A golden Swan Song for Argentina's Golden Generation

LONDON (Olympics) – With 16 National Teams (nine men’s and seven women’s) qualified for the London 2012 Basketball tournament and 24 teams (12 men’s and 12 women’s) set to take part in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, london2012.fiba.com will be profiling a different team each week, looking at their Olympic history, their performance and results during the various qualifying tournaments as well as some of the key players that make up their roster.

The first team we will be looking at is Argentina, who qualified for London thanks by winning the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship to the delight of the home fans of Mar del Plata.

Known as the Golden Generation, this ageing team shares three players of the starting five (Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola and Andres Nocioni) that carried Argentina to the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, while the two rosters have six players in common (additionally Fabrizio Oberto, Carlos Delfino and Pepe Sanchez).

It was clear coming into 2011 that with only two players in their 20s and an average age of 32, this team’s playing days are numbered. The FIBA Americas Championship – held at home for the first time since they had last won it in 2001 – was always going to be the chance for Argentinian fans to say goodbye this team. Were they to manage finish in the top two, or better still match the high level of expectation and win the tournament, they would be given one last chance at glory at the London 2012 Olympics.

Of the 10 games they would play in Mar del Plata, only three would be prove to be close. The first, dubbed a dress rehearsal for the final with rivals Brazil, would prove to be their only defeat of the championship as they succumbed to a 71-73 defeat.

In the second – their Semi Final against Puerto Rico – free-throws by Ginobili and Prigioni in the final minute of play would carry Argentina to a narrow 81-79 win.

The win set up the eagerly anticipated rematch, which saw Argentina maintain a narrow lead throughout the final, keeping their nerve during the exchange of free-throws in the dying minutes of the game to the delight of Mar del Plata and the whole country.

As had been the case in 2004, Scola and Ginobili yet again finished the team’s top scorers yet again combining for an average of almost 40 points per game.

Scola, coming off the back of his best NBA season to date with the Huston Rockets, remained in the sort of form that provided his country with an average of 27.1 points per game at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

But this summer he could count on the help of his good old friend Manu, who skipped last year’s World Championship but who, fitness allowing, will surely travel to London alongside another 2010 absentee, Andres Nocioni.

Making up this summer’s starting five are point guard Pablo Prigioni and small forward Carlos Delfino, while Fabricio Oberto – injured prior to the tournament – got less playing time than he or his country would ideally have liked.

That an injured 36-year-old like Oberto was picked for the FIBA Americas Championship roster is indicative of Argentina’s weaknesses but also says a lot about their strengths. They are ageing rapidly and with as many as eight games in 16 days energy and fitness levels could become a major concern deeper into the tournament.

Most in Argentina admit that the country has few ready to fill the shoes of this exceptional crop of players and agree that now is not the time for a changing of the guard; they are more than willing to put tomorrow’s concerns aside to give this once in a lifetime generation one last chance of glory.

Argentina are team that has largely remained the same for two Olympic cycles, their players know each other like the palm of their hands, are as close as family and will go into the tournament united in hoping and fighting for the perfect swan song.

FIBA