On Mexico 2015, when the team headed by Luis Scola, Andrés Nocioni and Facundo Campazzo sought the ticket to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, appeared in an audience. Almost unnoticed: as “civilian”, with a black cap and a black T-shirt, almost like one more fan. It was a semifinal against the locals, in a boiling stadium. The Argentina he achieved the goal, the players greeted him and the following year that spectator was the protagonist, and he retired from the national team.
On China 2019, when he was already enjoying a year of his retirement from the sport, he flew thousands of kilometers and witnessed the semi-final against France. He shared an audience with Kobe Bryant and lived the game intensely. Another light blue and white success and a guaranteed medal.
Las Vegas 2021. No running competition, but in full preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, the Argentine team received the same visitor: Emanuel Ginobili. The Bahiense had to travel less this time; from San Antonio to the city of the game there 2100 kilometers, two and a half hours of flight.
With the low profile of always, Manu went through the hotel that the delegation occupied. He ate with the squad and the coaching staff and spoke with Sergio Hernandez, the technical director. After the shock of 80-108 at the hands of the United States in the last friendly, encouraged Leandro Bolmaro, the boy from Barcelona who has great chances to act in the next season in the NBA. “To me, in the first tournament I played [el preolímpico Puerto Rico 1999], they ran me from here to there like a little doll”He commented to the 20-year-old from Cordoba, Minnesota Timberwolves sports heritage.
That happened this Wednesday. And Ginobili did not stay for a while, just: the next day, accompanied by journalist Adrián Paenza, he took a tour of Cox Pavilion, where the national team trained. He arrived, spoke with Hernández and greeted the basketball players as they appeared after training in the gym. There were two of Scola’s four sons, Tiago and Tomás, who spoke with the former number 5 of the national team. “I want to see your shooting mechanic”he asked one of them. And the boy hit a triple. “Very good, huh?”Manu replied.
Who stayed throughout the practice, watching. In the end, he reached out and exchanged words with Campazzo. The delegation-Ginobili meeting was recorded in an image: a large group photo of players, coaching staff and Manu was taken, eleven days before the premiere of the team in Tokyo 2020. “I like to come to see them, to be around …”, said the left-hander, almost years after his farewell to the blue and white jersey in that quarter-final in Rio de Janeiro, against the United States.
“Manu’s visit was very nice. We haven’t seen him for a long time and he always gives the team energy, good vibrate, and that’s good before a very important tournament. It adds a lot to us as a group. We are all very grateful to him for what he means as an athlete and as a person. It has transcended our sport, and it always comes back as one more”Campazzo commented later, in a videoconference with journalists. “We talk about basketball, more than anything about how each one is. He likes to talk to the players, meet the new ones. And also, of course, we chatted a little about other things in life, “added the Denver Nuggets point guard, who twice shared the Olympics with Ginobil: London 2012 (fourth position) and Rio de Janeiro 2016.
The delegation will soon depart for Japan, where there will be no public at the competitions. Ginobili’s presence will be impossible this time. But his trail of patronage of the national team will travel half the planet to accompany Argentina in another great challenge.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2024/06/01/image-9be14fc2-ae64-4025-9a1a-7ebe4d740c13-85-2560-1440.jpeg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1)