Stephen Curry will not be on U.S. Olympic men’s basketball roster; commits pile up

By OlympicTalkJun 22, 2021, 3:19 PM EDT

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Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry will not be on the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball roster, his coach, Steve Kerr, confirmed Monday.

“I think it makes perfect sense, actually. Steph has so many demands on his time. He has to play so hard for so much of the season,” Kerr told NBC Sports Bay Area on Monday. “He’s 180 pounds. He’s [33]. He needs rest. … I’m happy for Steph that he’s going to get plenty of rest and family time this summer, and he’ll be ready to go come training camp in September.”

Curry declined an invitation, according to the Associated Press, citing a source with knowledge of the situation earlier on Monday.

Curry, a two-time NBA MVP, is the most accomplished player in the world yet to suit up at an Olympics. He was on the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Cup teams but was not among 20 finalists for the 2012 Olympic team.

Curry withdrew from 2016 Olympic consideration two months before the Rio Games, citing several reasons, including knee and ankle injuries.

In 2019, Curry broke his left hand in the season’s fourth game on Oct. 30, a month after saying he planned on the Tokyo Games. He returned in March and played one game before being sidelined by the flu and the Warriors season ending due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Through this past season, Curry said he was undecided on Tokyo. The Warriors missed the playoffs, giving their players more time to rest before potentially playing in the Olympics.

Elsewhere, it has been reported the following players have made themselves available for Olympic roster selection:

Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets forward)
James Harden (Brooklyn Nets guard)
Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers guard)
Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers forward)
Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat center)
Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards guard)
Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns guard)
Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors forward)
Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks guard)
Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks foward)
Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics forward)

On June 3, LeBron James promoted his upcoming movie when asked if he will play at the Tokyo Olympics after his Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the NBA Playoffs.

“I think I’m going to play for the Tune Squad this summer instead of the Olympics,” James, referencing “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” said with a straight face before later smiling in his answer. “I think that’s what my focus [is] on, trying to beat the Monstars, or the Goon Squad we call them now. So, didn’t have much success versus the Suns, so now I am gearing my attention to the Goon Squad here in July, mid-July.”

Teammate Anthony Davis is also reportedly not expected to be on the team. Davis has not spoken publicly about his Olympic intentions.

USA Basketball has not confirmed any of the players that will be on the roster.

Olympic team selection is complicated this year by the late end to the NBA season. The conference finals are currently happening. The Opening Ceremony is July 23.

USA Basketball will hold a male player training camp and exhibition games from July 6-18 — during the playoffs — but hasn’t said whether camp participation will be mandatory for Olympic participation. USA Basketball hasn’t announced when it plans to name its Olympic men’s roster.

The IOC said last week that USA Basketball has been granted an exception, after a petition, to enter the names of its Olympic male and female basketball players up to one week after the sport entries deadline of July 5.

Athletes can be replaced from a list of 24 players per gender up until the day before the start of the men’s and women’s Olympic tournaments, according to FIBA, which said that its overall regulations have not been changed for these Games: for all nations, a list of 24 players (from which the final 12 must come) must be submitted by July 18 for the men and July 19 for the women.

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Football takes significant step in Olympic push

By OlympicTalkMar 29, 2023, 2:18 PM EDT

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Football took another step toward possible Olympic inclusion with the IOC executive board proposing that the sport’s international federation — the IFAF — be granted full IOC recognition at a meeting in October.

IOC recognition does not equate to eventual Olympic inclusion, but it is a necessary early marker if a sport is to join the Olympics down the line. The IOC gave the IFAF provisional recognition in 2013.

Specific measures are required for IOC recognition, including having an anti-doping policy compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency and having 50 affiliated national federations from at least three continents. The IFAF has 74 national federations over five continents with almost 4.8 million registered athletes, according to the IOC.

The NFL has helped lead the push for flag football to be added for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Flag football had medal events for men and women at last year’s World Games, a multi-sport competition including Olympic and non-Olympic sports, in Birmingham, Alabama.

Football is one of nine sports that have been reported to be in the running to be proposed by LA 2028 to the IOC to be added for the 2028 Games only. LA 2028 has not announced which, if any sports, it plans to propose.

