Olympics: Basketball: 3×3 basketball: An evening for eternity

When the gold medal was secured, the German 3×3 basketball players created a moment of silence in the middle of the roaring La Concorde arena: the clock had just expired. A three-on-three basketball game lasts a maximum of ten net minutes, each team only has twelve seconds to score a basket, perhaps the most compressed version of all ball sports, a continuous sprint under just one basket.

In any case, on Monday evening at 10:45 p.m. Svenja Brunckhorst, Sonja Greinacher, Marie Reichert and Elisa Mevius stood in the arena with their heads together and trying to catch their breath. Nobody said a word: no dancing of joy, instead reflection. Pause. Inhale the moment.What do you say to each other after such an incredible success? “We were silent at first, it had to sink in for a moment,” revealed Greinacher when she and her teammates finally left the arena after the acclaimed award ceremony with the gold medal around their necks. »And then we said to each other how incredibly proud we are of each other and how happy that the four of us played together and found each other like that! I mean, Germany has gold in 3×3! I am overwhelmed.”

In fact, it was a fairytale tournament for the quartet, which had only come together in this constellation shortly before the tournament. 20-year-old Elisa Mevius only joined the team a week before the Olympics after a teammate tore her cruciate ligament. Now the student fooled her Spanish competitors in the Olympic final with her quick turns, forced them to commit several fouls and contributed four important points to the final score of 17:16.

Or the miraculous story of Sonja Greinacher (32) and Svenja Brunckhorst, who is the same age, two deserving national players in “normal” five-on-five basketball, who were already thinking about ending their careers before they both decided to retire three years ago to go to the Hanover base to be introduced to the finesse of the streetball variant with which the organized basketball sport wants to benefit from the boom in the street version. Greinacher and Brunckhorst had finally achieved the first Olympic qualification for a German women’s team with the 5×5 team and then had to decide: 5×5 or 3×3? They chose the right thing.

Or 23-year-old Marie Reichert from Kassel, who had speculated before the semi-finals whether the godfather of German basketball would perhaps stop by the women’s 3×3: Dirk Nowitzki, one of the best players in the North American professional league NBA. “When he was actually there, we were of course even more happy,” said Reichert. »It is of course a great honor to play in front of such legends.«

In addition to Nowitzki, another European NBA superstar from the past was seated on the VIP bench at the edge of the 15 by 11 meter playing field. Pau Gasol kept his fingers crossed for his Spaniards, as did the Spanish King Felipe VI. Like the Germans, their compatriots on the field could be described as surprise finalists; they were also the first Spanish quartet to take part in an Olympic 3×3 final. “I’m absolutely happy with silver,” Gracia Alonso revealed after losing the final. “The Germans were simply better in the crucial moments today.”

In fact, the women of the German Basketball Association kept their nerve, even when they were behind early on. Svenja Brunckhorst pulled the strings as usual, while Sonja Greinacher used her height to score, as she did throughout the tournament. After a score of 8:12, the team worked their way back step by step before the 1.88 meter tall scorer hit the decisive long-distance throw to make it 17:15. »This team is so mentally strong. This is incredibly important. “Generally in sports, but even more so in 3×3,” says Greinacher. »It’s a very, very short game. The ability to not lose your nerve speaks for this team.«

By the way, the DBB women also achieved the very first Olympic medal for their association: “I’m particularly pleased that it’s the women who achieved this,” said Brunckhorst, who is now ending her career with Olympic gold and will be a manager at Alba Berlin in the future will work for women and girls. “I hope that a lot of little girls and boys in Germany will now see what a great sport it is – how much passion there is in it.”

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