MADRID, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Pau Gasol, the most famous Spanish basketball player of all time, confirmed on Wednesday that he would play for his country in the forthcoming European Championships.
The 34-year-old, who will be 35 in early July and who now plays for the Chicago Bulls, made his debut for his country in the 2001 EuroBasket, winning a bronze medal and since then the power forward has won two European silver and two gold medals, as well as helping Spain to gold in the 2006 World Championships and silver medals in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.
"After thinking hard about the issue, because every decision that I take is important given that it has a direct effect on how long I have left to play, my decision is to be available for the EuroBasket to help the team do as well as possible and to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games," said Gasol in a publicity event.
Spain need to reach the final of the 2015 EuroBasket, which is to be played in Croatia, France, Germany and Latvia between September 5-20th, in order to qualify directly for the 2016 Olympics, while the sides which finish 4th, 5th and 6th will play in a pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in order to book their tickets to Rio.
"It is not down to the Olympic Games, but because I know I have not many competitions left before I retire and I know that the national team means to me," said Gasol, who said he didn' t know if his brother Marc would also be available.