Los Olympic Games They evolve and the disciplines rotate every four years. Basketball is one of those sports that are part of the change and a variant such as the 3×3 modality will once again have its share of prominence in Paris 2024and what is better, with Spain as protagonist.
The Women’s 3×3 National Team got the Olympic ticket and made history for Spanish sport by being the first team in this variant of basketball to reach the Olympic Games. Much of the blame for this feat lies with Grace Alonso de Armiñowho at the buzzer and with a memorable throw with his back to the basket scored the final basket in the Pre-Olympic disputed in Hungary. An action that has gone around the world.
The Basque player has formed a magical quartet with Sandra Ygueravide, Vega Gimeno and Juana Camilión. In the last year, the four have built an almost indestructible block and have ended up achieving a success that will be remembered for a long time.
Still with her mobile phone smoking, Gracia Alonso, the most sought-after player in recent days, answers the call from THE SPANISH to review what the moment of that basket was like that will go down in history.
Newly renovated by Students from Endesa Women’s League, celebrates success and what he is experiencing in the last hours. She is a nurse by training, and basketball has given her one of the most magical moments she has experienced so far.
A nurse by training and with experience in the neurophysiology service during the hardest time of the pandemic, she has now had to ask the Federation for proof because she had received a call to work this summer in wild boar He will indeed be working, but with a ball in his hands.
How many calls have you received in the last few hours?
A bunch of them. My phone runs out, the battery runs out and my calls overlap with three or four at a time. On top of that, I’m one of those people who forgets my cell phone at home, so you can imagine. It’s something barbaric, and I haven’t even entered the networks. We don’t fully assimilate it, still a little in shock.
Was there a celebration for passing to the Games?
Yes there was. We were also with the men’s team, with the coaching staff, Elisa Aguilar (the president of the FEB) was there and there were many toasts.
Gracia Alonso, on the left of the image, along with Sandra Ygueravide, Vega Gimeno and Juana Camilión. FEB
What did the president tell you?
He congratulated us and told us that this has greatly promoted this discipline at the national level. Also that he is going to do everything possible to get a powerful 3×3 section.
If we relive the Pre-Olympic, Canada – Spain arrives, a definitive match. Were there nerves?
People have seen the last basket, but few of us know what we have been through. We had a great tournament to get to the last game, we didn’t want to play another one, it was that game or die.
It gave a certain security and confidence to be able to count on such experienced players as Vega Gimeno or Sandra Ygueravide, and it has been special to be able to step forward and help them. We assumed responsibilities and Sandra didn’t have to put on the superhero cape until the last games.
[Clark ya mira a la historia del baloncesto de EEUU: 30 puntos en su última final como universitaria]
We have always played very seriously, with very clear ideas. We started that game very well, but you can’t get lost in this discipline. That basket represents the adrenaline of fighting until the end and it turned out surprisingly that way. We are very proud of our work, it is true that dreams come true, but we have to sweat them, work for them and no one has given us anything.
How were the previous games?
In this discipline, having experience together goes a long way, especially in 3×3, which is such a small squad and because of the spaces on the field. The synergy that is created between the four of us, knowing how to read each other well, knowing how to enhance each one’s specialty. The fact of having profiles of very versatile players with different facets is what makes the team so integrated.
And you, what do you contribute to this team?
I have noticed an evolution in the four of them compared to the previous summer in terms of the whole. There are zero individualities and we knew that we were going to achieve it together. I have felt much more free and with scoring margin, with a lot of determination at the basket, perhaps something in which I was more inhibited before because there were people with more experience.
For me this basket is a brutal individual achievement, it represents not only what 3×3 is, but it represents me and my relationship with basketball. I consider that I am not a very talented player with the ball, but I am where I am because of the effort and discipline. I consider myself very lucky to enjoy this the way I do.
