MIAMI (USA) - When you talk about Luis Scola you have to mention he’s one of the greatest players at the national team level. The Argentine has a brilliant record and has now added a new milestone in his award-winning career by becoming the fourth leading scorer in the history of the Olympic Games.

The power forward reached the mark of 548 points, after scoring a total of 23 in his debut in Tokyo 2020, in the duel between Argentina and Slovenia, which surpassed the Brazilian Vlamir Marques, who was in fifth place with 536.

Scola ranks on the all-time list behind Spaniard Pau Gasol, also active in these Olympic Games, with 623 points so far. In second place is the Australian Andrew Gaze, with 789 and in first place, the Brazilian Oscar Schmidt, with 1093.

The 41-year-old is in his fifth Olympics, as are Spaniards Gasol and Rudy Fernández. The three, in Tokyo 2020, joined Schmidt, Gaze, Puerto Rican Teo Cruz and also Iberian Juan Carlos Navarro, as the only basketball players with five appearances in the Olympic Games.

In that Olympic journey, Scola has been able to medal twice; he won gold in Athens 2004 and bronze in Beijing 2008. These achievements marked a whole generation of Argentine basketball players such as Manu Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto, Andrés Nocioni, Carlos Delfino, among others.

In addition, the Buenos Aires native’s resume also boasts two championships of the Americas (2001 and 2011), one Pan American gold (2019) and two silver medals at the 2002 and 2019 FIBA ​​World Championships.

In the FIBA ​​World Cup 2019 in China, he surpassed 611 points scored in this type of event, placing him second all-time, behind the Brazilian Schmidt, who totaled 906 points in the World Cup.

"Luifa" will have a new opportunity to continue expanding his personal record of points, when Argentina faces Spain on Thursday 9:00 p.m. local time) in their second match in the Tokyo 2020 group stage.

FIBA