Everyone's favorite schoolyard game to play when your flaky friends are being flaky, three-on-three basketball, has been approved as an Olympic sport and will be in competition at the 2020 games in Tokyo, CBS Sports writes. "The hope behind making 3-on-3 an Olympic sport is to really open up Olympic basketball to parts of the world that struggle to field 12-person teams in 5-on-5 competition," Jim Tooley, the chief executive officer of USA Basketball, told Bleacher Report. "3-on-3 ... [is] much more accessible. And it's a totally different style of game. It's an incredibly fast-paced sprint."
Matt Santangelo, the executive director of the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world, Hoopfest, added: "Shooting is really at a premium in 3-on-3, more so than in the NBA, because in these games you can't hide on the floor. If you're open, you absolutely must hit the shot. If you don't, you lose."
Men's and women's teams will both be able to compete. The IOC announced the addition of another 16 events as well, including new distances in swimming, including a 1,500-meter event for men and women. Read more about the efforts to bring 3-on-3 basketball to the Olympics at Bleacher Report, here.
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