Olympic Basketball: Spain 66, France 59.

With about 24seconds to go, Nicolas Batum charged Juan Carlos Navarro, swung a closed fist at the ball cradled at Navarro's waist and hit the Spaniard in a very sensitive place. The entire coliseum fell into shocked disbelief as the Frenchman then basically challenged the entire Spanish team to a fistfight. Tony Parker flung his plastic goggles to the ground and actually broke it.

That, in a nutshell, is the frustration each and every member of the French team must be feeling right now, after losing to Spain 59-66.



France was about 5 minutes away from eliminating Spain when the European champions started chipping away at the slim French lead. In fairness to Spain, the French did not do themselves any favors, failing to connect in 5 straight possessions.

The possession that broke the camel's back was an exquisite pass from Pau Gasol to brother Marc, who rolled to the basket and scored on a finger roll. After that, the French lost all composure and Batum swung the fist of fury.

Of course, now that the game is over and done with, Batum is accusing Spain of tanking their last game so that they could avoid Team USA. One could easily dismiss this as the sourgraping of a defeated foe...but let us all remember that this was an accusation making the rounds before this game was played.

It certainly worked out to Spain's favor, playing the relatively inexperienced France instead of either Brazil (which beat them) or Argentina (veteran and accomplished) and avoiding Team USA until the gold medal match (if Spain reaches that far).

But unless Batum has proof, no one will ever know for sure.