Here are the key differences between the two games.
The 2024 Paris Olympics feature some of the biggest stars from the NBA and WNBA in the games.
While you might recognize a lot of the faces you see playing on the court during this Olympic cycle, it might feel like they’re all playing a completely different sport than what you’re used to.
While they’re all still playing basketball, the game is slightly different. There are rule changes in FIBA and Olympic play that make the competition a bit different than what it usually is when we see all these stars competing in their respective leagues.
Now’s a good time to go over some of the biggest differences.
Game Length
The first and most apparent difference people can see is the game time limit.
In the NBA, games are 48 minutes long with 12-minute quarters. However, like the WNBA, FIBA games are only 40 minutes long with 10 minutes allotted per quarter. Overtime periods are still five minutes across the board.
Foul limit
In the NBA and the WNBA, players are given six fouls before being disqualified from the game.
FIBA rules are different. The limit to foul out of a game is five. Plus, technical fouls count, too. So, for example, if a player receives four personal fouls and a single technical foul, that player will be disqualified from the game.
Zone defense
In the NBA and WNBA, zone defense is allowed. However, players must not remain in the paint beyond three seconds on either end of the floor. Otherwise, it results in a turnover on offense or a technical free throw on defense.
In FIBA play, however, there are no three-second rules. Players can stay in the paint for as long as they want.
Goaltending
Under FIBA rules, players still aren’t allowed to block a ball in a downward flight toward the rim. However, once the ball this the rim a player can either swat the ball away or tap it into the goal.
Doing that would result in a goaltend in both the NBA and WNBA.
Timeouts
Timeouts are slightly different at the FIBA level. Teams get five total timeouts as opposed to the six they’d get in the NBA and WNBA.
Two are available in the first half and three in the second half. However, only two are available in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, regardless of if they’ve been unused before then.
Only one timeout is allowed in overtime and each timeout is only 60 seconds. They’re never carried over through periods.
Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. This is FTW Explains: The Olympics. Have you noticed athletes continuing to bite their medals? Even in 2024? Here’s an Olympics edition which will hopefully answer a question you might have.
This is a thing for every Olympics: whenever anyone wins a medal, whether it’s gold, silver or bronze, there are pictures of the winners biting the thing.
If you’re wondering what the deal with that is, that’s what this post is for. Let’s dive in to the tradition and why athletes are still doing it in 2024, even though this is a very old thing.
Wait, this is STILL a thing to bite a medal?
Sure is!
CHATEAUROUX, FRANCE – JULY 27: Silver medalist Jihyeon Keum of Team Republic of Korea bites her medal on the podium during the Shooting medal ceremony after the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team on day one of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 27, 2024 in Chateauroux, France. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
But why do Olympic athletes bite their medals?
I can say for sure that they’re not eating them.
In all seriousness, this comes from when people used to mine gold. They would bite when they found gold. If it was soft, the bite would leave a mark. If it wasn’t, no bite mark!
So are Olympians checking to see if the medal is real gold, silver or bronze?
(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
No. But it’s a tradition and the photos are always great. From CNN in 2012:
But why do athletes feign chomping on their prized medallions, anyway?
Most likely to satisfy the pose-hungry media, says David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians. There are only so many things to do with a medal, and the excited champions are usually appeasing requests from the gallery of Olympic photographers when they bite down on their booty.
Swimmers from around the world to keep an eye on at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. This is FTW Explains: The Olympics.
While Team USA has a stacked roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics, there are, of course, way more swimmers from other competing nations fans will want to keep an eye on.
As usual, many of the big-time swimmers to watch are Australians, whose rivalry with the U.S. seems to be strong as ever. But there is an abundance of others to follow during the Games.We’ve highlighted a few names and brief histories on their careers headed into the Olympics.
So here are nine swimmers from outside the United States. to know ahead of swimming at the 2024 Paris Games (in no particular order).
France’s Leon Marchand reacts at the end of the men’s 200m breaststroke final during the French swimming championships in Chartres, central France, on June 19, 2024, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP) (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP via Getty Images)
Poised to be a huge star for Team France, the 22-year-old is definitely one swimmer to keep an eye on. He didn’t medal in his Olympic debut in Tokyo, but since then, he’s been on the podium in multiple world championship events and compiled 10 NCAA titles. Most notably, Marchand lowered Michael Phelps’ 15-year-old last-standing individual world record to 4:02.50 when he won the 400-meter IM at world championships in 2023. He also won a world title last summer in the 200-meter IM, setting a European record (1:54.82) in the process.
