Marc Gasol announces retirement from basketball
Barcelona (AFP) – Spanish center Marc Gasol announced this Wednesday at a press conference in Barcelona that he is retiring after two decades in the basketball elite.
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“It’s time to step aside and pass on everything basketball has taught me and given me,” said Mark, who follows in the footsteps of his brother Pau, who retired in October 2021.
The Spanish center explained the process of his retirement from the fields in a video at the Cine Texas cinema in Barcelona, where he answered questions from journalists.
“I had to do it. If I continue to play, it could have serious consequences,” said Marc Gasol, who said that “last season I suffered a lot and treated every game and enjoyed it as if it were my last.”
“When you’re old and in pain every day, you know you’re finished,” he explained, although he still had suggestions.
“Difficult process”
“These proposals made the decision difficult,” said the 39-year-old former player, who will continue to be involved with basketball as Girona president.
Gasol admitted that his decision was the result of a “long and difficult process” after which he will now be able to devote himself more to his family.
“I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better friend. Basketball forces you to isolate yourself a lot and not be there as much as you should,” he said.
Gasol is retiring from basketball after two decades in which he emerged from the long shadow of his brother Pau and forged his own successful path.
“I wouldn’t change anything in these 20 years, not even the failures, because that’s what makes you develop. I haven’t had a single thorn in my side, I’m very proud,” Gasol said.
Over those two decades, Marc Gasol has amassed a track record that highlights his 2019 NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors at the club level.
Successes with Spain
But perhaps his greatest successes came in the Spain jersey, with which he was world champion at the 2006 and 2019 World Cups.
As a Spanish national team player, he also won two Olympic silver medals (Beijing 2008 and London 2012) and two European Championships (Poland 2009 and Lithuania 2011), among other awards.
When asked about his most memorable moments, Gasol mentioned the promotion to Girona he achieved after retiring from the NBA, when the team played in the second division of Spanish basketball.
“I think it was one of the happiest moments of my career, although I was not a player who showed much emotion,” he said.
“I take away the highlights that have more value than any trophy,” said one of the biggest names in Spanish basketball.
As soon as his farewell was announced, the internet was filled with messages of gratitude and recognition towards him.
“Marc leaves behind a legacy of success and values that have marked the history of Spanish basketball,” Spanish Basketball Federation President Elisa Aguilar said in a statement.
“It is impossible to understand the human story and the success story of the Family (the nickname of the Spanish team) without his figure, without all those intangible assets with which he contributed to the consolidation of the value system that turned Spain into a world exile,” he said.
© 2024 AFP