Tony Parker on retirement from international competition, Rio as ‘dream ending’, EuroBasket: pic.twitter.com/NEOY7sKAT0
— LVJ (@levijoshua) July 7, 2016
The French national basketball team is in Manila, Philippines, not only to try and qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but also to try and give Tony Parker, who announced his retirement from international competition prior to the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Manila, Philippines, a perfect ending.
Parker, 34, opened up on the process of retiring from the international scene a few days ago, saying that as early as when France had captured the 2013 FIBA EuroBasket Championship gold medal, he felt there was nothing else to accomplish on that stage.
“For me, when we won in 2013, that was my goal. That has always been my goal, to bring a gold medal to French basketball, to win a championship because in the history of French basketball we never won anything,” Parker said.
France won the EuroBasket title for the first time in history in 2013, with Parker being named the tournament MVP. The San Antonio Spurs player said he felt the end was coming near for him when the Les Bleus had won that tournament.
“So when we won in 2013, for me, I acheived my goals so I knew the end was pretty close,” he said.
“For me, I felt I have nothing to prove, I just wanna enjoy myself and enjoy playing with my teammates, and just try to enjoy every moment.”
Parker could have retired from international basketball at an earlier point, but because France were awarded co-hosting rights for the 2015 EuroBasket, Parker seized the opportunity to play in front of his home crowd and cement his legacy with another Olympic berth.
“When they said in 2015 the European Championship is going to be in France, I said, boy, I have to play in that one. It’s our home, in front of my home crowd, so I felt 2016 would be the perfect ending for me to finish in the Olympics,” Parker shared.
France came up short in 2015, losing to Spain in the semi-finals and settling for the bronze medal after beating Serbia. But with France competing in the OQT, Parker wanted to give it one final shot for a “dream ending”.
“Just come here and enjoy every game and try to qualify for the Olympics. I always say the Olympics will be a dream ending for my international career,” Parker shared.
Parker may not be the only member retiring after this tournament. Mickael Gelabale and Florent Pietrus might be playing in their final year for the country, and their leader is just happy to have brought France on top of the basketball world.
“It has been an unbelievable ride with them. We won a lot of medals in our generation, the most medals in any French generation. It’s been a great ride playing with them, and they are great guys, great teammates, they did a lot for French basketball,” Parker said.
But whatever happens in the tournament, Parker will still go down as one of the best players to ever don the French colors and play in FIBA competitions.
“For me it is just a great moment. Obviously I am just enjoying every minute,” he closed.
“It’s been an unbelievable ride and experience with the national team for the last 16 years. I’ve been doing that for a long time,”
