Australia and Spain round out the top three in men’s basketball. Australia is second in women’s basketball, followed by a three-way tie between Belgium, France and Spain.
The Olympics aren’t just a time to root for your home or adopted country in various sports. They are also a time to put your money on the line and hope that the country you bet on takes you to the top!
Men’s tournament: USA favored to win gold, but Australia and Spain aren’t far behind
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Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
According to FanDuel, the USA is favored to win the Gold Medal in the 2020 Olympics with an odds margin of -370. At second place is Australia with a margin of +850 and Spain with +1200. Given that Australia beat the USA in friendlies, expect the odds of Bradley Beal and the USA winning it all in Tokyo to drop if they lose to Spain in their friendly in the coming weeks.
The other teams with Wizards players, like Issac Bonga’s Germany and Rui Hachimura’s Japan are 9th and 12th with odds margins of +7500 and +10000, respectively.
Women’s Tournament: USA and Australia are first and second. But Belgium, France and Spain are in a three-way race for third!
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Photo by VIRGINIE LEFOUR/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images
Also, according to FanDuel, the USA is favored to win the Gold Medal with -750 odds. That’s great and expected news with Washington Mystics players Tina Charles and Ariel Atkins in the lineup.
Leilani Mitchell and her national team Australia, the silver medalist in the 2018 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, is also second with +1000 odds.
Third place is quite murky with Belgium, France and Spain in a three-way tie with +2300 odds.
Since FanDuel is an American company, there is likely a bias toward these three countries. Spain was the third place team in the 2018 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. Belgium played the USA in the semifinals that year in a closer-than-expected game, and France has also been a perennial medal threat.
However, I feel Serbia is underrated here in the odds. They won the 2021 FIBA Women’s EuroBasket while France won silver and Belgium won bronze which we covered last month.
That said, the Belgians are in the same group as Australia, so it will be a tough road for them to even make the quarterfinals, especially if they suffer a sudden loss like they did to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the group stages of Women’s EuroBasket.
Which teams do you see standing on the medal podium for the Olympics? Do you believe the odds lines? Let us know in the comments below.
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