By HOWARD FENDRICH
PARIS (AP) — LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry vs. Nikola Jokic is quite the matchup in the 2024 Olympics men’s basketball semifinals Thursday. OK, it’s really the United States vs. Serbia, but you get the idea. The other men’s matchup features Victor Wembanyama and host France against Germany.
There will be plenty of attention on the purple stage at Stade de France, too, where the track and field highlights include 100-meter dash champion Noah Lyles of the U.S. trying to add the 200 gold medal to his collection and join such stars of the past such as Usain Bolt and Carl Lewis, who’ve completed that sprint double at a single Summer Games.
And an attention-grabbing matchup in the women’s 400-meter hurdles is part of the program, with reigning Olympic champion and world-record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. and reigning world champion Femke Bol of the Netherlands going head-to-head for just the third time.
See the full schedule of events and read more on what to watch below:
Wembanyama, the NBA Rookie of the Year for the San Antonio Spurs, is as fascinating a basketball player as has come along in years, and him playing for host France against World Cup champion Germany should be quite the scene in the opening semifinal, which starts at 5:30 p.m. CEST/11:30 a.m. EDT at Bercy Arena.
There will be superstars galore on the court for the second semifinal between the U.S. and Serbia, which is scheduled to tip off at 9 p.m. CEST/3 p.m. EDT.
Jokic, the NBA MVP three of the past four seasons for the Denver Nuggets, will face an American team that’s so strong it’s impossible for coach Steve Kerr to offer everyone the number of minutes they might ordinarily expect or deserve.
The U.S. has its own list of past MVPs on the roster, including James, Durant, Curry and Joel Embiid, and is trying to make an 18th appearance in the gold medal game in 20 Olympic appearances.
The winners of the two games will play for the gold medal on Saturday, when the two losing semifinalists will meet to determine who leaves France with the bronze.
Lyles won the 100 by five thousandths of a second — yes, thousandths — on Sunday night, and is a big favorite heading into the 200, his stronger event. The American hasn’t lost a 200 anywhere since the Olympic final in Tokyo three years ago, when he wound up with a bronze.
That final of that event is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. CEST/2:30 p.m. EDT.
A little less than an hour later, at 9:25 p.m. CEST/3:25 p.m. EDT, comes the other race everyone is excited about: McLaughlin-Levrone vs. Bol in a showdown between this generation’s two top female hurdlers.
Bol already picked up a gold in Paris with a terrific last leg for the Dutch in the 4×400-meter mixed relay on Saturday.
So far, McLaughlin-Levrone is 2-0 against Bol, beating her at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, then again at 2022 world championships. The New Jersey-born McLaughlin-Levrone initially claimed the world record in the 400 hurdles in 2021, and then broke it four more times to get it to the current standard of 50.65, which arrived at the U.S. Olympic trials in June.
Medals are supposed to be handed out Thursday after the women’s 10k marathon swim in the Seine River, where there has been daily testing to check whether the water is within acceptable guidelines for illness-causing bacteria.
The race starts at 7:30 a.m. CEST/1:30 a.m. EDT
As it is, one test run in the Olympic open water course was canceled Tuesday, before the swimmers were given the go-ahead to dive in Wednesday.
The men’s 10k marathon race is supposed to happen Friday.
