By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Commenting on rumors of possibly bouncing back with the senior national team of Greece in the 2024 Olympic Games, Kostas Sloukas ruled himself out.
Sloukas, 34, was sidelined with a bone bruise in his right knee, before the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Piraeus. Without him in the lineup, the team coached by Vassilis Spanoulis, led by NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, clinched a berth in the Olympics with four wins in as many games. Even if he is medically cleared to boost his country in the approaching Games, he will sit out due to missing the Qualifiers.
“It is something I have never experienced, the Olympics, it was a dream for me to compete. I will not be able to experience it and it is sad for me,” Sloukas mentioned in a recent interview with Greek outlet SDNA.
“Morally, it is not right for me,” he added, “Vassilis Spanoulis asked me if I wanted to talk about it, but I would never do it. I told him that I had doubts and that there was not a chance in a million if I did not play in the Qualifiers that I would go to the Olympics.”
Since 2011, the reigning Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion with Panathinaikos Aktor star and Final Four MVP has been a regular for Greece, playing in two editions of the FIBA World Cup and five editions of EuroBasket, besides the Victoria OQT in 2021, but missed last summer’s 2023 FIBA World Cup.