By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The Greek basketball federation has officially informed FIBA about their intention to host one of the four pre-Olympic tournaments that will decide the final four spots of the Olympic Games basketball tournament in Paris 2024.
Since the recent World Cup, there were indications that Greece will be interested and the official bid comes as no surprise to FIBA. The total cost which is nearly three million euros was a major concern for the Greek side, however, if Giannis Antetokounmpo is present, then the costs are easy to cover just from the possible commercial deals for the event.
So far, other than health concerns, there’s no indication that the Greek Freak will be missing. On the contrary, when he announced that he would not be able to play in the FIBA World Cup, he added in his message “My personal, and our ultimate team goal is to qualify for the 2024 Olympics games and it will be an honor to represent my National Team next year”.
The Greek bid offers as a venue the “Peace and Friendship” Stadium, while the Athens’ Olympic Complex Arena (OAKA) is also a possibility, but its availability depends on the possible renovation works done by Panathinaikos during the same time.
The pre-Olympics tournaments will be held between the 2nd and the 7th of July, while the Olympic Games start on the 26th of the same month.
The NBA Finals will be over at the latest on the 23rd of June if they get to Game 7, so even if that’s the case for Giannis, there are no conflicting dates as it happened due to COVID in the 2021 pre-Olympic tournaments.
FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis has said during the FIBA World Cup that by the end of November, FIBA will announce the pre-Olympic hosts and also clarified that there’s no rule that prevents more than one tournament from being hosts on the same continent.
Meanwhile, Greece has yet to appoint a new coach after parting ways with Dimitris Itoudis, with the name of EuroLeague legend Vassilis Spanoulis being considered as a candidate.