Olympics: Basketball’s answer to LIV Golf to take Paris by storm

When Australia’s four female basketballers shoot for a medal across a week of qualifiers they will do so amid the Olympics version of bedlam, and it’s drawn comparisons with LIV Golf.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 07: 3x3 Women's players, Anneli Maley, Alex Wilson, Lauren Mansfield and Marena Whittle pose with head coach, Damon Lowery during the Australian 2024 Paris Olympic Games Basketball Squad Announcement at MSAC Arena on July 07, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)

Australian 3x3 coach Damon Lowery describes the chaos about to unfold not far from the Eiffel Tower as basketball’s version of LIV Golf.

When Australia’s four female basketballers shoot for a medal across a week of qualifiers they will do so amid the Olympics version of bedlam.

In the Concorde Urban Park, the 3x3 team will share a famous venue with breakdancing, skateboarding and BMX freestyle.

Silence please? Not on your life.

The Place de la Concorde was an execution site during the French Revolution where Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were guillotined.

Australia’s Anneli Maley reacts during the 3x3 game against China. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

For two weeks, its soundtrack will be the thumping rhythms of DJs as the heroics of Olympic athletes are dragged into the modern era.

As Australian 3x3 star Marena Whittle said this week, the spectacular atmosphere only just down the river from the Eiffel Tower will be a blessing and a curse.

“The skateboarders are going to be doing kickflips. How can I not watch that?” she said.

“Everyone keeps sending me photos of where the arena is and it looks like it’s going to be right in the thick of it.

“I am excited to see the Eiffel Tower really close.

“Just being around all those sports is going to be very different to what we are used to in those tournaments.

“Normally we are used to sticking to ourselves and being in a close, intimate group.

“But going from the village, seeing other sports, will be very awesome but also another challenge in itself.”

Whittle, partner and teammate Anneli Maley, Ally Wilson and Lauren Mansfield make up the four team members of the Gangurrus.

Mareena Whittle puts up a shot for Australia in their clash with China. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

They qualified with four successive backs-to-the-walls wins during their only opportunity to reach Paris in a qualifying tournament in Japan in May.

If they have some trepidation about the potential distractions, Lowery is much more confident about them taking the atmosphere in their stride.

“There is going to be a lot happening but this is 3x3,” he said.

“When we play in these tournaments there is music playing. It’s like LIV Golf. If it was a normal setting, it would be weird to us.

“We have crowds pumping, DJs spinning records, the microphone guy (hyping the crowd). It is going to be at home for us.

“All the tournaments which FIBA hosts are in iconic places. We go to the World Cup in Vienna and you are looking up at the cathedrals.

“This is going to be a great backdrop and nothing we haven’t experienced before.”

Australia’s Lauren Mansfield shoots during the match with China. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

Whittle, 30, loves this brand of basketball and believes in its potential as she and her teammates head to their first Olympics.

“I guess it validates every negative experience or setback I have had as well as our teammates,’’ she said.

“This only became possible in 2019 for me and even then there were a lot of setbacks.

“Taking a Gangurru team to the Olympics is amazing.

“It validates everything I have experienced. Every time a coach has said no, all those extra shots in the dark outside growing up.

“Even to accomplish this is nothing short of amazing. We only had one chance and we haven’t been very well supported by Basketball Australia.

“I believe this team can accomplish anything. I am not going to set any expectations but I just know that we can do whatever we set our minds to when we play our brand of basketball.”

Originally published as Olympics: Basketball’s answer to LIV Golf to take Paris by storm