Argentina did it! They have stunned the basketball world by becoming the first national team to deny American professional players the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.1 Argentina went on to earn its first and only gold medal as they defeated Italy by 15 points in the finals, thanks to the stellar performance by the legendary San Antonio Spurs guard, Emanuel (Manu) Ginobili. ‘Manu’ (as his fans call him) along with his teammates stood upon the podium, garnished with flowers, in pure ecstasy, as they each received a 2004 gold medal. The crowd displaying their approval with roaring chants of “Ole!”2 Meanwhile, the disappointment of being defeated by the underdog still haunts legends like Allen Iverson. In an interview about the 2004 Olympics, Iverson said, “It always haunts me because my dream was to win a gold medal, but the way I look at life is, the things that I’ve accomplished, people where I’m from don’t even get to the doorstep of doing anything like that. So I thank God that I had the opportunity to do it, but yeah, it still bothered me”.3
Coming into the semi-finals, both teams, Argentina and USA, had a record of 4 wins and two losses. Team USA was stacked with superstars, featuring two NBA League MVPs such as Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson, along with the talented cast of Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Stephon Marbury, just to name a few. Although Argentine players Luis Scola, Fabricio Oberto, Pepe Sanchez, Carlos Delfino, Walter Herrmann, Andres Nocioni and Ruben Wolkowyski would go on to play in the NBA, in summer 2004, they only had one active NBA player, Manu Ginobili.4 For over a decade, Team USA had continually dominated the international basketball scene. They had not lost an Olympic gold medal since 1988. Argentina, the clear underdog, knew this would be an incredible test for their team. From the beginning of the game Argentina’s chemistry was on display, zipping passes back and forth to get the best shots available. During the close 1st quarter, Ginobili asserted his dominance by answering every Team USA move to score with an acrobatic layup of its own. During the competitive 2nd quarter, Argentina was hanging right there with Team USA as a result of the cohesive Argentinian team plays. Tim Duncan’s presence was felt early on, dominating the low post with defense, rebounds and layups. However, as the game went on, Duncan saw less play time as he became immersed in foul troubles, for aggressively countering the Argentines’ plays. This was an immense loss for Team USA. As a result at the end of the second quarter, Argentina was able to secure a 5 point lead. In the third quarter, Ginobili came out firing, nailing 3 three pointers while being fouled on the last one making it a 4 point transformation. At the end of the third quarter, Argentina had a 13 point lead over Team USA, the crowd murmurs grew louder: could Argentina possibly win? Could Team USA really lose in the semi-finals? Team USA was not giving up, cutting the lead in 4th quarter down to seven points with the help of Stephon Marbury. However, Manu made all the right moves, assisting his teammates with perfect passes consistently leading to more points. On that day, Tim Duncan might have liked to have Manu on Team USA. However, due to section 41 of the Olympic Charter, regarding the nationality of competitors, Ginobili could not represent the United States, he was instead the captain of the Argentine Team.5
Argentina won, which for the fist time in 16 years kept Team USA from participating in the Basketball Olympic Finals. Argentina, lead by the fearless Manu Ginobili, ended the winning streak of Team USA. Manu recorded a game high of 29 points, making an incredibly efficient 9 of 13 shots.6 Although, victory for Argentina was not yet cemented. Now, Argentina had to face Italy in the finals, against whom they had lost during the preliminary rounds of the tournament 75-76.7 Thus, the Argentine players came in extremely focused. The first three quarters, they went back and forth battling tit for tat. In the fourth quarter, Argentina broke away and was able to build a lead thanks to the incredible performance by Ginobili and Scola combining for 41 total points of the team’s 84, etching the team in history.8
Team USA was not too familiar with anything besides gold, until that day in the summer of 2004. Argentina secured the gold, Italy the silver, and to everyone’s surprise, Team USA had to settle for the bronze (let’s not forget still making them 3rd in the world which would be a great achievement for any team but stunned the USA). This revolutionized international basketball because the basketball community realized the impossible really was possible. Manu Ginobili was a second round late draft pick of whom so few had ever heard. Yet Manu ended his career as a 1st ballot Basketball Hall of Famer. He is only one of two players in the history of basketball to win an NBA Championship, a EuroLeague title, and an Olympic gold medal.9
- Gilbert McGregor, “ON THIS DATE: Manu Ginobili leads Argentina past Team USA at 2004 Olympics,” August 27, 2018, NBA, https://ca.nba.com/news/2004-olympics-argentina-basketball-manu-ginobili-shock-team-usa-semifinal-athens/1vsoc9jlt30k31knbl9z4t5ymx. ↵
- Associated Press, “Ginobili scores 29 for Argentina,” August 27, 2004, ESPN, https://www.espn.com/olympics/summer04/basketball/news/story?id=1869300. ↵
