A few months before the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, our colleagues from Basket Rétro decided to publish a book entitled The History of Basketball at the Olympics from ID Editions, available since October 20. An imposing work of 344 pages, two kilos and thirty centimeters. A dimension that allows you to fully appreciate the beautiful photographs selected by the authors.
To tell this long story, we follow a chronological plan, competition after competition, like in a textbook. The story begins even before the arrival of basketball in official competition at the Olympic Games in 1936 in Berlin. The first pages are in fact devoted to the beginnings, in Saint Louis in 1904 then in Paris in 2024. Basketball is then an Olympic demonstration sport.
Interviews with French finalists
Then, our colleagues each time tell the story of the competition, with details of the scores and the final table. There is always – when they were qualified obviously – a look back at the performance of the Blues, including interviews with one of the players from the 1948 and 2000 editions where the French team fell in the final against Team USA. It is Michel Bonnevie for London and Antoine Rigaudeau for Sydney.
The interviews bring a lively and offbeat side which gives rhythm to the book, which gains in efficiency with the chronological form but inevitably loses breath. We will read an interview with Davis Peralta, the Panamanian top scorer of the 1968 edition or the testimony of a Moroccan player the same year. Without forgetting the famous Oscar Schmidt, the best scorer in the history of the Games, and Vincent Collet for the French adventure in Tokyo in 2021.
An important place for women
Point to point out: no period is neglected. In books of this type, it often happens that the accounts of more recent events take up more space, as we have more information on them, but here, the balance is respected. We can also note the presence of a frieze which runs through the work to recall the rules established or changed in the history of basketball.
Furthermore, women are not forgotten. They who only arrived at the Games 36 years after the men, in 1976 in Montreal. The double Soviet gold medalist, Ouliana Semenova, is questioned when pages are dedicated to Cheryl Miller, Reggie’s sister, or Céline Dumerc.
The most curious will find a bibliography and sources at the end of the work, which always remains a good initiative for readers who want to know more. This ” History of Basketball at the Olympics » therefore stands out as a good manual and an excellent Christmas gift for basketball fans.
The History of Basketball at the Olympics
Author: Retro Basketball
Publisher: ID Editions
ISBN: 9782367012865
35 euros
344 pages
