Pau Gasol is thisclose to a fifth Olympics appearance…
Spain has included the 40-year-old professional basketball player, who currently plays for FC Barcelona of the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, in its preliminary squad for the Tokyo Games.
Gasol was among the 18 players called up by coach Sergio Scariolo to prepare for the Summer Olympics. Only 12 players will make the final squad.
The two-time NBA champion and four-time All-NBA team selection is trying to play in his fifth Olympics. He was included after overcoming a long injury layoff and a successful return to Barcelona this season.
He will turn 41 before the Games open on July 23.
Gasol’s brother Marcalso made the list, as did Ricky Rubio. Both were key for Spain when it won the world championship two years ago in China. A total of eight world champions are on the preliminary list.
Other names in the squad include Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodríguez, Alex Abrines, Sergio Llulland newcomer Usman Garuba, who is projected to be a first-round pick in the NBA draft next month.
Another sibling pair — Juancho and Willy Hernangomez– were included.
Rubio and Juancho Hernangomez are teammates on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Willy Hernangomez played this season for the New Orleans Pelicans.
The team will begin its preparations on Friday in Madrid.
Spain is a three-time silver medalist at the Olympics. It won the bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
The 34-year-old Spanish professional basketball player got to bask in a championship celebration for the second time in three months — and this time, he did it for his country. Tournament MVP Ricky Rubio scored 20 points, Sergio Llull added 15 and Spain won the FIBA World Cup for the second time by topping Argentina 95-75 on Sunday.
“We weren’t the most talented team,” Rubio said.
“We weren’t the bigger team. Put anything you want, but we were the team
with the biggest heart and we showed it tonight and we showed it during the
whole tournament.”
Gasol scored 14 for the winners, who never trailed and added
this crown to the one they claimed in 2006. And for him, 2019 will go down as a
year the likes of which few others have enjoyed.
The Toronto Raptors center
becomes the second player to win an NBA
title and a FIBA world gold medal in
the same year, joining Lamar Odom —
who did it for the Los
Angeles Lakers and USA Basketball in
2010. Gasol also became the 19th player to win either an NBA or WNBA crown along with a gold medal,
either of the Olympic or World Cup variety, in the same year.
The first 18 all did it for the U.S.
This time, vamos Espana!
“NBA champion and a World Cup champion as well,” Gasol
said. “What can I say? How does it sound to you? I feel very fortunate to
be in this position and be able to play this game and help these guys be part
of history of Spanish basketball.”
Llull and Rudy Fernandez
— the team captain, who initially got to accept the Naismith Trophy — went to cut down the nets shortly after the
final buzzer. Gasol carried the game ball to the gold-medal ceremony, and
Spanish fans wept in the stands during the national anthem.
Gabriel
Deck scored 24 points for Argentina (8-1), which got off to a
slow start and played uphill the rest of the way. Luis Scola was held to eight points, shooting 1-for-10 from the
floor.
“We’re sad right now. We’re very sad,” Scola said.
“But I feel confident, in hours, we’ll be able to look back and be very
proud. They just played better than us. They were better. They deserved to win.
They were the better team in the game and the tournament.”
Spain led 43-31 at intermission, after putting together a 14-2
run to open the game and a 17-1 run later in the half.
“This is basketball,” Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez
said. “If you play better than the other team, you win the game. And Spain
was the best team today.”
Scola, who at 39 years old was still Argentina’s best player
throughout the tournament, didn’t get on the score sheet until he made a pair
of free throws with 2:57 left in the third quarter. But they only cut Spain’s
lead to 19, and by then the Argentinian fans who stood, sang and chanted for
much of the game were relatively quiet.
The day belonged to Spain.
And the year belongs to Gasol.
“It’s unbelievable,” Gasol said.
Joining Rubio on the
all-tournament team were Gasol, Scola, France’s Evan Fournier and
Serbia’s Bogdan
Bogdanovic.
They may not be this year’s Golden boys, but Pau Gasol and his Spanish teammates still have reason to celebrate.
The 36-year-old professional basketball player, who will be heading to the San Antonio Spurs this upcoming NBA season, scored 31 points in what could be his Olympic farewell, as Spain collected the bronze medal in Men’s Basketball at the 2016 Rio Games on Sunday with an 89-88 win over Australia.
