Britain trying to keep 2012 OG dream alive

[stuart]

From the Independent:

Basketball: Britain face pressure to keep 2012 dream alive

Britain's long road to earn a place in London's 2012 Olympic Games will be difficult unless they get their European B Championship campaign on the road with victory over the Netherlands at Edinburgh's Meadowbank tonight.

The coach Chris Finch's team opened their group with a 73-62 defeat in Slovakia last weekend. Unavailability among some key players has been an irritation and frustration for Finch as he knows that unless Great Britain are promoted to the European A Championships by 2009, the Olympic dream will die.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

did I understand correctly, that they want to win it all in 2012?

...well... it's not like UK would be only 5 years behind their competition in terms of quality, and whoever thinks that by having Luol Deng and Ben Gordon that's enough for a medal or quarterfinals is dead wrong...

[Buducnost PG]

did I understand correctly, that they want to win it all in 2012?

...well... it's not like UK would be only 5 years behind their competition in terms of quality, and whoever thinks that by having Luol Deng and Ben Gordon that's enough for a medal or quarterfinals is dead wrong...

Ben Gordon played for the US junior team as I know and so i think that he is not able to start for GB anymore.

[stuart]

I've actually read a couple articles saying that their goal is to win the gold medal, it's nice to reach high, but that's just not realistic. I believe, with where British basketball levels stand today, just qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games would be a huge accomplishment for England.

Stuart

[Joško Poljak Fan]

of course...
just as winning the olympic gold in cricket doesn't seem awfully hard to me neither...

[Buducnost PG]

They must stop to drink much beer and then try to talk realistic about the NT. They were not able to beat teams like Whitèrussia in enlgand in Divison B and then they think they can win the gold medal with Deng in 2012. They can be happy if they win one game. What do they thing who is playing at the olympic games Quatar, Arabia or Albania?

[rikhardur]

I've actually read a couple articles saying that their goal is to win the gold medal, it's nice to reach high, but that's just not realistic. I believe, with where British basketball levels stand today, just qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games would be a huge accomplishment for England.

Stuart

I totally second that.
It takes some years for a team to reach the top and it has to have some solid ground and a great potential. That doesn't seem to be the case. Not even Portugal which qualified for the 2007 Eurobasket is able to guarantee the Olympics...

[Lietuvis]

I dont think they mean to win a gold medal.

I would suggest from reading this that their campaign is to just be able to qualify and play in the Olympics.

No one can be that crazy to think a B team can win against the A competition..!!

[Buducnost PG]

I dont think they mean to win a gold medal.

I would suggest from reading this that their campaign is to just be able to qualify and play in the Olympics.

No one can be that crazy to think a B team can win against the A competition..!!

But GB/England is hosting the olymics in 2012 so they are directly qualified or not?

[rusher]

But GB/England is hosting the olymics in 2012 so they are directly qualified or not?

The same that I wanted to ask. In my opinion hosting nation could put up their teams in every event (like Greece in baseball- I think it was, with greek-americans).Italy in Torino winter game's ice hockey tournament.

[rikhardur]

According to ACB.com Luol Deng will really play for the UK in the 2012 Olympics and the team is indeed automatically qualified: http://www.acb.com/redaccion.php?id=34388

[Juan Carlos Nadal]

The team has already qualified indeed.

I have noticed this kind of attitude in the UK media. They think that with hardcore preparation and money they will manage to win medals in sports that they are now not good at. I was watching a TV report about the handball team that GB is trying to put together, and to my astonishment they were all convinced that by 2012 they will be competing for the medals... Are they that naive or are they that... naive??? You can't just become a powerhouse from one moment to another (and 5 years in this context correspond to a "moment" in time).

[Butata]

Ben Gordon played for the US junior team as I know and so i think that he is not able to start for GB anymore.

I'm not sure about this but didn't Hakeem Olajuwon also play for the Nigerian junior team yet still qualified to play for the US men's team in the Atlanta Olympics?

[Run and Jump]

Olympics

The goal here in Britain is not to win a medal at the 2012 Olympics but to actually have a team compete in the games.

It has been widely reported here that in order for Great Britain to take up the automatic spot for the hosts the team has to prove that it will be 'competitive'. It is not known how competitive the team has to become but many people believe that promotion to the A Division of Eurobasket would be enough.

The team that Great Britain fielded this summer is again far weaker than the potential team that could be put on the floor. Expect to see Robert Archibald and Andrew Betts from Joventut Badalona playing next summer alongside Luol Deng.

With regards to Ben Gordon it is still not confirmed whether he will be allowed to play for GB but again it is believed over here that if he is not picked for the USA team in the near future then he would play as his father still lives in England and of course he is friends with Luol.

[HIGHLANDER]

Geography lesson

I not one for shouting from the rooftops about the G.B team but can i just inform those of you who don't know that it is not just England. The G.B also includes 3 other countries and in fact Robert Archibald and Kieron Ackara are from Scotland.