Under rules instituted before the Tokyo Games, Olympic hosts have successfully proposed to the IOC adding sports solely for their edition of the Games.

For Tokyo, baseball-softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were added. For Paris, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing were approved again, and breaking will make its Olympic debut. Those sports were added four years out from the Games.

For 2028, the other sports reportedly in the running for proposal are baseball and softball, breaking, cricket, karate, kickboxing, lacrosse, motorsports and squash.

All of the other eight sports reportedly in the running for 2028 proposal already have a federation with full IOC recognition (if one counts the international motorcycle racing federation for motorsports).

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Helen Maroulis stars in wrestling documentary, with help from Chris Pratt

By Nick ZaccardiMar 29, 2023, 10:05 AM EDT

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One of the remarkable recent Olympic comeback stories is the subject of a film that will be shown nationwide in theaters for one day only on Thursday.

“Helen | Believe” is a documentary about Helen Maroulis, the first U.S. Olympic women’s wrestling champion. It is produced by Religion of Sports, the venture founded by Gotham Chopra, Michael Strahan and Tom Brady. Showing details are here.

After taking gold at the 2016 Rio Games, Maroulis briefly retired in 2019 during a two-year stretch in which she dealt with concussions and post-traumatic stress disorder. The film focuses on that period and her successful bid to return and qualify for the Tokyo Games, where she took bronze.

In a poignant moment in the film, Maroulis described her “rock bottom” — being hospitalized for suicidal ideations.

In an interview, Maroulis said she was first approached about the project in 2018, the same year she had her first life-changing concussion that January. A wrestling partner’s mother was connected to director Dylan Mulick.

Maroulis agreed to the film in part to help spread mental health awareness in sports. Later, she cried while watching the 2020 HBO film, “The Weight of Gold,” on the mental health challenges that other Olympians faced, because it resonated with her so much.

“When you’re going through something, it sometimes gives you an anchor of hope to know that someone’s been through it before, and they’ve overcome it,” she said.

Maroulis’ comeback story hit a crossroads at the Olympic trials in April 2021, where the winner of a best-of-three finals series in each weight class made Team USA.

Maroulis won the opening match against Jenna Burkert, but then lost the second match. Statistically, a wrestler who loses the second match in a best-of-three series usually loses the third. But Maroulis pinned Burkert just 22 seconds into the rubber match to clinch the Olympic spot.

Shen then revealed that she tore an MCL two weeks earlier.

“They told me I would have to be in a brace for six weeks,” she said then. “I said, ‘I don’t have that. I have two and a half.’”

Maroulis said she later asked the director what would have happened if she didn’t make the team for Tokyo. She was told the film still have been done.

“He had mentioned this isn’t about a sports story or sports comeback story,” Maroulis said. “This is about a human story. And we’re using wrestling as the vehicle to tell this story of overcoming and healing and rediscovering oneself.”

Maroulis said she was told that, during filming, the project was pitched to the production company of actor Chris Pratt, who wrestled in high school in Washington. Pratt signed on as a producer.

“Wrestling has made an impact on his life, and so he wants to support these kinds of stories,” said Maroulis, who appeared at last month’s Santa Barbara Film Festival with Pratt.

Pratt said he knew about Maroulis before learning about the film, which he said “needed a little help to get it over the finish line,” according to a public relations company promoting the film.

The film also highlights the rest of the six-woman U.S. Olympic wrestling team in Tokyo. Four of the six won a medal, including Tamyra Mensah-Stock‘s gold.

“I was excited to be part of, not just (Maroulis’) incredible story, but also helping to further advance wrestling and, in particular, female wrestling,” Pratt said, according to responses provided by the PR company from submitted questions. “To me, the most compelling part of Helen’s story is the example of what life looks like after a person wins a gold medal. The inevitable comedown, the trauma around her injuries, the PTSD, the drive to continue that is what makes her who she is.”

Maroulis, who now trains in Arizona, hopes to qualify for this year’s world championships and next year’s Olympics.

“I try to treat every Games as my last,” she said. “Now I’m leaning toward being done [after 2024], but never say never.”

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