Sergio Rodriguez made two free throws with 5.4 seconds left and the Spaniards, who captured silver at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2012 London Games, got the defensive stop they needed as Australia fumbled the ball away on its last possession.
Gasol, who hasn’t committed to playing at the 2020 Tokyo Games, and his teammates celebrated by piling on top of each other near center court.
It wasn’t the medal they wanted, but after losing their first two games in Brazil, it beats nothing.
“Unbelievable,” forward Rudy Fernandez said. “It’s an amazing feeling.”
It’s a feeling Gasol wishes could last. He isn’t ready to shed his España jersey.
“I’m getting older and at some point I’m not going to be able to play,” said Gasol. “So when that day comes, I’ll accept it. It’ll be hard, but I had an incredible run. I can’t ask for anything else. Everything I gave, everything I lived as a basketball player, it’s a plus. It’s a gift.
Pau Gasol has propelled Spain into the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro…
The 35-year-old Spanish basketball star had a double-double as Spain cruised past Lithuania 80-63 on Sunday to take the EuroBasket title.
Gasol, the European Basketball Championship MVP, helped Spain earn its third title in the last four tournaments after having to settle for bronze two years ago.
“It was an incredible championship,” Gasol said. “We went through struggles early on but the team responded well, and with our backs to the wall, we understood that we had to play better defense.”
With Spain’s King Felipe VI and tennis star Rafael Nadal in the stands, the final was a one-sided affair as the Spaniards opened a 13-point lead in the first quarter and were never really threatened.
Gasol finished with 25 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots, one steal and no turnovers to earn the tournament’s MVP award.
“It’s of special significance to play this well at this stage of my career after all I’ve accomplished,” said Gasol, the Chicago Bulls center who has two NBA championship rings with the Los Angeles Lakers. “It is something I will remember until the end of my life.
The victory completed a turnaround for Spain, which came to the tournament without Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Juan Carlos Navarro and Ricky Rubio and lost two of its first three games.
But with Gasol dominating, Spain raised its game when it mattered and looked impressive throughout the knockout stage. Gasol put his stamp on the final early, scoring eight straight points for Spain to lead 19-6.
That helped the team overcome the loss of influential guard Rudy Fernandez halfway into the third quarter when he was fouled by Robertas Javtokas. Fernandez fell to the ground, was helped off the floor while holding his left hip and did not return.
Spain and Lithuania booked direct slots to next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Spain won the silver medal in the past two Olympics, and Gasol said he would be around once again if his body holds up.
Spain guard Sergio Rodriguez joined Gasol in the tournament’s all-star team.
It may have been released more than four months ago, but Michel Teló’s international hit “Ai Se Eu Te Pego” has finally catapulted its way to the top of the Billboard charts.
The 31-year-old Brazilian country singer and songwriter’s song, which has reached No. 1 in 15 countries across Europe, Eastern Europe and Latin America since its release last November, has reached the peak on the Billboard Latin Songs chart and the Billboard Latin Pop Songs chart.
The single—which has been covered by Pitbull, praised by Perez Hilton and danced to by soccer stars like Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo after scoring goals has a catchy repetitive chorus, accordion hook and lyrics about a guy trying to seduce a girl.
The song was officially written in 2008 by Sharin Acioly, who first heard the phrase from a group of girls in Port Seguro who were singing and dancing to a song they’d come up with as a joke.
Teló heard the song in Salvador during a forro concert last year and decided he wanted to perform the song to a Sertanejo (Brazilian country music) rhythm. So he reached out to Acioly and they worked out a deal.
In no time, the soccer community helped bring “Ai Se Eu Te Pego” to millions around the globe. Teló has publicly thanked soccer star Neymar who plays for Brazil’s Santos club for popularizing the song with choreography he created in the team locker room.
Ronaldo and his teammate Marcelo followed in Neymar’s footsteps by celebrating goals by dancing to the song. Later a video was released of AC Milan‘s Robinho, Thiago Silva and Pato performing the choreography on a bus and suddenly the song was a global phenomenon.
“Ai Se Eu Te Pego” even made its way to the NBA thanks to Rudy Fernandez and a video of him and his Denver Nuggets teammates dancing to the track.
The official music video has been viewed more than 280 million times on YouTube, and has been translated and subtitled in multiple languages including English, Polish and Italian. And, Telo’s record label, Som Livre, estimates that the single has been downloaded two million times around the world.
