PARIS (France) - Stepping onto the Olympic podium to receive a medal is recognition of an incredible achievement. It is the ultimate sporting moment for a basketball player.
There is celebration, and emotion.
But as USA coach Steve Kerr says in the sixth episode of Court of Gold, the Netflix series about the 2024 Olympic basketball tournament, there is reflection.
"It’s a beautiful moment to appreciate everything that has gone into your basketball career, all of the people that have helped you," he says in the sixth episode.
"There’s no better sense of pride and accomplishment. You know, playing that game for your country."
Kerr had watched the USA players have that opportunity in 2021, when he was an assistant coach on the USA team that won the gold medal in Tokyo.
He was elated to do so again in Paris.
As a player, Kerr was on the USA team that won the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 1986, in Spain.
It’s a beautiful moment to appreciate everything that has gone into your basketball career, all of the people that have helped you. There’s no better sense of pride and accomplishment...playing that game for your country.
However, Kerr had to watch his teammates celebrate from a far because he tore his ACL in the Semi-Final win over Brazil and flew home the next day.
And yeah, there was that other comment by Kerr in the first episode of Court of Gold, when he says what his friends had told him.
Kerr says: "All my coaching friends, they just laugh and say, 'Coaching the USA Basketball is the most thankless job in sports.'
"You’re just supposed to win and if you do, who cares? And if you lose, you’re a failure."
Maybe those coaching friends think differently after watching Kerr and the USA at the 2024 Olympics.
They excelled in the difficult moments of arguably the toughest Olympic tournament of all time.
They brought home the gold, and they had the experience of a lifetime. If that's not worthwhile, then what is?
FIBA