There were so many questions about their cushy accommodations it seemed the Americans were on vacation.
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While many American athletes will be staying at the oft-criticized Olympic Village this summer, America’s best ballers will be laying their heads inside of Silversea Cruises’ Silver Cloud cruise ship.
“We’re excited”, she said Wednesday in Rio, according to UT’s athletics website. “This is business for us”. The team would “represent our country and be united and show the rest of the world that we are united, regardless of what’s going on”, he added.
Team USA basketball teams haven’t stayed in the Olympic Village since 1988.
It was the usual spectacle for a team that always draws a crowd at the Olympics, no matter who is on the roster. “I like them all, and it’s a great group of guys”, Angel McCoughtry of the women’s team said following its final exhibition in NY.
A local journalist tried to teach him the word for underdog, then asked if there was any chance the USA could fill that role.
“We never take it for granted when we come to the Olympics”, three-time gold medalist Sue Bird said.
“I know everybody is coming for us”.
“We play two games against teams that we’ve beaten, but they’ll be a little bit different, in China and Venezuela”.
That being said, there’s an abundance of worldwide basketball to be played and the Americans will only be playing a small portion of these games. But the US players say they aren’t thinking that way.
“(Jimmy) don’t want to be near the water”, Draymond Green told SI.com: “He doesn’t want his room facing the water. No other school has been connected directly to every US team. You can clearly see paint, grout and other construction materials littering the unit, which was clearly far from ready for occupancy.
The U.S. has won 63 straight games, 45 in FIBA competitions and 18 in exhibition play.
They gathered on July 23 and coach Geno Auriemma said Tuesday was the first real practice they’ve had.
Team USA stalwart Carmelo Anthony complained of feeling isolated when they last stayed on a cruise ship in 2004.
The US delegation reserved all the cabins for the Olympics, and the ship, with all its amenities and attractions, will become practically a floating US embassy during the Games.
“And then we have a cruise ship nearly right next to us that has our family and friends”.
All the players and coaches are aware of the news stories out of Brazil about the spread of the Zika virus, hotel rooms with malfunctioning bathrooms, polluted water, unsafe waves on the beach, political and social discord, and the worries about possible terrorist activity.
He joked that the beds were small for basketball players, but it’s expected to be smooth sailing for this group.
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“I think even if we hadn’t won the World Cup, we’d still be under tremendous pressure to win, so it just comes with the territory”. In fact, Jordan was enthusiastic about everything connected with his first Olympic experience, saying he hoped to get to as many events as possible and meet athletes from other sports, including swimmer Michael Phelps, tennis superstar Serena Williams, and Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt.
