Basketball player Evan Fournier, Olympic vice-champion with the France team in Tokyo last summer, expressed regret on social networks on Wednesday about the site scheduled for the preliminary round of basketball at the Paris Olympics in 2024. How can we accept to see basketball, the most popular Co sport at the Olympic Games, being sent to the exhibition center? “, tweeted Evan Fournier. The back of the New York Knicks accompanied his text with two photos: one of an empty hall at the Parc des Expositions in the south-west of Paris, and the other with a donkey, the site of the Porte de Versailles welcoming each year the Agricultural Show.
The same Parc Expo as the agricultural show
In the file to host the Olympic Games in 2024, the bid committee had proposed that basketball be played at Bercy and at the Arena in the north of Paris, Porte de la Chapelle. In December 2020, the organizing committee (Cojo) adapted its site map, finally choosing Hall 6 Parc des Expositions to host the preliminary rounds of the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, and Bercy for the final phase from the quarters.
“Ceiling too low, room unsuitable. @Jpsiutat we can’t let this pass!!! I think I’m dreaming! “Added Fournier, calling on the president of the French Basketball Federation, Jean-Pierre Siutat. At the end of December, the secretary general of the International Federation (Fiba) Andreas Zagklis explained that “many question marks” remained to be raised.
A source within Fiba then told AFP that Hall 6 poses constraints that concern the federation: pillars that can affect the quality of broadcasts, an insufficient ceiling height of 9 meters, good air conditioning in the room with a safety argument, the humidity of the air and therefore of the ground can jeopardize the physical integrity of the players.
“Are you really going to let the best sports team in the event play here?” I don’t know who’s in charge, but you have to do better for basketball! “Tweeted Nicolas Batum, captain of the France team, posting the same two photos as Fournier and questioning in particular the president of the Cojo, Tony Estanguet.
“We hear the concerns, but we also want to reassure. We have been talking for several months with Fiba, well ahead of the initially planned schedule, to find technical solutions for the development of the Arena Paris Sud (Porte de Versailles) and meet Fiba’s specifications and expectations. “, indicated the Cojo to AFP, specifying that a “new meeting” with the Fiba teams “is also planned for next week”.