After the Tokyo Games, Marchand swam for Arizona State for three seasons and is a three-time Pac-12 Men’s Swimmer of the Year. He turned pro a couple months ago and now trains with Bob Bowman, Phelps’ longtime coach who recently left the Sun Devils for Texas.
2. Ariarne Titmus, Australia: 200, 400 and 800 freestyle
Australia’s Ariarne Titmus competes in the women’s 800m freestyle final during the Australian Swimming Trials at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre on June 13, 2024. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
You may remember four-time Olympic medalist Titmus from the 2021 Tokyo Games when she won gold in the 200 free and 400 free — topping Katie Ledecky in the latter — and silver behind Ledecky in the 800 free. As the 400 free world record holder, the 23-year-old and Ledecky own nine of the 10 fastest times ever (Canada’s Summer McIntosh has the remaining one). Titmus broke the 200 free world record at Australian Olympic trials in June, swimming 1:52.23 and out-touching former world record holder Mollie O’Callaghan by just .25 seconds. Expect Titmus to swim the 800 freestyle in Paris as well, adding more layers to her rivalry with Ledecky.
3. Summer McIntosh, Canada: 200 butterfly, 400 freestyle, 200 and 400 IM
Canada’s Summer Mcintosh competes in the final of the women’s 200m butterfly swimming event during the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka on July 27, 2023. (Photo by MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP)
Back for her second Olympics, 17-year-old McIntosh heads to Paris with one of the newest world records. The two-time world champion first captured the 400 IM world record in 2023, breaking the 7-year-old mark from Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszú. This year at Canadian trials in May, she lowered it again to 4:24.38. One of the most versatile swimmers, McIntosh qualified in five individual events for Paris — 200 IM, 400 IM, 400 freestyle and 200 butterfly — but she dropped the 200 free.
She has eight world championship medals, four of them gold, and she has the potential to medal in all four individual events at the Olympics. She’ll face Katie Ledecky and world record holder Titmus in the 400 freestyle — McIntosh topped Ledecky in the event last year — and as the two-time world champ in the 200 fly, she’ll likely have to beat Team USA’s Regan Smith to claim gold.
4. Kaylee McKeown, Australia: 100 and 200 backstroke, 200 IM
Australia’s Kaylee McKeown reacts following the women’s 200m backstroke final during the Australian Swimming Trials at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre on June 13, 2024. (Photo by Patrick HAMILTON / AFP)
Another Australian swimmer with an American rival, the 23-year-old surely wants her 100 backstroke world record back from Regan Smith, who broke McKeown’s mark at U.S. trials. Since 2019, both swimmers have broken the 100 back world record twice with McKeown setting it in 2021 and lowering it in 2023. They’ve also each had the 200 world record in that time, but McKeown is the current holder. A four-time Olympic medalist, McKeown was the 100 and 200 backstroke champion at the 2021 Tokyo Games, and she and Smith make both backstroke races must-watch events at the Paris Olympics.
McKeown is also expected to swim the 200 IM in Paris. McKeown, American Kate Douglass and McIntosh each have two of the top-6 fastest times this year in the event, and they’re all within .53 seconds of each other, making this one another hyped-up Olympic event.
5. Zhang Yufei, China: 50 freestyle, 100 and 200 butterfly
Jul 29, 2021; Tokyo, Japan; Zhang Yufei (CHN) in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Now a three-time Olympian at age 26, Zhang is expected to compete in the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 butterfly in Paris. After not medaling at the 2016 Rio Games, Zhang was the 200 butterfly Olympic champion and 100 butterfly silver medalist at the 2021 Tokyo Games, along with winning gold and silver medals inrelays. The 2023 100 butterfly world champ, she has two of the 10 fastest times ever in the event, along with the third-fastest in history in the 200.
But she’s also one of 11 Chinese swimmers involved in a doping scandal from 2021 going to Paris. Publicly unknown until this year, the controversy involved 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for banned heart drug trimetazidine, but the World Anti-Doping Agency privately cleared them of any wrongdoing, allowing them to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.
