Saskatoon stars ready for 3-on-3 hoops in Olympics
Saskatoon’s Michael Linklater got the tip- off Thursday via email — a big announcement was coming; 3- on- 3 basketball is going to be an Olympic sport.
Fr i day morning, t he news broke everywhere, and Linklater — the world’s ninth- ranked 3- on- 3 player — has a lot to ponder.
“I’m over the moon excited,” Linklater said Friday, after the International Olympic Committee announced 3- on- 3 basketball for both men and women will be added to the Games program starting in 2020.
“It really raises the question for myself and my teammates: Is it a possibility for us to actually play in the Olympics? Being one of the top teams in the world right now, it’s kind of hard to not ask ourselves that question.”
Linklater’s Saskatoon teammates, Nolan Brudehl and Michael Lieffers, are ranked No. 10 and No. 18 respectively in the overall world player rankings. No other North American cracks the top-20.
Last year, their team — which also includes Edmonton’s Steve Sir — placed 10th in the world.
Three-on-three basketball has seen steady growth in the decade since the International Basketball Federation worked on codifying rules and established a world tour. They play with a 12-second shot clock and the first team to 21 wins.
Linklater — who, l i ke Brudehl and Lieffers, is a former University of Saskatchewan Huskies basketball player — says he’s curious to see how many elite 5- on- 5 players transition to 3- on- 3, given it now has an Olympic future.
“The players I talk to are still about 5- on- 5,” he says. “When they see us playing, it’s ‘ Oh, great, good job, three- on- three is worldwide now, so good for you.’ But they’re still focused on their 5- on- 5 careers. It’s going to be interesting to see once this starts spreading.”
But the transition, he warns, isn’t easy.
“With 5- on- 5, you can have specialty players, where a player is good at one thing, and they can hide amongst the other nine players on the floor,” he said. “With 3- on3, because there’s so much space, it’s difficult to hide. You quickly get exploited if you have a weakness.”
The IOC, which is seeking to attract a more youthful and urban audience, also announced Friday the addition of BMX freestyle cycling for 2020. In the swimming pool, they’ve added men’s 800- metre freestyle, women’s 1,500- metre freestyle and 4x100 mixed medley relay.
A 4x400 mixed relay has been added to track and field, and track cycling now has men’s and women’s madison races. There’s a new mixed- team event in archery, team events in fencing, a mixed- team event in judo, mixed doubles in table tennis and mixed team relay in triathlon.
Last August, the IOC added baseball, softball, sport climbing, skateboarding, surfing and karate.
The changes are driven in part by a drive to improve gender equality, with the goal of eventually achieving a 50- per- cent balance. The IOC says Tokyo 2020 will feature the highest representation of female athletes in Olympic history.
“I am delighted that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will be more youthful, more urban and will include more women,” I OC president Thomas Bach said in a statement.
Back home in Saskatoon, five years after he first started playing 3- on- 3, that Friday-morning announcement turned Linklater into an instant Olympic hopeful.
“If there’s an opportunity to possibly play in the Olympics? Absolutely,” he said. “Our guys would be more than willing to make that happen.”