketball are scheduled very close to the start of the Games. We have to think about the end dates of the national leagues and give them enough time. ”
Serbia's Stojačić, left, during the men's final of the 2022 FIBA 3x3 Basketball World Cup on June 27, 2022. Photo by reporter Ren Pengfei.
The Olympic qualification tournament for 3x3 is scheduled for May 2024, while the traditional basketball Olympic qualification tournament will not end until 7 July 2024 at the latest, with the Paris Olympics starting on 26 July. "It's very hard every time we negotiate with the IOC about the qualifying time, because some delegations don't really know until July 7 if they have another 12-member team for the Olympics," Zagris said. Transportation, logistics, accommodation, all the issues to be considered, this is the chain reaction. So we should think of ourselves as members of the Olympic family, and sometimes it's not a good thing to have fewer places. ”
Due to the small number of places, the host French team only qualified for one automatic entry in 3x3. According to the rules, the women's 3x3 national team, which is slightly higher, gets an automatic qualifier, while the French men's 3x3 team can only participate in the Olympic qualification tournament like other teams. Zagris is very sympathetic to the French men's team, and he is also very grateful for the support of the French Basketball Association. He said: "I am very satisfied with the level of participation in the Paris Olympics, many teams have already started mobilizing and preparing, and I am sure that next year from the qualifying round will have a very exciting competition, and the Olympics will be a feast for basketball people." ”