The Cordoban Ruben Magnanocoach of the Argentine basketball team that won the epic Olympic gold medal in Athens 2004announced that he will no longer direct to take advantage of the time with his family.
“I don’t direct anymore. I am in a moment where I do not intend to have distractions that take me out the valuable time I have for my family today. That’s why I hang up my boots,” he surprised the 69-year-old strategist in an interview with Super Sports Radio.
“I haven’t even thought, I haven’t taken the time to think about what is seductive to me today. That time today is not negotiable and I know that if I direct I will have to invest and get out of it. I feed myself with basketball things,” added the historic coach. Magnano immortalized his name in Argentine sport in Athens 2004, leading the team that later became known as Golden Generation. A National Team that achieved the supposedly impossible: eliminating the Dream Team American for the first time in an Olympic event. Until today, the Argentine conquest remains the only exception to the rule that the Americans established since Barcelona ’92, winning all the gold medals in basketball.
Its spectacular and crazy clatter in the debut match against Serbia and Montenegro After Manu Ginobili’s iconic double, it was perhaps as memorable as the Bahian’s agonizing shot. But the Magnano era lasted barely a breath, considering his tremendous achievements. He was the coach of the National Team between 2001 and 2004, and in his second year he achieved the world runner-up in Indianapolis, also giving a historic slap to the Yankee National Team., which played at home and suffered in the sixth game of that event its first official defeat since it incorporated NBA players into its ranks (prior to 1992 only university basketball players played). That match, corresponding to the second round of groups of the World Cup, It meant an Argentine blow to the world basketball table. It was 87-80 on September 4, 2002. with a very distributed scoring, perhaps the main characteristic of that team: Ginobili with 15 points, Nocioni with 14, Scola with 13, Oberto with 11, Pepe Sánchez and Wolkowyski with 9, Palladino and Sconochini with 7.
Two years later, in Athens, the result was similar (89 to 81) but the development included dance sections. As with the unforgettable play between Sconochini and Montecchia, with a belt pass and one-handed control from the Bahian. The scorers of this milestone were Manu with 29, Chapu with 13, Puma with 12, Herrmann with 11 and Leo Gutiérrez with 10.
A physical education teacher, Magnano’s career as a coach began in 1990 at the command of the emblematic Athens of Córdoba. He had three stints at the Greek (1990-94, 1996-99, 2008-10) and added four National League titles, in addition to several continental conquests. Although friendly, remembered is the team’s tour of Paris in 1997in which he came close to facing Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
Rubén also went through Luz y Fuerza de Misiones (1994-96) and Boca in national basketball (1999-2000), before joining the National Team. After his albiceleste feat, contract terminated amid secrecy and rumorssupposedly estranged from the leadership, to sign with an Italian club.
Several years later he returned to the international level by accepting the leadership of the Brazil’s selection, which they managed to qualify for the 2012 London Games (they had not participated in the biggest event since 1996) and with which they reached the quarterfinals, where they were eliminated by Argentina. In Rio 2016, albiceleste also suffered greatness – actually to giants Nocioni and Campazzo, with 37 and 33 points respectively – and was left out in the group stage. There he finished his Verdeamerela stage and in 2018 he went to Uruguaywhere it was until 2023.
This year, two months before 20th anniversary of eternal gold in Athens, Magnano announced his retirement. A true number one.
