By Stavros Barbarousis/ info@eurohoops.net
No matter what happens in the final of the Rio Olympics, Sasha Djordjevic already made history after the win of Serbia over Australia.
The coach of the “Eagles” won an Olympic medal both as a player and as a coach, a great feat in the world basketball scene.
It was 20 years ago, when Djordjevic was the captain of the Yugoslavian team, which despite its name included only Serbia and Montenegro. In the games of Atlanta back in 1996, Djordjevic was on the court against USA in the final and was defeated by the “Dream Team III”.
He ended up getting the silver medal and it remains to be seen if this time from the bench the man who is named in Serbia “Sale Nacionale” because of his link with the national team, can make the next step.
Before Djordjevic, an other Serb, Zeljko Obradovic, had won silver Olympic medals both as player (1988) and as a coach (1996) and also Croatian legend Petar Skansi did the same in 1968 as a player and in 1992 as a coach.
Last but not least, Larry Brown has won an Olympic gold medal as a player (1964) and also as an assistant coach (2000), while as a head coach he has won the bronze (2004).