6. David Popovici, Romania: 100 and 200 freestyle
Romania’s David Popovici reacts after placing first in the Swimming Men’s 200m Freestyle Final during the LEN European Aquatics Championships, at the Milan Gale Muskatirovic sports centre in Belgrade, on June 21, 2024. (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP)
The 19-year-old sprinter has the potential to shock the swimming world in Paris, despite not having his best performances in 2023. Popovici is the 2022 100 and 200 freestyle world champion and claimed the 100 free world record in 2022 before China’s Zhanle Pan broke it in February. Popovici is looking for his first Olympic medal at his second Games, and it seems like he’s trending in the right direction. In June, he posted the third-fastest 100 free time in history at 46.88 — just .08 shy of tying Pan’s world record. In the 200, he also swam a 1:43.13, which is the fastest time in 2024 and the fifth-fastest ever. So with some solid Olympic prep, Popovici could definitely be a Paris medal contender.
7. Pan Zhanle, China: 50, 100 and 200 freestyle
If anyone was wondering who’s the swimmer to beat in the men’s 100 freestyle, it’s 19-year-old Pan Zhanle, who lowered the world record to 46.80 in February. A rising star with five world championship medals — four of them gold in the 100 free and three relays — Pan will likely contend for his first Olympic medals. Expect him to compete in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events in Paris, along with surely a couple relays. While medaling in the 50 and 200 is probably a stretch — he’s ranked outside the top 25 in both this year — he owns two of the three fastest 100 free times this year. His world record is about half a second faster than Americans Jack Alexy’s and Chris Guiliano’s best times from U.S. trials.
8. Sarah Sjöström, Sweden: 50 and 100 freestyle
Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships – Swimming – Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A, Fukuoka, Japan – July 28, 2023 Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom during the women’s 50m butterfly semi final 2 (REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth)
A swimming legend, the 30-year-old has nothing to prove to anyone, especially with 25 world championship medals. But she’s back for her fifth Games and looking to add to her four Olympic medals. She was the 2016 Olympic champ in the 100 butterfly and won silver and bronze in the 200 free and 100 free, respectively. Until American Gretchen Walsh’s 100 butterfly at U.S. trials in June, Sjöström’s world record had stood since 2016. She also won silver in the 50 free at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Sjöström is entered in the 50 free and 100 free as the world record holder in the latter. In the 50, she has the top-5 fastest times ever — including her 23.61 world record from 2023 and a 23.69 swim in February — and eight of the 10 best times this year.
9. Kristóf Milák, Hungary: 100 and 200 butterfly
Hungary’s Kristof Milak competes in the Swimming Men’s 200m Butterfly Final during the LEN European Aquatics Championships, at the Milan Gale Muskatirovic sports centre in Belgrade, on June 22, 2024. (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP) (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images)
An all-star butterflier, 24-year-old Milák is the current 200 butterfly world record holder with seven of the 10 fastest times in history. The other three belong to Michael Phelps. But all of Milák’s top times were notched during or before 2022. At the Tokyo Olympics, he was the 200 butterfly gold medalist and 100 butterfly silver medalist behind American Caeleb Dressel. For Paris, Milák is entered in the 100 and 200 butterfly — two events he won gold in at European championships in June. But he’ll likely have to drop some time all around to medal in Paris.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Kaleigh Gilchrist shares her keys to know.
Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. This is FTW Explains: The Olympics. During the Olympics, some of the sports can be intimidating, especially if you’re not super familiar with them. That’s OK because we’re here to help.
Team USA dominates women’s water polo on an international level, including at the Olympics. The American women have won three consecutive Olympic gold medals and are eyeing No. 4 at the Paris Olympics this summer.
So For The Win asked Kaleigh Gilchrist — now a three-time Olympian playing for her third straight gold — to share what she thinks are the three most important things for fans new to water polo to know about her sport (aside from Flavor Flav now backing the U.S. team).
1. “There’s no horses.”
2. “You can’t use both hands. You can only use one hand at a time holding the ball.”
3. “We can’t touch the ground, so we’re egg-beatering [also known as treading water] the whole time we’re swimming.”
