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I AM GOING TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES!!!
I AM GOING TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES!!!
Unfortunately that also means that this will be my last blog since it is forbidden by the Olympic committee to publish any personal accounts of what is going on in the Olympic village, but I hope you will forgive me for still deciding to go. With all that in mind let’s look at how I got there and what lies ahead of us in Beijing, China.
Let's start with a huge dance at half court and a big celebration that was well deserved after six days of intense basketball. It was done, the German national team is going to China and that is well deserved. It was a huge relief for everyone and joy overcame everyone on the bench and especially on the court when we finally realized our dream of being a participant in the Olympic Games. We had just watched the Croatian team celebrate the night before, while we had to play another game to realize our dream and from that low of losing the first available spot, the high of finally making it was twice as big. Some of the guys have waited 12 years and three Olympics to finally become part of an elite group called the Olympic Athletes.
The road to this final ticket was tough. We faced and beat a very good Brazilian team in the quarterfinals and then unfortunately lost a heartbreaker to Croatia, who was playing some phenomenal basketball and well deserves to go to the Olympics. Greece on the other hand dominated the competition and is also a team that does not only deserve to go, but will also become an instant favorite to win an Olympic medal. The only ironic thing is that in the end of the Tournament, the same teams qualified that would have been in the Olympics if you would have just let the top six seeds of the European championships go directly. But oh well, not my job. It was a great experience either way to fight for a spot and succeed.
 Looking ahead of what awaits us in Beijing, I can only start to smile, because even though we are a part of one of the toughest groups you can imagine, we will be living in the Olympic Village, we will meet people from all over the world and we will walk into the Olympic Stadium as participants right behind the German flag. The food I am sure will be notoriously bad and the rooms tiny, but all that will only be a side note to seeing all the great competitions and just being a part of the greatest event in sports. I know especially in basketball there are other huge events every year, like the Euroleague Final Four or even the European Championships for that matter, but this event is so global and monumental that everything else just shrinks in comparison. I am just as excited for our own competition as I am to see others compete in almost every sport for Olympic medals.
Favorites USA, Spain and Greece all will play in our group and that is a big piece of work, even host China, and a strong Angolan team are waiting for us. But either way it will be an epic experience because I will see my teammates Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez when we play against Spain, and even though my former college teammates Kevin, Jason and Rob didn’t make it onto the US Olympic team ;-), it will be a great experience to take the court against players like Kobe, LeBron and others.
I am sure we will make the best out of it and will find a way to go to the quarterfinals and after that everything is possible. Well my dream to become an Olympic athlete came true now. We can dream again and even though it might be as far away as the Olympic dream was last year, I truly believe that with the way we are playing right now, we will find a way to finish in the top three and make basketball history.
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