PARIS (France) - The Olympic Basketball Tournaments Paris 2024 will leave a lasting impact on those who participated, attended and followed the event from around the world after an incredible amount of drama, excitement, amazing atmospheres and a record-breaking numbers of fans.
"I think the competitiveness of the men's tournament was at its highest."
That was on top of the best players in the world producing some stunning performances and a demonstrable passion for wearing their country's basketball colors on the big stage.
Speaking at a media conference on the last day of the competition in Bercy Arena, FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis stated:
"I think the competitiveness of the men's tournament was at its highest. We had a tournament of extremely high quality and talent on the court and at the same time, it was very competitive.
When they wear a national team jersey, they feel like national heroes. This is a cape with superpowers.
"The best players in the world were showing each other that you need a lot of great teamwork and commitment to make it to the top, while good National Federation work is required behind every success. "I am very pleased by the commitment shown by the best players in the world to their national teams," continued Zagklis. "We have seen the 'FIBA version' of many players. When they wear a national team jersey, they feel like national heroes. This is a cape with superpowers.
"I think the technical explanation is that FIBA basketball requires the players to adopt some new habits, to work together in an environment different to what they have in their clubs.
"It also brings those who don't have lead roles in their clubs a lot of responsibility. Those players want to show that they can handle this responsibility."
There was also a big endorsement for the FIBA Competition System, and the recent FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2024 which were held prior to the Games to determine who took the last tickets to Paris.
"I have to commend those teams who came from the Olympic Qualifiers. Two out of the four made it to the Quarter-Finals," reflected Zagklis, while he also praised the work of the African teams in both Tournaments.
South Sudan made a positive splash on their debut in the men's competition, while Nigeria delivered a host of historic achievements on the women's side - including becoming the first ever African nation (men or women) to compete in the Quarter-Finals.
"The Women's podium again will have three Continents with Americas, Oceania, and Europe, while there was a big first for Africa - one that we have been waiting for quite some time to see. I believe this is only the beginning with what Nigeria showed us.
"Also, South Sudan were extremely competitive and were leading Serbia in the last minutes of the last game of the Group phase in a game that was determining who would qualify."
One of the most powerful aspects of Paris 2024 was the size of the crowds which eventually broke the Olympic attendance record. A total of 1,078,319 fans attended overall, shattering the previous record of 1,068,032 spectators set at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 - despite only 52 games this time, some 40 fewer than 28 years ago.
This average attendance of 20,737 per game collectively, saw the women's games almost achieve parity at 21,711 compared to 19,763.
"The Women in Basketball strategy is fundamental for FIBA," stressed Zagklis.
"Looking at the Group phase averages eight years ago at Rio, the averages were just over 3,000 in the venue.
"In this Group phase in Lille, we had an average of 22,800 and those numbers are staggering and show the growth of our sport."
There was also time to reflect on engagement levels, which are only likely to grow even further when the final analytics are collated.
But Zagklis was quick to point out that the overall popularity of basketball continues to reach new heights - thanks to another hugely successful event.
He said: "We have received excellent broadcast figures from the IOC with USA versus Serbia [Semi-Final] having more than 13 million viewers in the US, while the USA versus France [Final] had more than 10 million on French TV alone.
"For the women, the Semi-Final of Belgium and France had more than 5.5 million people watching."
"I was also impressed that we have had a five year high for searches for basketball on Google. This also shows that engagement is fantastic," he added.
Zagklis also spoke about his hope for Los Angeles 2028, but also emphasized that firstly, the priorities were the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 in Germany and the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 in Qatar.
FIBA