That last point is one that makes water polo one of the most challenging sports ever. Treading water for a significant period of time is challenging by itself. But adding the ball, offensive schemes and defensive strategies to the mix while fending off your opponents would be impossible for many people to sustain over four eight-minute quarters.
Snoop Dogg said he plans to smoke the competition for NBC.
Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. This is FTW Explains: The Olympics.
Snoop Dogg is mostly known as a musician but he is also a man who wears many hats, which also includes an involvement with the Olympics.
The legendary Long Beach rapper, who has been nominated for 17 Grammy Awards and has won a Primetime Emmy Award during his illustrious career, is the ultimate multi-hyphenate.
Now spanning more than three decades in the public eye, he is as popular and recognizable today as ever. After selling more than 35 million albums around the world, fans will get another chance to watch him enjoy continued success as more than just a musician.
Snoop had a show for the Tokyo Olympics
Snoop Dogg is a massive sports fan, showing a particular affinity for teams based in Southern California.
Some of his favorite teams include the Lakers, Dodgers, USC Trojans and Pittsburgh Steelers. He also roots for several hockey teams and he even joined an investment group to buy the Ottawa Senators, although it was not successful.
He is a football coach, as featured in the Netflix documentary Coach Snoop, and operates the Snoop Youth Football League in Los Angeles.
NBCUniversal announced that he will provide regular updates for the network during the 2024 Paris Olympics. That includes on-air time with NBC’s Mike Tirico during prime time coverage.
“I grew up watching the Olympics and am thrilled to see the incredible athletes bring their A-game to Paris. It’s a celebration of skill, dedication, and the pursuit of greatness,” said Snoop Dogg. “We’re going to have some amazing competitions and, of course, I will be bringing that Snoop style to the mix. It’s going to be the most epic Olympics ever, so stay tuned, and keep it locked. Let’s elevate, celebrate, and make these games unforgettable, smoke the competition, and may the best shine like gold. Peace and Olympic LOVE, ya dig?”
Snoop recently ran the 200-meter sprint at 2024 US Olympic Track & Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
He will also get an opportunity to carry the Olympic torch in Paris ahead of the opening ceremony as well.
Yes, you read right. A poop protest. We break it all down for you.
Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. This is FTW Explains: The Olympics. Have you seen some stuff about the Paris Olympics and how the River Seine is a venue that may not be healthy for swimmers to be in? And something about a poop protest? And you’re very confused about that whole thing? Don’t worry. We’re here to help.
That’s right, swimmers at the 2024 Olympics in Paris are supposed to be using the River Seine for certain events. But there are A LOT of questions about just how clean the body of water is.
Let’s break it all down.
Why the Olympics in Paris are using the Seine for events?
Great question! I guess it’s because it would be cool for the city to use its iconic waterway for events like the triathlon and marathon swimming races.
What’s the problem with the Seine?
Testing has shown high levels of E. coli in the water, and that bacteria is usually associated with … poop. Per The Athletic, those tests have been done with 28 days before the Games, and that would mean it would be unsafe for swimmers to perform in those waters.
Here’s more:
E. coli, along with enterococci, can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, pneumonia and sepsis when ingested. The latest findings marked the third consecutive week that samples from the river had unsafe levels of bacteria related to fecal matter.
Wait, is it even OK to swim in the river if you’re not an Olympian?
Nope. It’s been illegal in Paris since 1923.
How did France try to help with getting the Seine ready for the Olympics?
Paris spent a reported $1.5 billion (WITH A B!) to work on a solution, but heavy rains, er, flushed that plan down the toilet a bit. Sewage was washed in to the Seine and here we are.
The River Seine in Paris isn’t fit for bathing, data showed, with enterococci and E.coli bacteria concentrations well above legal thresholds. This comes a month before the Olympics, in which the landmark is meant to be one of the Games' swimming venues https://t.co/gYhtUy48fWpic.twitter.com/F70F9xLkda
OK so back on June 23, people were encouraged to go No. 2 in the river with French president Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo vowing to swim in the Seine themselves to prove it was safe. While we don’t know if people actually did it, the public proposed Parisian poop protest made headlines everywhere.
Ew. Is there another venue available for those events if the Seine is too dirty?
Good question. There’s been no official word on that … but you’d have to think that’s the case if it’s unsafe for competitors, right? It would be a massive disaster if the Olympics had to cancel events. So, stay tuned.
