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| British Basketball teams are into the London 2012 Olympics |
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Britain Awarded Spot in 2012 Olympic Basketball Field
The wait is over for Great Britain’s men’s and women’s national basketball teams. Basketball’s international ruling body, F.I.B.A. voted, 17-3, to include Team Great Britain in the 2012 Olympic tournaments during its Sunday meeting in Lyon, France.
It’s usually nearly automatic for the host country to be awarded a spot in the Olympic tournament, but the British teams had to prove they were worthy due to their weak competitive history. The British national teams have undertaken significant reorganization, and consequently won more games over the past two years of international play. The changes were significantly aided by adding N.B.A. and American university players.
The road to the London Games would have been difficult without the automatic bids, as both the men’s and women’s teams would have reach the finals of this summer’s EuroBasket tournaments.
“I’m really excited. We’re really happy to get it,” Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng, who will be one of the biggest stars of the British Olympic team, told the B.B.C. “We’ve been waiting for this decision for a while. We put in a lot of work to get to where we are. This is great for basketball back home. Basketball has been getting better and better and this is another step to where we want to get to.”
“I’m really excited. We’re really happy to get it,” Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng, who will be one of the biggest stars of the British Olympic team, told the B.B.C. “We’ve been waiting for this decision for a while. We put in a lot of work to get to where we are. This is great for basketball back home. Basketball has been getting better and better and this is another step to where we want to get to.”
Former N.B.A. forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu, also part to Team Great Britain, added, “The thought that I could miss out on the Olympics in my home town has been haunting me for a while, but now it’s something to look forward to. Although we’ve got it now, I don’t think it will sink in for a while.
The British men’s team has only been in the Olympics once, and that was when London hosted the games in 1948. The British women have never participated in the Olympic tournament.
F.I.B.A.’s welcome news came with an order that Great Britain’s basketball federation must make further organizational progress. The English, Scottish and Welsh basketball federations merged temporarily in 2006 in an effort to qualify for the 2012 Games. They now must decide to make their new entity permanent, or be forced to disband after the 2016 Rio de Janiero Olympics.
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