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August 2016
Marc Gasol (Spain)
02/06/2016
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Marc Gasol in Spain's 24-man preliminary squad for Rio

MADRID (2016 Rio Olympics) - Spain coach Sergio Scariolo on Thursday announced a 24-man preliminary squad for the Rio Olympics and included Marc Gasol.

Spain 24-player squad for 2016 Rio Olympic Games
 Alberto Abalde  Alex Abrines  Pablo Aguilar  Jose Manuel Calderon
 Victor Claver  Joaquim Colom  Daniel Diez  Ilimane Diop
 Rudy Fernandez  Marc Gasol  Pau Gasol  Juancho Hernangomez
 Guillermo Hernangomez  Serge Ibaka  Sergio Llull  Nikola Mirotic
Juan Carlos Navarro Felipe Reyes  Pau Ribas  Sergio Rodriguez
 Ricky Rubio Fernando San Emeterio  Joan Sastre  Guillem Vives

The Memphis Grizzlies center broke his foot in February and was lost for the remainder of the season but Scariolo is going to wait and see if the player has a quick recovery which might allow him to play at the Olympic tournament, which tips off in early August.

Serge Ibaka and Nikola Mirotic are candidates for the squad but only one would be able to go to Rio de Janeiro as the country's naturalized player. EuroBasket 2011 MVP and four-time Olympian Juan Carlos Navarro of Barcelona is also on the list.

Scariolo has a lot of thinking and waiting to do before he announces a smaller list of candidates. He effectively decided not to rule anyone out at this stage.

"It's logical that it's a team of the present, looking towards the Games," Scariolo said, "but also as we have been doing in the past few years with a vision to the future with players born after 1990 who are on a journey to become important and we want them to enter the dynamic of the group and to feel part of the group."

It will be a while before Spain will know if Gasol is able to help out. His brother, Pau Gasol, was asked about Marc at a press conference earlier this week and he answered: "Marc is trying to recover, trying to see if he can arrive in time. Today, it's too early to tell."

Even without Marc Gasol, Navarro and a host of other experienced and important players, Spain made it to the top of the podium at EuroBasket 2015 in France. Led by tournament MVP Pau Gasol, Spain overcame Poland, Greece, France and Lithuania in the knockout round to capture their third European crown since 2009.

Spain have been a huge hit at the last three Olympics as well. In 2004, the team went unbeaten in the Preliminary Round before losing to the United States in the Quarter-Finals.

The Spaniards reached the Gold Medal Game at the last two Summer Games but fell in thrillers to the USA on both occasions.

FIBA