FIBA: Belgium takes on Australia in Paris Olympics bronze medal sport

Belgium and Australia will play for a bronze medal on the 2024 Paris Olympics this Sunday, Aug. 11. The third-place sport within the ladies’s 5×5 basketball event will tip-off at 5:30 a.m. ET and might be streamed digitally through Peacock.

Belgium has already made historical past by making the bronze medal sport, having bowed out within the first spherical of the ladies’s basketball event on the 2020 Tokyo Video games within the nation’s first-ever Olympic look. In that one-point loss to eventual silver medalists Japan, it was clear that the worldwide basketball world had not seen the final of the Belgians, and that given good well being, they’d be again and higher in 2024.

It’s protected to say that’s come to fruition. In Paris, Belgium formally has taken that subsequent step, rating third amongst competing groups in factors per sport (76.4) and second in discipline aim share (46.8 p.c) due to a roster with a number of proficient playmakers and shooters. Look no additional than Belgium’s passing statistics to get an thought of why they’ve been so good: 4 of their gamers are averaging a minimum of 4 assists per sport (Emma Meesseman, Julie Vanloo, Antonia Delaere and Elise Ramette), a surefire indication of an unselfish group that doesn’t want anybody participant to dominate the basketball to be able to succeed.

Picture by Gregory Shamus/Getty Pictures

Make no mistake, although: Meesseman remains to be Belgium’s star. Actually, she’s been enjoying like among the finest gamers on the planet. The veteran ahead has made a reputation for herself within the WNBA for over a decade along with her distinctive skillset and effectivity with the basketball, and her abilities have been on full show in Paris. She’s main the competitors in scoring at 23.4 factors per sport, and in typical Meesseman vogue, is capturing at an especially correct clip (59.8 p.c).

How Australia defends Meesseman shall be paramount of their effort to reestablish themselves as common Olympic medalists. After a interval throughout which Australia medaled in five-consecutive Olympics (1996 via 2012), they didn’t advance previous the primary spherical of the event in each 2016 and 2020.

Although Australia might not be as dominant relative to the sphere as they have been within the 2000s, they nonetheless have greater than sufficient expertise to compete, as evidenced by their efficiency in Paris. The Aussies have a well-balanced squad, that includes size within the frontcourt with Ezi Magbegor and Alanna Smith, knockdown exterior capturing courtesy of Sami Whitcomb and Tess Madgen and two-way versatility in Steph Talbot.

Picture by PAUL ELLIS/AFP through Getty Pictures

For as balanced because the Australian roster is, it’s nonetheless looking for its subsequent star participant to steer it again to the heights this system as soon as loved. On this respect, the bronze medal sport is simply as huge of a chance for Australia as it’s for Belgium: one up-and-coming younger workforce seeking to set up itself as a world basketball superpower, and the opposite a veteran group out to show that its finest days usually are not fully previously.

Recreation info

Belgium vs. Australia

When: Sunday, August 11 at 5:30 a.m. ET

The place: Bercy Enviornment in Paris, France

watch: Peacock, USA Community