On Boomers and medal history III: The Tokyo Crescendo
It felt like podium or bust, and they finally broke through.
Credit: FIBA
This series narrates three broad arcs on the Australian national men’s basketball team and their generational journey towards a first ever Olympic medal, as we move towards the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
The first arc begins with the early Boomers who pioneered Australia’s rise as a basketball nation, and concludes with the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The second arc covers the current core generation, and how they battled through seemingly persistent heartbreak.
The third and final arc features the Australian Boomers’ journey towards the Tokyo Olympics and their triumph, at long last.
Podium or bust
There were no more moral victories to be had for these Australian Boomers. It was now time to step on to the podium at the Olympic Games. Heading into Tokyo, Australia had made the semi-final of an Olympic tournament four times in their history, which never went well. Australia lost its four semi-finals by a combined 99 points and never managed to keep the margin under 21 points in a single game.
The medal round was a familiar house of horrors. Destruction in the semi-finals was always followed by a redemption arc in the bronze medal game. The results here, while less confronting than massive blowouts, were equally painful. Spain’s single-point victory in 2016 was the latest moment of sadness. This team had finished fourth in every way imaginable. It made Tokyo a pressure-packed environment. It truly was, medal or bust.
Can the Boomers do it?
Would 2021 be the year when the Australian Boomers finally stepped onto the podium at an Olympic Games? A talented playing roster suggested so. A veteran-laden group of Australian stalwarts led this team into Tokyo. Patty Mills, Aron Baynes, Matthew Dellavedova and Joe Ingles – the four men central to this program’s graduation from plucky underdog to global powerhouse - gave this outfit the perfect blend of Australian sporting identity and international basketball experience from their time in the NBA.
Plus, the cavalry was on its way. The long awaited next generation offered reinforcements for Tokyo. Dante Exum was finally healthy and took his place as the swingman Australia had been searching for at the FIBA level. Josh Green, a recent NBA draft pick with athleticism that would undoubtedly translate to the Olympic level, was present. Matisse Thybulle, who entered Tokyo as one of the best defenders alive, had been drafted into the squad. The Boomers also had big men in Nick Kay, Jock Landale and a bevy of supporting role players. Talent was aplenty.
Mills Named Australia’s First Indigenous Flag Bearer
Patty Mills created history, when he became the first Indigenous Australian to carry the nation’s flag into the Olympic Games. This significant honour not only recognized Mills' exceptional athletic achievements, but also his societal impact on the Australian community.
"It's going to be hard for me to really wrap my head around this moment and even describe the feelings both me and Cate [Campbell] are feeling at the moment," he said. "But for me, what does it mean? I could probably try my hardest to describe it but I think, what does it mean to everybody else throughout Australia.
"The team, the thousands of expats that live across the world, the next generation - the young ones that are coming through, the ones that have come before us.
"At the end of the day I think it's about identity, I think it's about being proud of who you are and really showing that and being passionate about that."
This was a moment for Mills to enjoy personally, while also offering a wider celebration of the rich cultural heritage of Australia's Indigenous people.
“As a proud Kokatha, Naghiralgal and Dauareb-Meriam man it’s incredible," Mills said of his accomplishment. "As the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag bearer my connection between our country - the land, the sky, the sea, our culture, our history and this particular moment runs extremely deep.”
Baynes suffers tragic injury
The Australian Boomers would miss their big man inside. Aron Baynes suffered a significant injury away from the court during the Boomers’ group stage match against Italy. Exact details of the incident were hard to determine, but it was easier to quantify what this did to the Boomers and their campaign. They were now lacking not only a key contributor but also a vital presence in the paint, as they sought to claim a historical medal. It was now next man up for Australia - Jock Landale and Nick Kay were the established big men left in the playing rotation, and both would be needed to cover Baynes’ absence.
Team USA triumph despite Australia’s early lead
It was always going to be tough, and in the end, it proved to be just a little too tough.
A lot of things need to go right, if you want to defeat Team USA in a knockout round of a major international tournament. And in the first half, they were. The first quarter and a half of the Boomers’ semi-finals matchup with the world’s best was a testament to that.
Everything that Brian Goorjian would have had on his whiteboard was getting ticked off in the opening fifteen minutes. The Boomers were getting to the paint, their shooters were nailing open looks, they were scrambling hard on defence and forcing Team USA into difficult shots.
A 15-point lead had Aussie fans jumping in their lounge rooms, however, an American run was always coming and the Australian Boomers couldn’t quite handle it.
The tournament was far from over though, and history was still there to be made - it just depended on how quickly this team could turn their attention to the bronze medal game against Slovenia.
From Matt Hickey:
Rose Gold Vibes Only: How the Australian Boomers made history
Australia finally broke through, winning the country’s first senior men’s basketball medal at a major tournament. Their 107-93 win over Slovenia was tense at times, but the final buzzer started a long-awaited coronation for a group that was now Australia’s most successful male basketball team.
While a pre-tournament win over the United States and the team’s “Gold Vibes Only” mantra gave hope for a greater prize, it was hard to view this Olympic campaign as anything other than a success. For the first time ever, a major tournament did not end in a Boomers loss, and there was no need to search for hidden successes and moral victories.
Every Australian basketball fan knows all too well the heartbreak of recent medal chases, and the core group of this year’s Boomers team was present for all of them. Images of Mills, Ingles, Dellavedova and Baynes left heartbroken from another late-tournament loss were burned into our brains, and the fear of another such finish in Tokyo loomed large behind a veneer of confidence and optimism.
For those same faces to be finally celebrating, achieving the goal that has been present for the last decade-plus of Boomers basketball, was a release for the entire country. It remained too early to say for sure, but that may have been the last Olympic hurrah for the iconic Boomers core. To see such a likeable group of players leave one of their biggest dreams unfulfilled would have been a heartbreaking end to their story. Maybe a gold medal would have been the fairytale finish, but after seeing the joy on the faces of every Boomer in the hours after the game, it was safe to say that bronze would do just fine (for now). Mills himself said it best, sitting alongside Ingles at the podium with both struggling to find words to describe their feelings. “We’ve been through a lot together, on the court, off the court, and it’s all paid off.”
A bronze medal didn’t change our perception of them, but as memories start to fade decades from now, it would be nice to have clear-cut evidence of the greatness of this group. They made history, and that can never be taken away from them.
From Jacob Doole:
Relive the moment with Matt Hickey and many other proud Australian Boomers.
Brian Goorjian talked Boomers culture with Trent Walsh.
