Olympic Countdown: Promised land beckons Jordan

The US, represented by 11 National Basketball Association players and Christian Laettner, the token amateur, open their challenge in Group A against the African champions Angola on 26 July. The other Group A teams are Brazil, Croatia, Germany and Spain.

An Olympic gold medal is the only honour missing for Johnson, the 32-year-old who retired from the Los Angeles Lakers last year after being diagnosed as having the HIV virus which causes Aids. 'All I want to show is that I'm back playing basketball again,' he said.

Lithuania, who include four members of the Soviet team which won gold in Seoul, are in Group B alongside Australia, China, the Unified Team, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.