Saitama. Luis Scola Start each day with the same desire. captain argentina She is about to compete in her fifth Olympic Games in three different decades.

For the love of God, said Scola, please, please, that’s what I tell myself every morning in front of the mirror, please don’t look old.

Now he has some gray hair and isn’t running as fast or jumping as high as before, but on the court, 41-year-old Scola is still so effective, that it is perhaps the most vital piece of Argentina’s medal hopes.

Scola and Argentina debut tomorrow against Slovenia. Then they will face Spain and Japan in the group stage.

It can be defined as the coach on the field, the seasoned veteran who has seen almost everything, the mentor of youth, an example of how to play and coach.

“He may be older than me,” said Nigeria coach Mike Brown. It’s close, but not very close. Brown was joking: He’s 51 years old, 10 years older than Scola.

Brown said. “He doesn’t have the belly that I have, but he looks better than me. At 41 or whatever his age, he’s still a great player.”

Then Scola, with his long hair instead of the short hair he now wears, was the youngest player in the Argentine team that won the 2002 World Championship.

But in 2021, the story was completely different. He’s 10 years older than the team’s oldest, Nicholas Laprovittola, at just 31 years old. Two of his teammates, Leandro Palmoro and Francisco Cafforo, were four years old Won the gold medal in Athens 2004.

And the level of respect that Scola, who spent 10 seasons in the NBA, continues to impose on everyone involved in the sport is clear. During one of Argentina’s preparatory matches, the coach was once Sergio Hernandez Finishing with what he was saying during a pause, Scola called the four other players who were on the field at the time, gathered them in a semicircle in front of him and spoke to them for a minute.

“Louis is an extraordinary person,” said USA coach Greg Popovich. “Obviously he loves basketball. He has been playing for a long time.”

It is reasonable to think that this will be the last of the Scola games. But the one in Paris will be in three years and no basketball player has played six years. This may not be old.

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