Before the Gasols, the Ricky, Rudy, Llull, Berni or Mumbrú, before Felipe Reyes and Carlos Jiménez, before what could be called the Golden Age of Spanish basketball, there was a group that paved the way for which later those lauded generations would pass through. It had its cardinal point in the Los Angeles Games in 1984. On the shores of the Pacific, an intrepid National Team challenged in the Olympic final the almighty United States of an incipient Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Sam Perkins or Chris Mullin, the germ of the Dream Team of Barcelona 1992. This Saturday, at the Juan Bravo Theater in Segovia, on the occasion of the International Sports Forum that the Castilian-Leonese city hosted this week, two priests from that team (probably its two most charismatic members as well), Juanma López Iturriaga and Juan Antonio Corbalán remembered that day when they laid the foundations for what would end up in a success story.
“We had already won European silver the year before, but it is not the same as a Games and a final against the United States. That put us at the level of the greatest. It was very important, for the fans and society in general,” Corbalán started. “Felipe González was president then, when he was leftist,” Iturriaga picked up the sarcastic glove. “For the first time in history, practically football, which was going through a bad time, took a backseat. At that time we didn’t win anything and we were very poor. We were born and raised watching Spaniards lose and that marks. In that context, 12 crazy people did what we did and people were really amazed,” he celebrated.
“We had a spectacular Pre-Olympic. We only lost to Sabonis’ USSR, which gave us a hell of a trip. In July we went to play in the United States, to a place with 100% humidity, which you couldn’t even breathe. The preparation was a little complicated. We also went through Mexico to play some games. Mexicans are very dirty at basketball. In the first game we almost fought. In the next one we ended up running after each other, crazy,” Iturriaga recalled the approach to the Olympic event. “We almost had to flee from there,” Corbalán accompanied him. “In the end we didn’t play the third game. It was a disaster, but it probably strengthened us,” Iturriaga concluded.
The base of that group was Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. “At Barcelona I don’t know how they work, but playing there gave us Real Madrid a spirit that was transferred to the National Team,” said Corbalán, who enjoyed the usual victories against the French, something in which they connect with the last generations: “Dubuisson caught me after every game and told me that we were making their lives miserable.” “On the team there were four great veterans, including me, and then a generation that was the base, which included Iturriaga, Epi, Romay and Arcega. The rest were two phenomena like Jiménez and Fernando Martín, who without being tall gave us tremendous security under the rim, and specialists like Bearán, an excellent shooter,” said the point guard, who also recognized the work of Díaz Miguel, the coach. in a “very important task.”
A change of mentality
Both agreed that they have seen “few” images of the final. “It wasn’t easy before. Now you go on YouTube and you have the entire game,” both agreed before watching a summary of the game. “He didn’t make me a starter!” Iturriaga complained with a laugh about Díaz Miguel’s lineup. “We went 2-0 and they got a little scared,” the Basque joked. “We fell back to defend,” Corbalán followed. “We were aware that we were doing something great for Spain. We came from total isolation and with things like these we began to open up. It was like shaking a bottle of champagne. We went from having a handful of enlightened people in individual sports to being successful in team sports, which is a reflection of the improvement in facilities and so on,” concluded the Madrid native. “The Gasol and company generation grew up watching successes like the 1992 Games, which we loved. That changed the mentality. He took away the complexes we had. Subsequent generations fed on that. If Fernando Martín made it to the NBA, why not Gasol. And that is important,” concluded Iturriaga.
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2024-04-06 17:25:40
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