Buses get basketball players from Lille to Paris for 2024 opening ceremony

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — Train issues are not a problem for the basketball teams making the trip from Lille and Villeneuve-D’Ascq near the Belgium border to the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Games.

Buses work just fine.

As the host nation, the French women’s basketball team already was in Paris by early Friday afternoon, having boarded a bus for a trip that can be as short as 138 miles (222 km). The Belgian Cats also jumped on a bus for the trip, with Emma Meesseman serving as a flag-bearer for Belgium.

“It’s just amazing also to represent women’s basketball the way we’ve done in the past few years,” Meesseman said Thursday. “Coming to this second Olympics and being flag-bearer is incredible.”

Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo, selected as one of his country’s flag-bearers, avoided Friday’s train issues altogether. He left Lille on Thursday, traveling in a convoy of buses alongside players from a few other teams.

Nikola Milutinov, Uros Plavsic and Filip Petrus Friday skipped Serbia’s Friday morning training session and took buses to Paris as well. Most of Germany’s men’s team also boarded buses bound for the ceremony, having never planned to travel by train. The plan was to then immediately head back to Lille for Saturday’s game against Japan.

Arson attacks affected France’s high-speed rail network hours before the opening ceremony.

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The U.S. women traveled on a Eurostar train on Thursday from London to Pierre Mauroy Stadium for practice. The Americans, who are looking for an eighth straight gold medal at these Olympics, then took a train after practice to Paris.

The U.S. men also are staying in Paris. LeBron James is one of the flag-bearers for the Americans.

Some teams — like the Australian Opals, who are dealing with the loss of Bec Allen to a hamstring injury — decided to watch the opening ceremony on TV.

The Australian men play Spain in the first game of group play Saturday with a morning tipoff, making the decision to stay near Pierre Mauroy Stadium easy.

Both the Canadian men, who play the fourth and final game Saturday night to kick off group play, and the women decided before Friday not to attend the opening ceremony.

Kayla Anderson said the logistics means lots of standing and waiting. The Canadians open group play Monday against host France, and any advantage can help against a team that should have plenty of hometown support.

“As much as it would have been fun, a cool experience to have, I’ll be watching from my room and cheering team Canada on,” said Alexander, who is taking part in her second straight Olympics.

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AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed to this report. ___