Fan holds up a Belgium foam finger at USA vs Belgium Women’s Basketball match.
The Olympics are taking place in Paris, France (as well as other French cities and territories), but other than the French, does anyone else have a home field advantage? On Thursday night, the U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team beat Belgium 87-74 in group match play. The United States has only ever dropped three games in the Olympics out of 76 played, and they are looking to win their eighth consecutive gold medal.
Not every win may feel as victorious when playing overseas. After beating Belgium, the American players were intensely booed off the court. The entirety of the Pierre Mauroy Stadium was draped in red, yellow, and black -- the colors of Belgium's flag. Even after their loss, the Belgium players started an arena wide unified chant that is traditionally done after Belgium soccer matches, but it carried over to Olympic hoops to “create a positive ambience,” said a fan.
Every time a U.S. player stepped up to the free throw line, boos, yells, and noise makers filled the air. After an American bucket, if you listened close enough, you could hear a lone “Go, Stewie” or a cheer for whoever else was up from somewhere in the crowd.
Basketball is a bit of a different situation as they play all games in Lille, France, besides the gold-medal and bronze-medal matches that will take place in Paris. Not just the French athletes but all Europeans undeniably have the home-field advantage. Lille is just about an hour and a half from Belgium compared to the 3 hours it took fans to get there from Paris, where the majority of the events are held.
Overall, the ticket prices are not particularly family-friendly. Almost every event will ring up well upwards of 100 euros, with the exception of basketball and football (soccer) being significantly cheaper due to the amount of games played. Sports fans from countries across the continent have made a trip to the Olympics their summer holiday.
Paris City Hall has made it possible to still be completely immersed in the games without a ticket. Alongside the five multicolored rings being plastered on everything possible for as many photo ops as phone storage allows, there are 16 fan zones throughout the city. These zones contain massive screens for anyone to cheer on their home team for free. Set up in almost every district, they also offer a variety of food and drink available for purchase, game stations for children to play like a flag football obstacle course, and mist falling down over the viewing areas to keep cool during the current heatwave.
The game against Belgium was perhaps not an accurate depiction of the Americans who made the trek overseas, but even while enjoying the fan zones or just walking from venue to venue, the American flag and Team USA merchandise are few and far between. Instead of sitting on a plane for 8 hours or more and shelling out thousands for the Paris games, some Americans chose to wait until next time to see the best athletes in the world, when the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028.
