MIES (Switzerland) - It is now time to meet the six teams in this FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 Latvia with the dream of becoming Olympic champions this summer.
Here is the number 12 team in the FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, the three-time Olympic medalists Brazil. The South Americans are one of three countries to win three bronze medals at the Olympics - Soviet Union and Lithuania being the others. The Brazilians went home with bronze medals in 1948, 1960 and 1964.
How they qualified
By playing at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Brazil joined USA as the only team to play at all 19 flagship events. The Brazilians started the tournament with a convincing win over Iran but then fell to Spain 96-78. The South Americans bounced back in strong fashion with an 89-77 victory over Côte d'Ivoire to take second place in the First Round.
Brazil's chances of reaching the Quarter-Finals looked good when they opened the Second Round with a 69-65 win in a battle with Canada. Brazil could not keep up the momentum in their final game of the group though and fell 104-84 to Latvia to finish up fourth place.
Brazil eventually finished in 13th place at the World Cup. That qualified them for the OQTs as one of the best 16 remaining teams that did not advance directly to the Summer Olympics.
Appearances: 12 -1936 (9th); 1948 (3rd); 1952 (6th); 1956 (6th); 1960 (3rd); 1964 (3rd); 1968 (4th); 1972 (7th); 1980 (5th); 1984 (9th); 1988 (5th); 1992 (5th); 1996 (6th); 2012 (5th); 2016 (9th) Medals: 3 - 🥉(1948, 1960, 1964)
Recent OQT history*
* Since 2008
Brazilian fans are probably happy that Germany were not in the OQT Latvia as they have been eliminated by the Europeans in both of their last two OQT appearances. In 2008, Brazil were bounced 78-65 to Germany and Dirk Nowitzki in the Quarter-Finals in Athens, Greece.
Brazil were excited about the 2020 OQT Split as they breezed past Tunisia by 26 points in their group stage opener. They followed that with a 27-point victory over hosts Croatia. Another blowout came in the Semi-Finals, easing past Mexico by 28 points to reach the Final.
But Brazil could not work the same magic with Germany, eventually watching the Europeans open an insurmountable lead in the fourth quarter and thet left Croatia with the disappointment of a 75-64 loss.
Last Olympics appearance
Brazil's last Olympics appearance came at the 2016 Games at home in Rio - appearing in back-to-back tournaments after missing out 2000, 2004 and 2008.
Brazil started the tournament with a six-point loss to Lithuania after coming back from a big deficit. They surprised Spain in the next game with a 66-65 victory thanks to Marcus Marquinhos' late tip-in. Brazil could not build on that result though and lost by four points to Croatia.
The penultimate group game was a double-overtime thriller as South American rivals Argentina won 111-107. That was a killer though for the Brazilians, who failed to reach the Quarter-Finals despite finishing the group with an 86-69 win over Nigeria. Brazil were 2-3 in the group but Croatia, Spain, Lithuania and Argentina were all 3-2.
The OQT Group Phase
Brazil have a solid chance to return to the Olympics as they are competing in the wide-opener OQT Latvia. The first game in Group B will be against Montenegro while the second game will be against Cameroon, who defeated Senegal in the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Lagos, Nigeria to remain alive in the hunt for the Olympics.
The top two from the groups advance and Group A consists of hosts Latvia, Georgia, and the Philippines. The two Semi-Finals winners will face off in the Final, the winner of which will be making the trip to Paris later in the summer.
Brazil OQT games
vs Montenegro (July 2) vs Cameroon (July 4)
Players to watch
Brazil have a very nice mix of talent, both inside and outside players as well as young and experienced. Yago Santos is fully poised to take over as the main talisman for Gustavo de Conti's team. Former Ulm teammate Bruno Caboclo is also shining in Serbia at the club level and the duo will dream of making their first Olympics.
Georginho de Paula has succeeded Santos as point guard at Ulm in Germany and he has been helped by experiencing the European level. Gui Santos has become a solid role player with Golden State in the NBA and Joao Cardoso also got some late-season NBA experience with Memphis.
Petrovic also has the likes of Cristiano Felicio, Tim Soares, Leonardo Meindl, Lucas Dias and Felipe Dos Anjos. Depending on roster construction, there are also the venerable veterans Marcelinho Heurtas and Vitor Benite, who would love to show they can still play major roles.
One wild card could be Raul Neto, who suffered a major injury in the first game of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 and has not returned to the court by April 2024 though he is back working out. Brazil could get a big boost with his return.
Qualified Team Focus series
We've checked out all teams ready to step out as part of our Qualified Team Focus series. You can take a look at Cameroon, Brazil, Montenegro, Latvia, the Philippines, and Georgia.
FIBA