20 years ago, on August 15, 2004, Argentina faced Serbia-Montenegro to start the Athens Olympics. This rematch of the 2002 World Cup final lived up to expectations, as the score was 81-81 with 16 seconds left in the match, thanks to a basket by Manu Ginobili with the foul (by Vladimir Radmanovic). With 3.8 seconds left, Dejan Tomasevic thought he had two match points on Fabricio Oberto's fifth foul. He converted one of them.
With no timeout for the Argentines, Alejandro Montecchia sprints across the field before giving the ball to Manu Ginobili, who just has time to throw it towards the circle while completely off balance. The former Spurs guard is on the ground when he sees the ball hit the boards and pierce the net. His teammates throw themselves on him, Albiceleste coach Ruben Magnano sprints with his arms in the air in all directions. “When she left my hand, I knew it was good, it's something really special” Manu Ginobili will confide after the meeting.
At 26 years old, at the time, “El Manu” had already won everything in Europe and he had even won the NBA title in his rookie season with the Spurs. That day, he entered the legend of the Olympic Games, and his selection would imitate him a few days later… Despite two defeats against Spain and Italy, Argentina qualified for the quarter-finals where it defeated Greece, the host country of these Games.
Before beating the United States of LeBron James and Allen Iverson in the semi-finals, and Italy in the final to obtain the first and only gold medal in its history.
