<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The USA Men's Senior National Team opened training in Jacksonville at University of North Florida to begin final preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Only 76ers guard Allen Iverson and San Antonio?s Tim Duncan remain from the team that qualified for the Olympic berth last summer in Puerto Rico. "I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. I'm blessed to be on this team,? Iverson said after the first practice session. ?I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to play for my country, the greatest country in the world. I want to give something back to a country that has given me the opportunity to make a living playing a game I love. It's a tribute to my high school coach, Mike Bailey, my college coach, John Thompson, to Larry Brown, to all the coaches and all the teammates I've ever had. Most of all, it's a tribute to my wife and kids, who always keep me mentally strong when things aren't going so well. And it's a tribute to myself, too, after everything I've been through." The team will train for 20 days under head coach Larry Brown, who was reunited with Iverson for the first time since last summer?s qualifying games. Iverson, at age 29, is the elder statesmen for the USA squad which features such young guys as Lebron James (19), Carmelo Anthony (20) and Dwayne Wade (22) along with Amare Stoudemire (21), Carlos Boozer (22), and Richard Jefferson (24). The average age of the 12-man squad is just 23.6 years old. "I've never been the oldest guy on a team before,? Iverson lamented. ?I look around, see guys like Carmelo (Anthony) and LeBron (James) and I think, 'Man, I'm getting old.' It feels great, though." Iverson who wore his Team USA shirt throughout the practice and had the tongues of his sneakers adorned with American Flags was happy after Brown named him a team captain and looking forward to winning a gold medal. "Coach named me captain today, and that felt good. He told me to just play the way I play, work hard on defense,? Iverson said. ?We have so much talent on this team that I don't have to worry about double and triple teams. It should be fun. "The main goal is winning the gold. It makes you nervous, not scared, but a little nervous. That will work for us, because when you're nervous, you play better. We're going to play hard, play together, and try to make our own mark as a team." The USA Olympic teams have captured a gold medal in 12 of the 14 Olympics, while compiling a 109-2 win-loss record in Olympic play for a .982 winning percentage. Since NBA players were added to the Olympic mix, Team USA is 24-0 since making their first appearance at the 1992 Olympics. The U.S. has won the last three Olympic titles when NBA players have participated (1992, 1996, 2000).</div> <div align="center">Link</div> Not to mention, Allen Iverson was also named co-captain alongside Tim Duncan.
Awesome AI named co captin. I wrote a article a little while ago for http://www.slam3.com/aionline suggesting that AI and duncan were the captins of team usa since they were the only original members on the team. Good to see AI being recognized. He was one of the last members to be named to the team yet he is one of the only two that stayed. He is very deserving of this honor he has earned my respect for being the only one man enough to represent the USA (along with duncan from the original team). Hopefully now they get gold and make the other people that dropped out feel like idiots for leaving.
