Spain is taking part in the pre-Olympic basketball tournament in Valencia from today until July 7. The team is looking for one of the four places that are still to be filled in the Paris Olympic Games. If they succeed, the national team would obtain a ticket to the most mythical and interesting sporting event, would achieve an uninterrupted presence in the Games since Sydney 2000 and our players – with special attention to Rudy Fernández, who would reach six appearances and equal the American Diana Taurasi – would experience a tournament that changes everyone who competes in it. Berni Rodríguez, Amaya Valdemoro and Fernando Romay have already been there. And they tell us what this dream is that the team is fighting for from today.
BERNI RODRIGUEZ
He participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics
“The Games are a different story. You have to experience them with your eyes and ears wide open”
If there is a basketball generation that has made an impression on the Spanish imagination, it is that of the Gasol brothers, Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernández, Felipe Reyes… La Familia, a triumphant group to which Berni Rodríguez (Málaga, 44 years old) also belonged, who took silver at the 2008 Beijing Games after losing the final to the USA, the usual black beast of the national team. “The Games are a different story,” says the former Unicaja Málaga player. “Carlos Jiménez, captain at the time, told me: ‘Berni, keep your ears and eyes open because what you are going to experience is amazing.’ And so it was. Perhaps it has been the championship in which I have been most attentive to everything that was happening in order to enjoy it more. And whoever goes for the first time has to experience it this way.”
Berni Rodríguez (in the foreground and with his arms raised) and his teammates from the Spanish team celebrate their victory in the semi-finals of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Album / imago sportfotodienst
Rodríguez remembers stellar encounters in the Olympic village. As if by chance, in the dining room you could bump into record holder Usain Bolt or tennis player Ana Ivanovic. “Living with all the athletes is the most fun. A brutal camaraderie is generated. And you find yourself asking the fencing guy who has been injured how he is or waiting for the results of the women’s field hockey,” she says.
That team had just won the World Championship in 2006 and taken silver at the Eurobasket in 2007. “Expectations were high: we knew we were one of the best teams in the championship. But I will remember the end of the game against the USA. We lost, but we were so close to beating a dream team… Maybe the time we came closest. And that moment of having lost and still knowing that we had done something very important was a unique feeling,” he recalls.
Amaya Valdemoro
He participated in the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 (6th place) and Beijing 2008 (5th place)
“I would like to remain eternally young so I can compete in the Games”
Amaya Valdemoro (Madrid, 47 years old), considered by many to be the best Spanish basketball player in history, would like to remain eternally young so that she can attend the Games again and again: “When I see the girls I still feel envious,” she explains with a laugh, “and I’m not just talking about basketball: I’ve always wanted to be an athlete, my sport being athletics, or a swimmer, or a high jumper… It’s wonderful to be able to see so many high-level athletes together, from the moment you get up at night.”
Amaya Valdemoro, with the ball during the Spain-China first round match of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.COLOMO (Miguelez Sports/Cordon Press)
Valdemoro, who has three WNBA rings and a European Championship with the Spanish national team, among other titles, participated in the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Games, where Spain finished in sixth and fifth place respectively. “The best memory I have is the Olympic parade. It is one of the moments I have dreamed of the most in my sporting career. And I was lucky enough to do it with Elisa Aguilar.” [exjugadora internacional y hoy presidenta de la Federación Española de Baloncesto]a teammate since she was 13. There were no mobile phones yet, and being there in the marathon tunnel waiting for the Spanish anthem to play, with all the flashes, then walking around the stadium… It’s incredible,” she says.
The most distinctive thing about the competition, according to Valdemoro, is the multicultural coexistence with hundreds of athletes in the Olympic village: “It’s wonderful: you’re in a city of athletes with huge dining rooms, leisure areas… The only downside: in other championships your close people can come to watch you, but in the village there is only one pass because imagine, with all the athletes it would be horrible,” he laughs.
1. From left to right, Rudy Fernández, Marta Fernández, Amaya Valdemoro, Elisa Aguilar, Juan Carlos Navarro and Pau Gasol at Madrid airport in 2004, before flying to Athens to compete in the Games.
2. From left to right, Amaya Valdemoro, Elisa Aguilar and Anna Montañana at the opening parade of the 2008 Beijing Games.
1. From left to right, Rudy Fernández, Marta Fernández, Amaya Valdemoro, Elisa Aguilar, Juan Carlos Navarro and Pau Gasol at Madrid airport in 2004, before flying to Athens to compete in the Games.
3. From left to right, Amaya Valdemoro, Elisa Aguilar and Anna Montañana at the opening parade of the 2008 Beijing Games. Photos: PROVIDED BY AMAYA VALDEMORO
Valdemoro also talks about how one feels like the centre of the world when participating in this competition: “All eyes are focused on the Games. For example, I don’t like to do many things during them because I love being glued to the television and watching absolutely everything. It’s also good for minority sports because the Olympics enjoy spectacular audiences.”
FERNANDO ROMAY
He participated in the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
“The Games have a special philosophy that permeates you as soon as you enter the Olympic village. And you end up believing it.”
Fernando Romay (A Coruña, 64 years old), former player of the Spanish national team and of Real Madrid, was part of a legendary team that, in 1984, reached the final of the Los Angeles Games and took home a silver medal against the USA, led by a college-aged Michael Jordan. That feat and that team, which included Fernando Martín, Iturriaga and Epi, among others, changed the course of national basketball. “The Games are all or nothing. And in Los Angeles we had the feeling of being able to do something great. A desire that is great when it comes true,” says the former center.
Fernando Romay fights for a rebound against American Patrick Ewing in the final of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Bettmann (Bettmann Archive)
In addition to the American edition, Romay was present at the 1980 Moscow Games, a time that now seems remote and full of mysticism: “In Moscow I remember that everything was more Spartan. There I saw the Cuban boxer Stevenson, who at the time was one of the best,” he says. “In Los Angeles, on the other hand, I was amazed to be able to be in the Lakers locker room.” [España disputó la final en la cancha del equipo angelino] or seeing the giant training rooms that the University of Southern California football players had. Everything was on a grand scale,” he recalls.
The Games have a particular philosophy, the former player understands, which permeates you as soon as you enter the Olympic village: “The citius, altius, fortius [más rápido, más alto, más fuerte, en latín y lema de las citas olímpicas]for example. You get there and you end up believing it. You experience it from the opening ceremony: going out and parading, feeling part of a whole, knowing that you represent a lot of people… and then it’s like an explosion of light and colour. I like all that,” he says. To his teammate Rudy Fernández, who would compete in his sixth Games if Spain qualifies, he prefers not to recommend anything: he considers it a daring thing. “That I, who have only been to two, have to say something to Rudy… that would be daring!” he concludes.
The 18 chosen to compete in the pre-Olympic tournament
The Spanish team during the Sidecars concert at the event at Endesa’s headquarters in Madrid.ENDESA
The 18 Spanish basketball players who will compete for a place at the Paris Games starting this Tuesday, July 2, are: Sergio de Larrea; Rudy Fernandez; Lorenzo Brown.
The Spanish team was presented on June 20 at the headquarters of Endesa, in an event hosted by Marta Fernández (former basketball player and sister of Rudy Fernández) along with Siro López and Pablo Lolaso, two of the presenters of the program. Hanging from the hoop by Endesa (on YouTube). The event culminated with a concert by the Spanish group Sidecars, who performed three songs acoustically, including Imperfect world, a song that, according to the group, represents the team’s Olympic dream.
2024-07-02 06:29:49
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