The Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Remember the sensation. Apparently out of nowhere the Belgian 3X3 Lions suddenly appeared. A brand new discipline, with fast and sharp basketball. On half a field, three against three, and the Lions shone. They dribbled home one country after another only to be stranded on the blow of a bronze medal.
So no medal, but the 3X3 Lions captured the hearts of the nation. All the more so because we Belgians – and by extension the whole world – love a good underdog story. And Nick Celis, team leader and the driving force behind the 3X3 basket in our country, fitted that picture perfectly.
Fictional tournaments
The fall was all the more dramatic when large-scale fraud came to light. To decorate the Olympic ticket, 27 fictitious tournaments were set up to increase the points total. Without those fraudulent points, the 3X3 Lions would never have been allowed to compete in the qualifying matches. During the investigation, Celis turned out to be the foreman in that fraud: he had approached various players to enter false matches and tournaments on the Feba website.
After the revelations, the public prosecutor of Antwerp opened a fraud investigation. That is still ongoing, but after inspection of the file, the Flemish and Belgian federations were able to start disciplinary proceedings themselves. Meanwhile, the suspension has been confirmed. Celis, like his teammate Thierry Mariën, is suspended for three years from playing basketball in Belgium. A third player, Anthony Chada, is not allowed to play for a year and a half. A lighter sentence because he was involved in the fraud, but did not go to Tokyo. Given the seriousness of the matter, the international basketball association FIBA has taken over the suspensions as a precaution.
Consequences are great
The consequences for Celis and his teammates are major. Last week, Celis was still in thirteenth place in the individual 3X3 world ranking, making him the best Belgian. This week the Antwerp 3X3 player has disappeared from that ranking.
Another consequence is that Celis, who was also no longer allowed to play for the national team 3X3 Lions, is no longer allowed to play for Antwerp TOPdesk for the time being. With that team, which he founded himself, he has worked his way up to the world top in recent years. He has also lost all his individual points in the world ranking. This has repercussions on the one hand for Antwerp TOPdesk, which has dropped from second to third place in the World Tour, and on the other hand for the 3X3 Lions (the Belgian national team), which has dropped to ninth place.
“A pure and fair sports experience is always paramount at the basketball federations”, it sounds in a joint statement from the Belgian and Flemish federations. “We regret what happened, but our broad sporting operation does not stand or fall with a few. Integrity, fair play and trust are and will remain our core values.”
Given the ongoing criminal investigation and one player’s appeal against the suspension measure, the basketball federations and Nick Celis himself do not wish to make any additional statements.
