Two things have made the Paris Olympics unique: the huge crowds and the iconic venues.
More than 550,000 packed Stade de France for rugby sevens, the Eiffel Tower is drawing sellout crowds for beach volleyball, an estimated 30,000 walked the fairways for the final round of men’s golf in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, near Versailles, and 8,000 people showed up for each of the nine days of fencing at the classic Grand Palais in the heart of the French capital.
It’s been no different at La Concorde, the historic landmark where the U.S. won a bronze medal in women’s 3 x 3 basketball Monday.
In normal times, the Place de la Concorde, located at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées, is one of Europe’s largest and most elegant town squares, a centuries-old 19-acre expanse of majestic statues and fountains that inspired paintings by Degas and Seurat.
It’s history, however, is checkered: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and Robespierre were three of more than 1,000 people executed there during the bloodiest spasms of the French Revolution — hence it’s post-revolution name, which translates roughly as Reconciliation Square — while German tanks paraded through the park during World War II.
It’s been reimagined for the Olympics, with temporary open-air arenas for 3 x 3 basketball, BMX freestyle, skateboarding and breaking set up around the park’s centerpiece, a 3,300-year-old granite Luxor Obelisk, gifted to France by Egypt in the 19th Century.
And more than 25,000 people have lined up each day beneath a punishing Parisian sun to get in, many holding nothing more than a $26 general-admission pass that won’t get them a seat in any arena but will allow them to listen to music, queue up for food, watch the games on scoreboard-sized TVs or stand on tippy toes, peering over rows 10 to 12 people deep, in the hopes of getting a glimpse of an Olympian or two.
Another packed house was on hand Monday inside the 4,700-seat erector-set model set up for 3 x 3 basketball, where the U.S. women rallied from a crushing overtime loss to Spain in the semifinals to beat Canada 16-13 in the bronze-medal game.
The U.S. went in front to stay on a free throw from the Sparks’ Dearica Hamby with 77 seconds remaining. Afterward, Hamby said finishing third in the Olympics was more personally satisfying than winning the WNBA title with Las Vegas two years ago.
“This means more, honestly,” she said. “To be at the highest level for basketball, to be an Olympian and to represent the country. I wasn’t a top basketball player coming out of high school, so this means a lot to me.”
With Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee looking on, the U.S. fell behind early. But after losing its first three pool-play games, the team has spent the entire tournament playing catch-up and the bronze-medal game was no different.
Three-on-three basketball games, played with a 12-second shot clock on a half court, last just 10 minutes and field goals count for only one point, two points if they come from behind a 22-foot arc. That makes it difficult to come from behind.
But the U.S. slowly chipped away at the deficit against Canada with TCU senior Hailey van Lith, who finished with a game-high six points, hitting a field goal and a free throw to tie game 12-12 with just under two minutes to play.
That’s when Hamby, who leads the Sparks in points, rebounds and minutes per game this season, went to work, trading baskets with Canada’s Katherine Plouffe to keep the game tied before hitting the free throw that gave the U.S. the lead. She followed that with a pair of defensive rebounds, allowing former WNBA player Cierra Burdick to close the game out with a pair of free throws.
Hamby said the Olympics were especially sweet because she got to share them with her 7-year-old daughter Amaya and 17-month-old son Legend.
“Someone came up to me, said they met my daughter and everything that I did she was like, ‘that’s my mommy, that’s my mommy’,” Hamby said. “She’s been along with me on this journey pretty much my entire career. She’s kind of seen the ups and downs of mommy’s life. So I’m just grateful to have her here, yeah.”
Hamby also fed off the energy in the packed park and the tiny but noisy basketball arena.
“The venue’s probably the best,” she said. “This environment in general is very young and fan driven. It’s just more intimate, which I appreciate. I think it’s fun.”
In the semifinals, the U.S. got into foul trouble early and that proved costly with Sandra Ygueravide sinking a free throw in overtime to give Spain an 18-16 victory. (In 3 x 3 basketball, teams must score two points to win in overtime.) With Spain’s King Felipe VI watching, Ygueravide scored Spain’s final six points to finish with a game-high nine points.
Spain made six of seven free throws while the U.S. got just one point from the stripe in the semifinal.
In the women’s final, Germany beat Spain 17-16, while the Netherlands edged host France18-17 in overtime in the men’s final.
Lithuania got the men’s bronze medal, upending Latvia 21-18 in the third-place game.