Paris 2024 Olympics basketball draw: Australia women clubbed with hosts France, Boomers in Group A
The women are in Group B with Canada, France and Nigeria. The Australian men’s basketball team has been drawn with Canada and the eventual winners of the Olympic qualifiers.
The draw for basketball at the Paris 2024 Olympics was announced at the FIBA headquarters in Mies, Switzerland on Wednesday (AEDT).
The Australian women’s basketball team has been drawn in Group B, alongside Canada, hosts France and Nigeria. Meanwhile, the Boomers find themselves in Group A with Canada and the winners of the Olympic Qualification Tournaments (OQT), to be held in Greece and Spain in July.
Women’s basketball at Paris 2024 Olympics: Groups
Group A: Serbia, Spain, China, Puerto Rico
Group B: Canada, Nigeria, Australia, France
Group C: Germany, USA, Japan, Belgium
The Opals, third in the women’s FIBA rankings, will be the top side in Group B ahead of Canada, who are fifth. France are world No. 7 while Nigeria are 12th.
The Australian women’s basketball team has appeared at the Olympic Games nine times previously, winning three silver medals and two bronze. However, Australia women’s last medal, a bronze, came in 2012.
"There's no easy path to a gold medal,” former Australian basketball player Penny Taylor said. "So I think we (Australia) have to play everyone, we have to play the best teams in the world to get to the gold, so I'm very pragmatic about our position as of now and we will need to do the work we need to do."
World No. 1 USA, the reigning Olympic champions, were drawn with Belgium (world No. 6), Japan (world No. 9) and Germany (world No. 19).
While all 12 teams in the women’s basketball event for the Paris 2024 Olympics have been confirmed, only eight teams in the men’s event have been decided so far. The remaining four teams will be known after the OQTs conclude in the first week of July.
Men’s basketball at Paris 2024 Olympics: Groups
Group A: Australia, Canada, TBD, TBD
Group B: France, Germany, Japan, TBD
Group C: Serbia, South Sudan, USA, TBD
The Boomers, bronze medallists at Tokyo 2020, are ranked fifth while Canada are seventh. Olympic champions USA (world No. 1) are in Group C with Serbia (world No. 4) and South Sudan (world No. 33).
The draw for each of the men’s and women’s events saw 12 teams divided into four pots (1–4) based on their FIBA world rankings. From the four pots, teams were distributed into three groups (A–C) of four teams each based on certain geographical principles.
Basketball at the Paris 2024 Olympics will be played from July 27 to August 10 at two different venues. The group phases will be played at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille while the knockout rounds will be played at the Bercy Arena in Paris.