Tony Gutierrez / AP

Most top female basketball players, such as Sheryl Swoopes, were lining up to play for Team USA.

My dictionary has two definitions of “prima donna.” The first explains the term as “a first or principal female singer of an opera company.” The second declares it “a temperamental person; a person who takes adulation and privileged treatment as a right and reacts with petulance to criticism or inconvenience.”

In relation to the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens, I think we can rule out the former, unless an announcer regales us with the old saw, “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings,” which is a fallacy, because in truth it’s usually over for most viewers as soon as some idiot utters that phrase.

But how, you may ask, does the latter apply to these Games? Track stars? No, most of them have been humbled by drug testing. Gymnasts? Hardly, since most aren’t yet old enough to develop their prima donna instincts. Swimmers? Nah, too grueling a discipline to foster such behavior.

Hmmm. Basketball?

That's it!

But if you guessed that the distaff side of the hoops contingent in Athens is the obvious breeding ground for such behavior given the feminine nature of the term, you’d be off by one gender. In a twist, the men are the divas. And not the ones in attendance, mind you, but rather the ones who chose to remain at home.

The men who showed up should be applauded for putting aside their usual summer activities and playing for their country, even if they’ll probably cash in heavily with endorsement opportunities associated with being a member of the Dream Team.

But the past months comprised one long exercise in courtship and rejection. USA Basketball made passes at the likes of Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Kenyon Martin, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Richard Hamilton, Mike Bibby, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Elton Brand and Jermaine O’Neal. For reasons associated with injury, previous commitments or simple disdain for the event, they all declined.

Meanwhile, the opposite was happening with the ladies. There weren’t nearly enough roster spots to accommodate the demand. They wanted to play for their country. They longed to compete at the highest level of international competition. Certainly there would be some individual benefits, but not nearly so lucrative as those presented to the men.

The primary incentive was the thrill of representing the United States, and the women lined up for the opportunity.

Three of the women on the 2004 team — Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley — are participating in their third Olympic Games. In addition, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Katie Smith and Yolanda Griffith return from the 2000 team.

The WNBA takes the Olympics seriously enough to call for a one-month break so some of its players can take part. If that happened in the NBA, the players’ association would probably demand “hiatus compensation” for the interruption.

Some NBA players voiced concerns about security. No one can say that such a global stage is completely safe, but these Athens Games figure to be the most fortified event ever created. Most of the players who bailed did so because they couldn’t be bothered. They’re jaded, they’re spoiled, and they don’t do anything they don’t want to do.

In short, they’re prima donnas.

While they sit at home, playing video games, shooting commercials, making personal appearances and assessing their investments, the men who did show — including such diva candidates as Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and LeBron James — are doing their best.

But here’s another example of how girls are better than boys.

The men’s team was embarrassed in an exhibition game against unheralded Italy, losing by 17 points. Then it struggled to hold off Germany, winning on a buzzer-beater by Iverson, before moving on to win impressively by 18 points against Serbia-Montenegro. Certainly a lack of familiarity with each other and preparation as a team has a lot to do with the shoddy early performances. But you have to wonder if this is something the men feel they have to get through, or if it’s something they’re passionate about.

This doesn’t seem to be a worry with the U.S. women. They’re pumped. They can’t wait to experience Athens, the Games, the spectacle, the competition. They’re two-time defending Olympic champions. They have 17 straight victories in the Games. And since 1996 they are 34-0 in the Olympics and world championships.

These women aren’t shrieking like divas over the heavy workload of preparing for a WNBA season, getting two-thirds through it, then jumping into the Olympic fray, knowing that the rest of the pro schedule will follow. They aren’t allowing themselves to be held back by a lack of playing time together. They’re just going out and trouncing the rest of the world, and doing so with gusto.

The way the absent men whined, you would think they were being asked to work 16-hour days at a steel mill and then take on the added chores of balling for their country.

Russia, Brazil, Australia and the Czech Republic represent the greatest obstacles to the U.S. women’s goal of a third straight gold medal. Few are paying attention, since the shortcomings and drama of the men’s team have stolen the headlines. But the American women should pull it off, because they’re able to, and they genuinely want to.

With the men, you just never know. I guess they figure just competing is gift enough to their country. But it’s hard to label them prima donnas when the real ones are still in their living rooms, playing with their video games.

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