{"id":798337,"date":"2026-07-13T21:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/798337\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T21:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:22:11","slug":"the-2006-fiba-world-champions-reunite-20-years-later-we-werent-aware-of-what-we-had-achieved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/798337\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2006 FIBA World Champions reunite 20 years later: “We weren’t aware of what we had achieved”"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Javier Molero<\/a>\/ jmolero@eurohoops.net<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2006, Spain reached the pinnacle of world basketball for the first time. That gold medal in Japan, won by defeating Greece, was the prelude to the national team\u2019s successes in the two decades that followed.<\/p>\n

To mark the 20th anniversary, all the players reunited in Madrid for a special gala hosted by the Spanish Basketball Federation. Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Jorge Garbajosa, \u00c1lex Mumbr\u00fa\u2026 legends reunited two decades later to reminisce about that pivotal moment in Spanish basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t realize the impact until we actually got there. I feel privileged to have been part of that moment with this great team and group of people,\u201d commented Pau Gasol at the event.<\/p>\n

Gasol recalled that final against Greece, where he stayed on the bench after being injured in the semifinals against Argentina. \u201cI really enjoyed being a teammate; this group was incredible,\u201d he said at the event.<\/p>\n

Jorge Garbajosa, the current president of FIBA \u200b\u200bEurope, also shared a few words. \u201cThe semifinals against Argentina were the toughest game I\u2019ve ever played,\u201d said the former ACB champion with Unicaja<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember it being a really fun tournament off the court, with a spectacular group that was incredibly enthusiastic,\u201d he noted at the event.<\/p>\n

Alongside them was Marc Gasol, who shared a funny anecdote. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe I was in that group,\u201d began the Grizzlies<\/a> and Spanish basketball legend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey brought me along to \u2018give my brother a hard time,\u2018\u201d he continued, laughing. \u201cIn the final against Greece, they assigned me the mission of stopping Schortsanitis, and the whole group helped me with that. They made me feel like family, and I think that feeling has stayed with me over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the event, Pau Gasol spoke to the media, emphasizing the importance of that milestone. The first of several medals that this Spanish generation would collect in EuroBasket, the Olympic Games, and World Championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, we were often compared to football, and I think we served as an example of what was to come. That unity, that enthusiasm. We weren\u2019t fully aware of what we had achieved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sergio Rodr\u00edguez, one of the younger players on the team, made it very clear. \u201cIt\u2019s the best team I\u2019ve ever played with,\u201d he said at the 20th anniversary celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach\u00a0Pepu (Hern\u00e1ndez) made us feel part of the group from the beginning, and both Rudy (Fern\u00e1ndez) and I, who were the rookies, were ready to contribute whatever was needed,\u201d commented \u2018El Chacho\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By\u00a0Javier Molero\/ jmolero@eurohoops.net\u00a0 In 2006, Spain reached the pinnacle of world basketball for the first time. That gold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-798337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}