When host nations set up the Olympic Village, they probably don’t expect Team USA to be there. For years, Team USA and especially its basketball team have opted for separate accommodations during the Olympics. Be it the 1992 Dream Team, the 2008 Redeem Team, or even the 2024 squad. A lot of factors play into it – from the sheer size of the American delegation to NBA stars’ tall statures being disproportionate to the cardboard beds. Despite it being a common occurrence, the ’04 squad got a lot of flak for it. Richard Jefferson was on that team that received luxury accommodations in Athens. 20 years later, he expressed how that situation still stings as much as the humiliating defeat.

After seeing the sustainable setup in Paris, RJ took to his Instagram to say, “Olympic Village looks lit NGL.” In the same post, he revealed his ‘Biggest regret from the 2004 Olympics.’ And contrary to popular belief, he regretted missing the camaraderie.

“I would say the one thing that I actually regret outside of not winning a gold medal in the Olympics is not staying in the Olympic Village,” Jefferson said. He added that he was understanding of the reasons. The Athens games were less than three years after the 9/11 attacks and the safety of all athletes was a high priority. To much media fanfare back then, the Team USA athletes had armed security escorts.

Moreover, they were housed far from the Olympic Village on Queen Mary 2, billed as the longest, widest, tallest luxury cruise liner that was docked at the Piraeus Harbor. It had five pools, a double deck sauna and spa, 20 restaurants, and 14 decks of sports courts. The view of clear blue Mediterranean waters was a bonus.

But it turned into a bad look for the basketball players. As Jefferson said, “We ended up staying on the Queen Mary. The men’s team in 2004, the women’s team also stayed there, the beach volleyball team, and there were other athletes that stayed. Obviously we got the most attention about it like we were ‘too good’ to be in the village.” 

The Lisa Leslie-led women’s team spent a day in the village before moving to the ship where suites cost $1,000 a night. But tennis stars, Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish shunned offers for QM2 to stay in the group housing for the rare experience which Jefferson regrets not enjoying too.

“We wanted to be there. We actually went, had lunch there a couple of times, I had so many friends from Arizona that were playing on the different sports whether it was softball or swimming, track and field. So that was the one thing to really be in there and just kind of hang out with the athletes at night. And that was the one thing that I think we kind of missed out on.”

The downsides of QM2 were widely displayed in the 2004 Olympics coverage. Leslie told the media back then that she didn’t know many athletes on board the ship. The luxury facilities also only piled on the humiliation that the basketball team was too pampered to compete.

It seemed to make it worse for the hoopsters who were having a bad season. Even though this situation was never new.

A Dream Team tradition

It started in 1992 when the US sent its first team of NBA All-Stars to the Olympics. The beds in the Olympic Village could not accommodate someone like 7 feet Patrick Ewing. So the team stayed at the Ambassador Hotel in Barcelona and a tradition for the American basketball team was born.

Apart from the Athens games, Team USA also stayed on two luxury liners at the 2016 Rio Olympics. One of them was a relatively smaller ship only for the basketball players. Between that, they stayed in hotels in Beijing and London. In Paris too, most athletes moved out of the Olympic village to stay in hotels.

But Jefferson doesn’t believe that the team was ‘too pampered’ to compete. He solely placed the blame on Coach Larry Brown’s rigidity. Lightening up with other players would’ve beem a mood booster perhaps.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.