Go Getter
10-27-2010, 07:01 AM
I was looking at USAB on nba.com and spotted this article.
Ten years later: Teresa Edwards
By Brandon Penny, USOC
Most people do not know what it feels like to be a world-class athlete and make it to the Olympic Games.
"Just imagine when you’ve played and represented your country so many times. Understand the scale of things of that magnitude – just being at the top and being a part of something that is the best in the world,” said basketball legend Teresa Edwards.
“It’s something that becomes quite addicting to you. And the fact that my body didn’t quit on me and it constantly allowed me to perform at that level, I felt no reason to stop.”
And she did not stop. Edwards played through five consecutive Olympic Games, earning four gold medals and one bronze.
She is the only basketball player – male or female – with five medals, and the first female player to compete in five Games. She holds the record for being the youngest gold medalist in basketball history (1984, age 20), as well as the oldest (2000, age 36).
It is an unmatched career that all started in 1980 when University of Georgia head coach Andy Landers first saw Edwards play in her sophomore year of high school and could only find one word to describe her: "special.”
“She had two things, either one of which is outstanding for a young player to have,” Landers said. “She had a hunger about her and a drive to do well. The s
econd thing was she was competitive.”
It was clear she was good, in high school and in college, but no one, including Landers, could have guessed she would make the Olympic team at age 20.
http://www.usabasketball.com/womens/national/ten_years_later_teresa_edward_2010_09_17.html
That is truly amazing man or woman....she's a true winner.
Ten years later: Teresa Edwards
By Brandon Penny, USOC
Most people do not know what it feels like to be a world-class athlete and make it to the Olympic Games.
"Just imagine when you’ve played and represented your country so many times. Understand the scale of things of that magnitude – just being at the top and being a part of something that is the best in the world,” said basketball legend Teresa Edwards.
“It’s something that becomes quite addicting to you. And the fact that my body didn’t quit on me and it constantly allowed me to perform at that level, I felt no reason to stop.”
And she did not stop. Edwards played through five consecutive Olympic Games, earning four gold medals and one bronze.
She is the only basketball player – male or female – with five medals, and the first female player to compete in five Games. She holds the record for being the youngest gold medalist in basketball history (1984, age 20), as well as the oldest (2000, age 36).
It is an unmatched career that all started in 1980 when University of Georgia head coach Andy Landers first saw Edwards play in her sophomore year of high school and could only find one word to describe her: "special.”
“She had two things, either one of which is outstanding for a young player to have,” Landers said. “She had a hunger about her and a drive to do well. The s
econd thing was she was competitive.”
It was clear she was good, in high school and in college, but no one, including Landers, could have guessed she would make the Olympic team at age 20.
http://www.usabasketball.com/womens/national/ten_years_later_teresa_edward_2010_09_17.html
That is truly amazing man or woman....she's a true winner.