3×3 Basketball Makes Debut At Tokyo Olympics
It’s a game played by the likes of little kids and middle-aged, out-of-shape wannabe Kevin Durants, in backyards and driveways and weathered gym floors across the world. You’ve got six weekend warriors at the park, looking to get in some exercise? Play a little 3×3 basketball. If you’ve got seven … some poor soul sits and has “next.”
In Tokyo, this shrunk-down, half-court version of basketball will make its Olympic debut. On the surface, that counts as an improbable development; regular 5-on-5 basketball is pretty darn popular in its own right. Why is the makeshift version of the game worthy of a gold medal?
But in the U.S., outfits like Hoop It Up have organized 3×3 tournaments since the 1990s, and FIBA, basketball’s governing body, set rules for 3×3 in 2007. It made its major international debut at the Asian Games in Macau later that year. And Olympic organizers have long been in the market to add events that can draw a younger, attention-challenged audience; 3×3 fits the bill. A sped-up version of a globally beloved game should prove more attractive to this set than, say, modern pentathlon.
So how…
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