1951 | The second medal was also silver

The Mediterranean Games were created in Egypt under the umbrella of the International Olympic Committee, which included them in its official regional calendar every four years, always in the year before the Olympic Games. the first edition was held in Alexandria and from this very first moment basketball became one of the most important tournaments on the programme.

For the Spanish National Team it meant continuing its international reconstruction, one year after having participated in the first World Cup in history. For the occasion, the selector anselmo lopez appointed former international player coach fernando font and summoned the following players: Joan Dalmau, Manuel Martín, Ignacio Pinedo, Andreu Oller, Arturo Imedio, Jesús María Pérez Loriente (the first 1.90 in the team’s history), Freddy Borrás, Willy Galíndez, Josep Brunet and Carlos Piernavieja.

With them, Spain signed an excellent performance, with victories over Turkey (48-39), Lebanon (58-34), Syria (60-44), Italy (52-47) and Greece (49-47) and only one defeat by the minimum, against Egypt (39-41). The hosts were proclaimed champions after a match that the Spanish internationals always remembered as excessively tough.

The success and the experience in Alexandria were so worthwhile, sealed by getting on the podium in basketball but with a satisfactory overall performance by the Spanish delegation, that the Spanish Olympic Committee requested the organization of the second edition, in 1955. It was granted, and Barcelona was designated as the headquarters.

And those second Mediterranean Games were going to be, as we will remember later, the first great milestone in the history of the SEAM.