France is gearing up for a major basketball weekend at the Paris Olympics, with both their men’s and women’s teams competing for gold medals.
Both teams will face the Americans in their gold medal matches.
The men’s team’s appearance in the final isn’t surprising. They lost to the U.S. in the gold medal game at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, and now they’re led by NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama.
For the women’s team, this will be a long-awaited rematch with the U.S. They lost to the Americans in the gold medal game at the 2012 London Olympics and didn’t get another chance to face them in Tokyo, where they lost in the semifinals to Japan but secured bronze.
On Friday night, France’s women had to go into overtime to beat Belgium and reach the final on Sunday.
French guard Marine Johannes mentioned that they had discussed the chance of both teams making it to the gold medal games after the men’s team won on Thursday. She sees this as a great chance for French basketball.
“Everyone was talking about this final, France against USA for the men’s team, but also for us,” Johannes said. “So I think it’s a perfect matchup.”
The French teams will have strong support from their fans. The crowds have been enthusiastic in Lille during the preliminary rounds or now in Paris at Bercy Arena. U.S. forward Breanna Stewart is looking forward to the atmosphere.
“Just the way that the fans are continuing to support their countries and come out to France,” Stewart said, “… hopefully we got some from the United States coming. They’re being loud and making an impact in women’s sports.”
The U.S. men’s team set up the matchup by coming back from a 17-point deficit to beat Serbia. With France defeating World Cup champion Germany, it sets up a rematch of the 2021 Tokyo Games gold medal game.
