Tuesday, June 18, 2024
If you can only choose one Olympic venue....
So, yeah, yesterday I skipped right over the Olympics this summer to talk about the 2026 World Cup, and I feel kinda bad about that. So let's jump back to the Olympics for a moment-- and specifically what I think might be the most interesting venue in Paris.
For whatever reason, a 30,000 seat temporary facility at Place de le Concorde is slated to host four of the more unorthodox events in the games: Freestyle BMX racing, 3 on 3 basketball, skateboarding, and breakdancing.
3 x 3 basketball was an Olympic sport for the first time in 2020 (er, actually, 2021), but this will be the first time around for the US men. The team will have 4 members: Canyon Barry (son of hall of famer Rick Barry, who shoots free throws underhand and made 42 in a row in college), Jimmy Fredette (a former BYU star who played in the NBA for 7 years or so), Kareem Maddox (former Princeton player and NPR employee), and Dylan Travis (who played D2 ball at Florida Southern College). They are ranked #2 in the world.
The women's 3 x 3 team features two players familiar to most from the recent NCAA tournament: Cameron Brink from Stanford and Hailey Van Lith from LSU (who just transferred to TCU). They are joined by Rhyne Howard from the WNBA's Atlanta Dream (a former rookie of the year) and former WNBA player Cierra Burdick.
And breakdancing? A little bit here:
