RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Team USA will play against France and Argentina in the opening round of the 2012 Olympics.
FIBA held its Olympic draw today, and the Americans (who have lost Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose and Chauncey Billups from their original preliminary roster) were also grouped with Tunisian and the top two teams from the play-in tournament to be held in Venezuela in early June.
There are six teams in each group, and the top four classified teams from each group will then move on to the quarterfinals of the Olympics, which begin July 28 and run through August 12.
The other group is comprised of Australia, Brazil, China, Great Britain, Spain and the third-place qualifier from the play-in tournament.
The teams in the 12-team FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament taking place in Caracas, Venezuela, June 2-8 are Angola, the Dominican Republic, Macedonia, Greece, Jordan, Korea, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Russia and
Venezuela.
“The 2008 Men’s Final between the USA and Spain was one of the greatest Olympic moments. It showed the huge strides international basketball had made in becoming more and more competitive. I expect this year’s Olympic Basketball Tournaments will be a great and memorable spectacle for all,” FIBA Secretary Patrick Baumann said.
For more information, visit http://london2012.fiba.com.