What if 3×3 basketball was more than a summer love affair? For a week, Place de la Concorde, in Paris, vibrated to the rhythm of this discipline, Olympic since 2021. And played in front of the public for the first time in its young history at the Olympics. For a resounding success: all places sold, sessions with 4,000 spectators for a total of 72,000 throughout the competition. “We expected this popular success,” confides Alain Contensoux, national technical director of the French basketball federation.
A success in the bays but also on television, with a peak of nine million viewers for the men's final, lost in overtime by France against the Netherlands, on a shot from Worthy De Jong.
Support from Team Paris extended
The women's failure did not dampen the enthusiasm around the discipline, far from it. “We were, with Karim Souchu (the men's coach), convinced, after Debrecen (the Olympic qualifying tournament), that we would medal at the Olympic Games with the boys,” recognizes Alain Contensoux. “We have clearly gained momentum, judge Jules Rambaut, Olympic silver medalist and former Kemper Aries (2020-2021). The first TQO was a little complicated, but the second went very well. We then continued with the challenger from Bordeaux. And what’s next are the Games. »
Since the Olympic Games, there are a lot of things moving, people who are even more interested in 3×3 than they were before.
The story should have ended there. Team Paris, set up for the Olympic Games, had to stop at the same time as the flame went out. But the results and the enthusiasm around this team have pushed the Federation to continue its support for the players until the end of the season. “It allows us to continue to be exposed at the best level in the world, to promote 3×3 in France and for people to see that there is continuity, that there is not just one team for the Games” , appreciates Jules Rambaut, 23rd player in the world. And the results followed: victories at the Masters in Lausanne (Switzerland) and the Challenger in Hamburg (Germany), second place at the Masters in Shanghai, Macau and Manama (Bahrain) and at the Challenger in Yichang. Team Paris has already secured its place in the World Tour final, in Hong Kong, from November 22 to 24. “It would be good to end the year and the project with Paris in apotheosis,” says Jules Rambaut. Currently, Team Paris is ranked 5th in the world and is therefore provisionally qualified.
Projects currently being developed
But the future beyond the month of November remains unclear for the Blues. “We are thinking about it clearly because we are in a situation that is a little precarious,” admits Jules Rambaut. Waiting for a possible structure in France, particularly in Bordeaux, with the Balistik project led by the international 3×3, Alex Vialaret. “It would be the continuation of what we have undertaken,” judges Girondin, co-founder of the association in 2016. “We know that, now, people recognize the discipline. But they don't have any benchmarks for the competition, it's still too vague. And this lack of benchmarks does not allow us to offer visibility. » He still hopes to be able to present a project for 2025, with four or five professional players. “We need to move on to create momentum. » Under penalty of seeing the best French players go abroad, where they are in demand.
Or stay with Team Paris. “In this name, it will undoubtedly disappear. But we will see because, since the Olympic Games, there are people who are even more interested in 3×3 than they were before,” judges Alain Contensoux. Enough to keep a player like Jules Rambaut waiting, determined to stay in the 3×3 circuit. “I spent two crazy years. I have a value, today, in 3×3 which makes me want to build. »
Professionalization seems necessary to ensure the future of the discipline in France, among men, while waiting for women. “I don't remember a discipline that became professionalized as quickly for men as for women. This approach does not satisfy us but it is not inconsistent either,” believes the DTN. Especially since the French women are also a hit, after the failure of the Olympics: European vice-champions and winners of the Women's Series.
Beyond these professional teams, the Federation is working on the development of events in France. “We want to anchor the Marseille Masters, position it as the Roland-Garros of 3×3, with the best players in the world. And we have the objective of organizing 5,000 tournaments in the region during the next Olympics,” explains Alain Contensoux. To offer 3×3 much more than an Indian summer.
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