RIO DE JANEIRO (Rio 2016 Olympic Games) - Tony Parker has been waiting for today's game against Spain for nearly a year.

The French point guard knew it was going to come, a showdown with the bitter rivals. He knew even before France had clinched a spot in the Rio de Janeiro Games.

After walking off the court for the last time in Lille last year, a couple of days after Spain's EuroBasket Semi-Final victory over the French and following Les Bleus' triumph over Serbia in the Third Place Game, Parker addressed his teammates and coaches in the changing room. There is video of Parker speaking to everyone.

"The Spaniards, I'm sure we'll play them next year, fate - it's like that," he said. "I have a feeling we will play next year and we will take our revenge, we'll have to be ready for that.

"It'll be so good next year if we go to the Olympics and we go after a medal. We'll all be proud of our entire France national team career and all the sacrifices that have been made.

"If we go to the Final and we play the Yanks (USA), we'll look them straight in the eye. We have athletic players just like them.

"You have to use what has happened against Spain as motivation for next year. We are commando, we go to the Olympics in Rio, it will be fun and we'll look for a medal."

France, indeed, arrived in Rio. They made it by winning the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Manila.

The team had a nightmare start against Australia, losing badly, yet ended up finishing third in Group A and that has left them with a game against their great rivals.

Spain have won some of the games and France have won some.

The stakes are usually high. The stakes are incredibly high in Rio. The winners will advance to a Semi-Final to take on the USA or Argentina.

FIBA