Olympics 2020 – Women’s Basketball Outright Favourites

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are finally up and running and many sports fans will be tuning in to watch the world’s greatest athletes compete. Twelve countries will compete in Tokyo for Olympic Gold in the Women’s Basketball Tournament. The USA qualified for the Games by winning the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2018. As event hosts, Japan received automatic qualification.

Let’s take a look at the medal favourites for the Women’s Basketball and 3×3 Basketball events.

United States

The US team are the favourites for a reason. They have talent up and down their roster and will have veteran stars Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi leading the way. With WNBA MVP winners A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart onboard they will surely get their hands on gold.

Australia

Australia is ranked second in the world but the team were dealt a blow with Elizabeth Cambage ruling herself out of the Games due to mental health concerns. However, they have enough talent on the team to go for gold with a number of WNBA players in the side. Eight of the players on the roster have played in the Olympics before. 

Canada

The Canadian team could be a surprise package at the Olympics as it has a good mix of youth and experience. There are a few WNBA players on the roster with guards Natalie Achonwa and Bridget Carleton set to drive their push for a medal. The odds don’t favour them, but they’ll be worth a punt.

3×3 Basketball

We then have the new entrant to the Games in 3×3 Basketball as 16 teams, 8 men’s teams and 8 women’s sides battle it out for medals. Officially pronounced three-ex-three, this is an exciting, fast-paced version of the game with three players on each side facing off in every game.

United States

The USA team is a strong one but they are ranked 13^th in the world. 3×3 hasn’t been a strong point for the US but they could shock the other teams with the roster they’ve selected. They had a setback by losing Katie Lou Samuelson due to covid-19. But the team that features WNBA players Kelsey Plum, Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray and Samuelson’s replacement Jackie Young should be competitive.

France

The French are seen as the best women’s team in the competition. They are ranked number 1 in the world and they have the best women’s 3×3 player in their side in Laetitia Guapo. Migna Touré and Marie-Eve Paget are the second and third-best players on the planet and they’ll be the perfect unit as they go in search of the gold medal.

China

China are the reigning World Champions having won the World Cup in 2019 and they are ranked fifth in the world. They don’t have any players in the top 30 in the world rankings, but they will lean on ZhiTing Zhang and YingYun Li.