- Joseph Patrick, “NBA Hall Of Famer Admits 2004 Olympic Basketball Debacle Still Haunts Him,” International Business Times, (September 3, 2019). ↵
- “Argentina v USA – Semi Final, Athens 2004 – Condensed Game, Throwback Thursday,” video file, 24:54, Youtube, posted by Olympic, October 26, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb7jKtVGZe8. ↵
- “Olympic Charter,” September 2019, International Olympic Committee, https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/General/EN-Olympic-Charter.pdf. ↵
- “United States vs. Argentina, August 27, 2004 – Semi-Finals,” August 27, 2004, Basketball Reference, https://www.basketball-reference.com/olympics/games/2004-08-27-USA-ARG/. ↵
- “How Argentina became Men’s Basketball Olympic Champions,” video file, 4:17, Youtube, posted by Olympic, September 11, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrbn5ZtGFIA&t=69s. ↵
- 2004 Olympics Final, Argentina-Italy: Ginobili/Scola (41 pts), 1st Olympic Gold (The NBA Showtime). ↵
- NBA.com Staff, “Looking back on Ginobili’s basketball legacy,” March 28, 2019, NBA, https://www.nba.com/article/2019/03/26/manu-ginobili-best-career-moments-videos. ↵
54 comments
Estefanie Santiago Roman
This article did a great job of describing the game! I’m not originally from San Antonio, but I defiantly recognize Manu Ginobili. I’ve never been super big on basketball, but it was definitely surprising to read about the USA losing to Argentina, seen as basketball is one of the biggest sports both played and watched here. I think it was pretty amazing that Argentina was able to win the gold medal because of Manu’s leadership.
Luis Jaen
Growing up in San Antonio convinced my mom and dad to become Spurs fans meaning the little amount of basketball we watched was the Spurs. I remember growing up hearing about the Spurs’ Big 3 and my dad would talk about Manu with the highest of regards crediting all of his feats he accomplished. He was an inspiration to many Latinos in the sport of basketball that eventually opened up a way for Argentine players to play in the NBA. Manu is truly one of the best!
Eliane Castorena
Great read! This article had me so caught up in the Argentina vs. USA game that it felt like I was there watching it live. I had heard about Team USA losing in the Olympics basketball for the first time in 16 years against Argentina before, but I was not aware of the Argentines players that made it happen. Although they came in to the semi-finals as the underdog, team Argentina, lead by star Manu Ginobili, was able to win the gold medal against Italy.
Brandon Torres
Being a native San Antonian, the name Manu Ginobili clicks immediately and all the accolades of his Spurs career surely ring out, however his 2004 Olympic victory over the coveted USA team was one that is etched in history for life! I love that you not only mentioned the battle against Team USA, but you also mentioned the final game against Italy, which is usually forgotten.
Sofia Almanzan
I really enjoy watching college basketball but I don’t really watch professional basketball so I didn’t really know anything about him before I read this article. I always find it extremely interesting that American teams are made up of many people from other countries. For example a college basketball team in California has about 7 players from Australia. This was a great article and was really informative.
Raul Colunga
Great article on an amazing person and basketball player, I love an underdog story even though it was at our national team’s expense. Manu is a player that is loved around the world and fans from Argentina flew to Spurs games countless time just to watch him play. He was a player that could make something out of nothing whether it was scoring a game winner or being a leader when the Spurs were in a tough spot.
Anthony Coronado
Being from San Antonio, and being a Spurs fan. I have heard of Manu’s representation of Argentina in the US Olympics. No one really talks about the superstar play he made during the Olympic games. As with them being the underdogs to the Olympic games and only having one NBA player at that time.
Amanda Shoemaker
I don’t follow much basketball nor have I ever heard of Emanuel. This article gave me a lot of insight into that world. It’s interesting to me that a former Argentina national basketball hero eventually became a San Antonio Spur player. Although I love the US it’s nice to see other countries find hope in beating the US team at the olympics.
Ana Cravioto Herrero
I remember the first time I saw Manu Ginobili play (the spurs championship against the Heat) and since then I have always loved him. I knew he was from Argentina but it was a big surprise to me that he played in the 2004 Olympics. It is crazy that Argentina’s win ended the USA’s streak but it is very cool that Ginobili was part of that win, especially because he later went and played for the Spurs.
David Castaneda Picon
I liked the article and how the author writes the story of the historic 2004 olympic games in where Manu lead his team to the finals to then win the gold for Argentina. I have always been a fan of Manu Ginobili, his way to play the game was just different and always enjoyable to watch. I really think that he revolutionized the game of basketball at least when he got to the NBA and play for the Spurs, he introduced to the league various incredible moves, such as the euro-step which is one of my favorites.