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- Ελληνικά
On that hot Sunday night, the national basketball team forced all Greek fans and non-fans alike to take to the streets to celebrate winning the European Basketball Championship, the first in the history of the sport, which came after a thrilling game against the Soviet Union and a 103-101 overtime victory. It was the greatest triumph of Greek sport in a team sport until then and would remain so until 2004, when the national team would win the European Football Championship.
In previous years, the national basketball team had been coming off consecutive failures. In 1985 they were not even in the EuroBasket in Germany, and two years in France they had finished 11th. Not since 1965 in Moscow had they qualified for the last eight. And it was with this goal that they began their 1987 EuroBasket campaign, held in the newly built Peace and Friendship Stadium (SEF), inaugurated in 1985 by Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou. Due to its home venue, it was believed that its participation in the eighth round of the competition would be an excess and a success. No one expected what was to follow.
The 25th EuroBasket featured 12 teams (Greece, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Spain, France, Italy, West Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, Israel and the Netherlands), divided into two groups of six teams each. The top four teams in each group would advance to the quarter-finals. Our national team was drawn in the first group, which was the most difficult, against the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Spain, Romania and France.
Federal coach Kostas Politis, 45 years old at the time, with significant time on the court either as a player or as coach of Panathinaikos, had taken charge of the national team in 1982 and set the goal of creating a young team with long-term goals. "We were moving forward step by step and this team by '87 had matured and gained experience. It was beginning to make its presence felt," he said in an interview.
The 12 players who made up the national team at EuroBasket 1887 were: Nikos Galis (Aris Th., 29 years old), Panagiotis Giannakis (Aris Th., 28 years old), Panagiotis Fassoulas (PAOK, 24 years old), Fanis Christodoulou (Panionios, 22 years old), Memos Ioannou (Panathinaikos, 29 years old), Liveris Andritsos (Panathinaikos, 27 years old), Argyris Kambouris (Olympiacos P., 25 years old), Nikos Stavropoulos (PAOK, 27 years old), Nikos Linardos (Panionios, 23 years old), Michalis Romanidis (Aris Th., 21 years old), Nikos Filippou (Aris Th., 24 years old), Panagiotis Karatzas (Pangrati, 21 years old).
In the grand final of June 14, they faced the Soviet Union again, which had defeated Spain 113-96 in the other semi-final of the competition. The entire political leadership of the country at the time and the opposition in the official seats with Greek flags in their hands eagerly awaited the final. There was pandemonium in the Peace and Friendship Stadium and all of Greece was glued to the television. The great Ronnie Seikeli, in civilian clothes, was on the national team's bench to encourage the players, even though a year ago he played against the USA in the World Cup and lost the right to wear the "blue" jersey at some point.
The game was thrilling and was decided by two free throws by Liveris Andritsos, which took the game to overtime (89-89 in regulation) and two free throws by Argyris Kampouris at the end of overtime, which made the final score 103-101 in favor of the national team.
The compositions of the teams:
- Greece (Politis).
- Soviet Union (Gomelsky).
38 years after the bronze medal in Cairo, Greece was again on the podium and on the highest step of it. Greece was the European champion. Who could have imagined it in those years. Nikos Galis was named Most Valuable Player (37 points) and the golden five were Nikos Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis, Andres Jimenez (Spain), Sarunas Marciulionis (USSR) and Alexander Volkov (USSR). There is pandemonium in the dressing rooms. Melina Mercouri is suddenly in the arms of Panagiotis Fassoulas and the team arrives at the hotel in Glyfada after three hours. Nikos Filippou had to get off the bus and get on a two-wheeler of the Traffic Police to reach Glyfada faster. There waiting for Kostas Politis was his mother, who was ill and got up to go to the hotel to kiss her son. There the next day, the shipowner Yannis Latsis sent a touching poem to Kostas Politis and together they sent open cheques to be distributed to the players. The gifts from everywhere, the invitations for hospitality on various islands were a spontaneous act of gratitude.
June 14, 1987 was a springboard for the further development of the sport, but above all it marked all Greeks inside and outside the borders. Greek sport needed a success, Greeks were looking for a miracle and the "12" internationals of Kostas Politis undertook to become the heroes that the whole of Hellenism needed so much. So what if football was always the sport that prevailed in the minds of Greek fans, so what if basketball was until then appreciated by a minority of the elite. In less than a minute, two accurate shots by Argyris Kampouris in the final against the Soviet Union proved to be enough for basketball to be declared a national sport!
Source: sansimera
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