📹 The basket of the tournament in the words of its PROTAGONIST 🦸
🎙️ GRACE of my LIFE: “It’s a shot that is not practiced… but it went straight” 🪙#3x3OQT | #LaFamilia #SelFEM3x3 🇪🇸 #We are a team pic.twitter.com/W4NToFaC5X
— Basketball Spain (@BaloncestoESP) May 20, 2024
How long has this group of four players been together?
We have maintained it since the previous summer. We have played the Woman Series, which serves to maintain points in the ranking, to stay active and gain experience. In the European Championship we finished with the silver medal and it has been cooking little by little. We spent four days in Valencia and four days in Serbia preparing for the tournament.
Is it a surprise to get here and qualify for the Olympic Games?
We went with a very clear idea of what we wanted and what we were going for. Above all, thanks to Sandra and Vega, who were on the verge of being in Tokyo and they have transmitted that to us in such a way that there was no option not to be in Paris. For us it is no surprise, we have fought it, we have suffered it and they have not given us anything.
Let’s talk about the last play of the game and the basket.
It wasn’t planned that I would take the chance, in fact it was the last possibility of all. We didn’t know how to read that the two big ones defended Sandra and a little one defended me. We were looking for an entrance to the hoop. I crossed the line at the free kick, they left it on a plate for me and I could have returned it, but I took responsibility without thinking about it.
I got up, and it’s true that the shot was a little unstable because I had to modify it at the last moment. As the ball came out, I knew it wasn’t going to go in because I had to pump the shot a lot. Immediately, when I landed, I went to steal the ball from the Canadian player, I sent it to the other side of the hoop and then the shot with my back is a formula between intuition, orientation and the final touch.
It was enough to perform the miracle. It took milliseconds for our faces to go from stupefaction to joy to uncontrolled hysteria. I have received videos from family and friends that were recorded in those last minutes, the emotion that that basket conveys… All the people who know me know what basketball means to me and what I have fought to be where I am.
The Spanish women’s 3×3 basketball team during the FEB pre-Olympic
[Helena Pueyo, la joya española que se codea con las estrellas de la WNBA y que sueña con los JJOO]
What was the group’s reaction after the basket?
There were many screams, but above all we laughed. We started laughing, hysterical laughter. My teammates know that I am not characterized by being a super demanding player with myself. For me, basketball is another part of my life and I don’t obsess about it. They know perfectly well that it is something natural and that it is necessary to have other distractions because you are your worst enemy. I said, ‘what a gift basketball just gave me.’
[España se clasifica para los JJOO tras la victoria de Japón en el Preolímpico femenino de baloncesto]
Furthermore, it was something historic for Spanish sport.
On top of that, this is history for the women’s 3×3 section because we have qualified for the first Olympic Games in this discipline.
What would you say to someone who has never seen 3×3? Does this modernization of the Olympic Games sound good to you?
It’s just what you mention, modernization. Adapt to the times in which we are living and be able to generate something that, related to sports, can be adapted to today’s society, where everything is fast. I think there is going to be a 3×3 boom in the short term.
The Spanish women’s 3×3 basketball team during the FEB pre-Olympic
In the end, this is also another success for Spanish basketball, a sport that has brought many joys.
Basketball has a very good birth in Spain and we have always been a very competitive country in all clubs. There are very talented girls who decide to continue playing in Spain rather than go elsewhere, because the Women’s League is one of the best at the European level and many foreigners come and nourish us, they promote the competition.
And now in Paris, what do you aspire to? Are they going for the medal?
Now we are not going to go to Paris for a walk, we are going for the medal because otherwise why are we going to go. Obviously, dreams do not come true on their own and it will require an intense summer of preparation. There are top world teams like the United States, China, France, which is a very powerful team and that relies on its 3×3 formation. Australia has a very physical quartet, Germany, Azerbaijan, Canada… It’s going to be difficult, but we like challenges and we propose the best, we demand the best from ourselves.
2024-05-22 08:00:00
#mix #intuition #guidance
