MADRID, Jan. 21 (SportsFinding) –
Real Madrid forward Rudy Fernández made it clear that “there is present and future” in Spanish basketball to continue to achieve success, although he asked to “go slowly” in the face of the next big challenge, the Tokyo Olympic Games next summer, a He quotes that he has “something special” even though he prefers to have achieved two world golds in a personal capacity.
“The Spanish Federation and clubs are doing things very well and every summer we are seeing young people who are breaking up. I have Usman (Garuba) on my team, who is only 16 years old. I think there is present and future for many medals.” Rudy said in his participation in the Paralympic Dialogues of Servimedia, where he shared a talk with Daniel Stix, player of the Spanish team of chair basketball.
In addition, the Balearic agreed to qualify the Olympic Games as the “biggest challenge” for an athlete. “It is true that they have something special that is what you can live with other athletes. I have already been to many and I have won three medals, and now after being world champions we are very excited,” he confessed.
“You have to go little by little,” he asked asked about the options in Tokyo. “In the World Cup nobody gave us as favorites and we have to be aware of how difficult it is to get an Olympic medal. This team deserves all the respect and all the teams know it,” he added.
For the Real Madrid player, his Beijing Olympic silver in 2009 was “very, very special”, but if he has to choose his most symbolic success he is clear. “Being a two-time world champion can't be said by anyone. I have a lot of appreciation for the Games, but I would keep the two world golds,” he said.
“That is not known,” he said with a laugh about whether Tokyo will be his last Games. “It would be the fifth. I just renewed two years with Real Madrid, so dreaming is free and I hope I can live for others,” he said. “I hope it arrives, that this injury disappears because they would be the last we would play together,” he said about Pau Gasol.
As for the past World Cup in China, Rudy said that “maybe” the team lived “otherwise” abroad. “We knew that it is in the important moments where we have to be and we were aware that the first matches were not raised as we had to, but our winning mentality came out when I had to leave, against Italy, which I think was the most important moment of the tournament and from there we went up, “he stressed.
“BEING ABLE TO COMPETE FOR TITLES WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME”
In addition, it was “a dream” to be the captain of that team and lift the champion trophy. “I have lived a lot with the national team and I have had good and bad times, but last summer it was complicated on a personal level (his grandfather died during the preparation) and to be able to raise that cup and offer it to the country and my people was something special,” he said. sincere.
The forward recalled having made “significant sacrifices” in his life to have his current career and that the NBA “was an incredible experience.” “I was able to play there and fulfill a dream I had since I was little, but being able to compete for titles was very important for me and also to do more things than in the NBA where I was labeled as a shooter,” he said.
“I chose Real Madrid because it was a very ambitious project and it has been like that,” added the Mallorcan who “wins gives an adrenaline that is priceless” and insisted on his happiness for having renewed with the Madrid club, which has given him “so many titles”. “I hope to continue with the growth he has had in these eight years to continue helping him for two more years,” he said, noting that his recipe is “go day to day, do daily work and go to sleep satisfied.”
Rudy Fernández shared this talk with Daniel Stix, Paralympic runner-up in Rio 2016 and that was key for him to put his Foundation that is “growing” with his sister Marta. “And that is important for an island as small as Mallorca,” he said.
“I did not know their workouts and where I most noticed the difference was in the arms, the next day I could not raise them or throw,” he explained about the day he trained in a chair. “They are athletes, it is our same sport and Dani is treated as he is, a basketball player like me,” he said.