~ Over the history of the Olympic Games a number of teams have reached such heights that they can only be described as incredible. Tokyo 2020 revisits the stories of these unforgettable teams and the star players that helped them light up the Olympic Games. In the next part of our series, we look back at the Argentina men's basketball team that won back-to-back Olympics medals.
How it started
"VAN" (Sports Desk) :: The USA men’s basketball team - otherwise known as the Dream Team - began their dominant run in Olympic Basketball with at gold medal at Barcelona 1992, a feat they would repeat at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 with an average winning margin of 32.5 points per game.
They seemed unstoppable.
But at the same time while they were delivering victory after victory, another promising team was on the rise. That team was Argentina. A country that historically had little international success in basketball, until a group led by Manu Ginóbili, Fabricio Oberto and Luis Scola broke onto the world stage.
By 2001, most members of Argentina's national men's team had left their home country to play in other leagues, mainly in Europe. It meant they had strong club-level experience and skills that they could transfer to the national team.
Argentina’s first major surprise came at the 2002 FIBA World Cup.
"We were more in tune with Europe, maybe Italy, and Russia, and Yugoslavia. But Argentina? I had no idea. That's soccer!", recalled former USA coach Larry Brown.
But Argentina had proven that their skills extended far beyond football as they reached a level they had never achieved before. They won the silver medal at the 2002 FIBA World Cup and announced their potential to the world. Not only that, they created history by beating the USA in the preliminary round - the first victory of any team against a United States squad made up entirely of NBA players.
In the end, they lost the final in overtime, but coming within reach of a gold medal gave them vital experience for the future.
Or as Manu Ginobili put it: “It gave us the slap we needed.”
The biggest win
Athens 2004 was the stage on which Argentina would heal the scars from two years before.
The very first match saw them come up against Serbia and Montenegro, where they had the chance to avenge the 2002 World Cup Final defeat to Yugoslavia (a country that in 2002 included Serbia and Montenegro within its borders). In a very emotional match, Argentina won by a single point scored in the last second by Ginobili.
It went on to be known as the most important two-pointer of his career.
However, the preliminary round was not all plain sailing for Argentina.
Defeats to Spain and Italy and wins against People’s Republic of China and New Zealand meant they only went through to the quarter-finals as the third-best in their group. In the last eight they aced Greece, a team competing on home soil with 19,000 'additional ‘players’ in the crowd.
But home advantage wasn’t enough to stop Argentina, who swept through to the semi-finals.
"Tomorrow we will beat the USA Team!" were the words that resounded around the Argentina locker room after their quarter-final victory.
But beating the USA seemed more like fantasy than reality. Even though they had beaten them at the World Cup, they hadn’t been fighting for a medal and were not playing in the Olympics. Furthermore, in the Olympic qualifiers, the USA had beaten Argentina 106-73, so not many people bet on Argentina repeating their 2002 heroics against a full NBA team including the likes of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.
But there was a glimmer of hope.
The USA had already proven they were not invincible in Athens, having succumbed 90-71 to another Latin American team, Puerto Rico. It was the first time a squad composed fully of NBA players had lost in the Olympics.
In the end, this would be the first time the Dream Team missed out on the gold medal since 1992, because even though they were giants of the game, Argentina had something even bigger in their favour: their desire. Argentina ran out 89-81 winners with Ginobili again the hero, scoring a game-high 29 points.
Even though the victory against the USA was the biggest in Argentina’s history, they still had to win the final. And they wouldn’t miss out this time, beating Italy 84-69 to clinch the gold medal.
The key players
The DNA of what went on to be called The Golden Generation was the unity and friendship between all team members.
However, one name rose above them all. Ginobili scored 142 points in eight matches at Athens 2004, averaging 19.4 points per game and his efforts saw him named the MVP at Athens 2004.
When he retired in 2018, Ginobili stepped down as the sixth highest scorer in Olympic history (523 points from 29 matches).
Luis Scola, Argentina’s second-highest scorer at Athens 2004, scored the most field goals (57) in the tournament ahead of YAO Ming and Pau Gasol had the second-most offensive rebounds (20) after Tim Duncan.
What happened next?
Four years after Athens, Argentina proved The Golden Generation were still a force to be reckoned with, as they claimed bronze at Beijing 2008. They followed this up with fourth place at London 2012.
Today, only three members of the Athens 2004 Argentina team are still playing professionally: Walter Hermann, who plays for a local team called Colo; Carlos Delfino, who plays for VL Pesaro in the Italian league and Luis Scola, also in the Italian league with Pallacanestro Varese.
Delfino still has his sights on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
"My goal is to be in my fifth Olympics," he told Mundo D.
Scola also wants to compete in Tokyo: "I'd love to be in the Olympic Games," he told Clarín.
With or without Delfino and Scola, Argentina will compete at Tokyo 2020 after they finished as the best American team at the 2019 World Cup. Among the promising stars within their squad are Leandro Bolmaro or Facu Campazzo, both of whom will soon be playing in the NBA. Bolmaro became the best Argentine draft pick ever, although he decided to stay with FC Barcelona for at least one more season, while Campazzo is primed to debut in the NBA with the Denver Nuggets.
And the emergence of Argentina’s new stars has not come about by chance.
After their gold at Athens 2004, basketball has become one of the most popular sports in Argentina with greater development plans and structures enabling greater participation in the sport.
Of course, nobody in Argentina has forgotten their biggest triumph. At the Youth Olympic Games that took place in Buenos Aires in 2018, a mural in their honour was unveiled in the Olympic Village.
The Golden Generation lives on.
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