The Zaragoza City Council paid tribute this afternoon to the Spanish basketball team that won the historic silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The Mayor Natalia Chueca presided over the event, which was also attended by the Councillor Delegate for Sports, Felix Brocate, and the full staffFernando Arcega, José Manuel Beirán, Juan Antonio Corbalán, Juan Domingo de la Cruz, Juan Manuel Iturriaga, Andrés Jiménez, José Luis Llorente, José María Margall, Fernando Romay, Juan Antonio San Epifanio, José Ignacio Solozábal and physiotherapist Francisco Binaburo. Also part of the team was the late Fernando Martín.
Four decades later, the 1984 national team has been in Zaragoza to celebrate an event that marked a before and after in the history of Spanish basketball. “You were a pioneer team, which achieved something that no one had achieved until then: an Olympic medal for our basketball.“, he recalled Natalia Chueca. “Thousands of boys, girls, adults, people of all ages became fans of basketball thanks to you. A whole generation got hooked on this sport because you made us enjoy it like never before,” said the mayoress, who added that the consideration of Zaragoza as a ‘basketball city’ was born, to a large extent, “in that golden decade of the 80s”.
Natalia Chueca has also highlighted the value of the union and friendship among the members of that team, which remains to this day. And he highlighted their “effort, sportsmanship, comradeship and teamwork, values that you have transmitted to perfection throughout your professional career, even after hanging up your boots”.
During the ceremony, some images of the historic 1984 final against the US national team, in which Michael Jordan played. and a constellation of NBA stars. The Spanish team included three representatives from Zaragoza: Fernando Arcega, Epi and physio Francisco Binaburo.
The Olympic medal for Spain in basketball was a milestone that was not repeated in the entire 20th century. We had to wait until 2008with another generation of great players who also climbed the podium in 2012 y 2016.