The 2004 Athens Olympics is the only one in the last 35 years of the competition where Team USA failed to win the Gold. The team fielded a young roster starring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony, backed by just three players who had represented the United States in an international game before — Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, and Richard Jefferson.
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That was particularly the reason why that team was and still is one of the biggest failures of the States in the prestigious tournament where they have bagged 16 gold medals in 19 appearances.
Richard Jefferson reveals why LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony-starrer Team USA failed in 2004
In his recent appearance on The Old Man and The Three podcast, Jefferson, who was there with Team USA when they won the FIBA Americas Championship in 2003 in San Juan, revealed how the country fumbled in next year’s Olympics because of team selection.
He talked about how 9 out of 12 players from San Juan decided to not come back for the Olympics other than him, Iverson, and Duncan. And after the team asked around 30 more players, and got a no, they went for younger guys.
“The next year, 9 of those 12 players say no after qualifying for the Olympics,” started Jefferson. “Then they ask 30 guys, and they all said no. And so, they field the youngest roster that they ever had of a bunch of players with 0 international experience. Bron, D-Wade, Amarie, Carmelo, all of these guys were then added on to the team. I went from a guy that didn’t play to a starter in the Olympics.”
Jefferson still gets an earful on the internet for starting the games while future superstars like James, Wade, and Anthony came behind him from the bench. But he wasn’t at the fault for it, the team management was.
The 2004 Olympics was just a big mess by the United States
It was the first and still the only time since a Team USA Olympics team didn’t win the Gold after NBA allowed the association players to participate. The 3 games they lost in the tournament are the highest in a single Olympics tournament by Team USA.
All because of how the management first failed to form a team with equal or less numb of youngsters and more veterans and had Larry Brown as their head coach. The legendary coach was quite famous for his preference for experience over youth.
It was really a mess up, to say the least. You can watch the whole story on it here. The USMNT has never lost the Gold medal since.
