TOKYO (AP) — For decades, Mongolia sent mostly boxers, judokas and wrestlers to the Olympics — athletes doing solo work that in many ways reflected the spirit of a nation known for its wide open spaces and its sense of nomadic individualism.

This year, however, teamwork is in vogue. A group of Mongolian female basketball players take center stage in Tokyo for the nation of 3 million, reimagining what is possible both in their country and on the Olympic stage as a whole.

Led by 21-year-old Khulan Onolbaatar, who last Friday became the first female flag bearer in the country’s six-decade history at the Games, Mongolia is one of eight women’s teams taking part in the Olympic basketball debut 3 vs. 3. .

“A dream come true for us, especially to have our first Olympics as a team sport,” Onolbaatar said. “And represent our country on the biggest stage possible with team sports. And just being part of this team.

The fact that Mongolia will not win a medal, and may not even win a game in the five-day tournament which ends on Wednesday, is almost secondary to the bigger picture this story represents.

When the leaders of international basketball federation FIBA ​​introduced this hybrid game to the world more than a decade ago, they did so with a mission to broaden the audience for hoops beyond traditional countries. and beyond the urban playgrounds where 3v3 has built its reputation. .

Their success is reflected not only in the sport’s rise into the Olympic stratosphere, but also in who’s there — and who’s not. The men from the United States – the country where the game was invented and perfected – did not qualify. Mongolian women did.

“We’ve had Olympic champions in boxing and wrestling before,” said Tulga Sukhbaatar, the Mongolian coach who has to watch the matches from the stands, as the 3-on-3 rule dictates. “But now all Mongolians say, ‘Now I might want to play basketball too.'”

Onolbaatar only started about four years ago. She grew up loving the NBA, which has been as aggressive as any American sports league in spreading its tentacles across Asia and the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Onolbaatar’s older brother had already caught the virus and was on the national team, “and you always look up to your older brothers and sisters and you want to do what they do,” she said. declared.

The idea that she could one day play in the Olympics?

“It was a distant dream. It was unreachable. It wasn’t something I thought about. I had never even watched the Olympics,” Onolbaatar said.

Now she is one of them, and aside from a few rebounds here and there, the men’s team could be too. They were the top-ranked team in Asia and the top-ranked team heading into an Olympic qualifying event earlier this year but didn’t make it, much like the American men did in another Olympic qualification.

By then, Mongolian women had long secured their place in the field, due to a high world ranking that is part of a labyrinthine system that has been tilted to benefit nations that do not have long Resume in international hoops.

“We were delighted to see the quality of play from countries that are not traditional powers,” FIBA ​​Secretary General Andreas Zagklis said at a press conference over the weekend.

The Mongolian women have had a good idea of ​​how the competition resumes once the Olympic gold medals are on the line. In the first three days of the event, they have played six matches and lost all six. The USA Women, meanwhile, came in last but started 5-0.

To further magnify what the Olympics can mean for a sport, First Lady Jill Biden was in the stands on the first night to watch Team USA in action. Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai was there on the second evening.

“He told us, ‘You girls are making history and you’re doing well,'” Onolbaatar said. “We feel good as a team, making history on the biggest stage possible. But I didn’t know he was watching. If we had, we would have been even more nervous.

The coach, Sukhbaatar, envisions a day when the stage may not seem so great for Onolbaatar and those who come after her. Hoops thrive in their hometown, the capital Ulaanbaatar, where about half the country’s population lives and where tarmac and concrete abound.

Add a hoop, a ball, and a dream, and other children from Mongolia might end up there too.

“A lot of basketball experts say it’s almost impossible to get a player to improve like we’ve done in three or four years, but we’re doing it,” Sukhbaatar said. “There is a younger generation learning now. I think we will come back to the Olympics much stronger – in 24, 28 and 32.”

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