These were the original 12 Gold Juniors

Traveling back in time to 1999 serves to revisit one of the two world gold medals in training basketball for Spain. Because this July 2, 2023 there is another. The Juniors of Gold, that generation with Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Raúl López and company that would later be supermen, have a new litter in the star panel of our sport. In a few years it will be time to see what the Izan Almansa, Baba Miller, Jordi Rodríguez, Rafa Villar, Sediq Garuba, Lucas Langarita, David Gómez, Sergio de Larrea, Luis García, Victory Onuetu and Alejandro Moreno have ended up with.

In these lines we review the original Júniors de Oro, the ones that defeated the United States in that mythical final (87-93). That generation that changed everything and that allowed Spain to boast some of the best athletes in history.

A career in the LEB After the gold medal in Lisbon, the power forward from Sabadell failed to reach the professional level of his best teammates. He stayed for many years in the LEB team linked to FC Barcelona without making the leap. Only years later he managed to play in the ACB League, but only a few games, with the Lagun Aro Bilbao shirt. His last seasons he has played again in Adecco LEB competitions, first at Image Sabadell and more recently at Sant Josep de Girona.

A luxury SUV. Always in his native Unicaja, it took Berni only a couple of years to make the leap to the senior team, and since then he has been part of the team’s great recent successes: gold in Japan and silver in Madrid and Beijing. He also won the European under 20 bronze medal a few months after making his debut with the Malaga team in the ACB. Champion of the Korac Cup in 2001, of the Copa del Rey in 2005, of the ACB League in 2006… Berni has revealed himself as a luxury all-rounder at the highest international level.

The undisputed point guard Although due to various circumstances it was too difficult for him to finally reach the senior team, his career has run very parallel to that of Berni, his partner at Unicaja ever since. Like Berni, he won the European under 20 bronze in 2000, the Korac Cup in 2001, the Copa del Rey in 2005, the ACB League in 2006, and of course the world gold in Japan 2006 and the European silver in Madrid. 2007. Along with Berni, he has been the flagship of basketball in Malaga, unquestionably becoming one of the best point guards in international basketball.

the eternal Bomb. Pau’s close friend, with whom he shares a room and success every summer, and with whom he played half the NBA season in Memphis. Navarro was, together with Raúl, the first to jump to the absolute Selection. With the Barcelona shirt he has won everything: League, Cup and Euroleague. And of course it has been one of the fundamental axes of the great successes of Spain: from the European bronze in Istanbul 2001 to the Olympic silver in Beijing 2008, going through the European bronze in Stockholm 2003, the world gold in Japan 2006 and the European silver. of Madrid 2007. Elected in the 2002 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards, Juan Carlos has been The bomb of European basketball.

Constant intensity and defense, he spent four seasons at Baloncesto León, three at CB Los Barrios and two more at Tenerife Rural, all at Adecco LEB Oro. That has been the trajectory, after Lisbon, of a very intense forward, capable of scoring more than 12 points per game in important teams in the category, rebounder and helping in the intangible calls of the game. Up to three times he has been playing in the semifinals of the Adecco LEB, which give the passport to promotion, a goal that he has not yet achieved. However, only the lack of a good outside shot has prevented him from being an important player in an ACB team.

Few 203-centimeter centers have managed to be as gigantic in today’s basketball as Felipe, a player who in the last decade has been essential in the successes of Estudiantes first, Real Madrid later and the National Team forever. His jump to the senior level coincided with the European bronze in Istanbul 2003 and he continued with all the other medals: silver at Eurobasket 2003, gold at the 2006 World Cup and silver at Eurobasket 2007 and at the 2008 Olympic Games. And dressed in white he has won the League and the ULEB Cup. Felipe has shown the spirit of the Juniors de Oro like few others.

He suffered in the move to senior With extraordinary physical conditions and enough talent to be the starting forward for this wonderful generation of the 80s, Drame suffered in that troubled move from junior to senior. After Lisbon, he completed a good season at CB Murcia of the LEB and Joventut recruited him for their ACB team. He worked on the outside shot with the Penya coaches but did not gain enough confidence to establish himself in the elite category of national basketball. He had to return to the LEB (Murcia, Huelva and Tarragona) but without the ambition of previous years and demonstrating his quality on a few occasions.

An important player He was another of the Golden Juniors who a year later won the European bronze with the under 20 team and who with the absolute team also participated in the silver won at the Eurobasket in Stockholm 2003. Although the coincidence with a very high inside game world level made it very difficult for him to continue at the highest international level, he has established himself as an important player in the ACB League. A year after the gold medal in Lisbon, he made the leap to the Real Madrid first team, with which in 2005 he won the league title. After that he has completed excellent seasons in Fuenlabrada, Ourense, Badalona, ​​again Real Madrid, Estudiantes and Seville.

The drama of injuries. After Lisbon he was one of the players with the most future. On loan from Pamesa Valencia, he made his LEB debut with Drac Inca and had a good season in LEB2 with Txus Vidorreta’s Bilbao Basket, but back problems led him to the painful decision to retire permanently in 2002, just three years later. to be junior world champion. Félix has never abandoned basketball, and since 2002 he has been training in the training categories of Pamesa and CB Alginet.

The left-handed Garbajosa. Like Bueno, in these ten years the door of the National Team has been closed to Germán by the battery of interior stars with whom he has coincided in time. Trained like Berni y Cabezas in the Unicaja youth academy, another of the protagonists of the European sub 20 bronze medal a year after the gold in Lisbon. And also bronze in the 2005 Mediterranean Games with the B Team. On loan from Unicaja for several seasons, he was one of those chosen in the millionaire Girona project, until his return several years later to Malaga, where his figure as Garbajosa has continued to grow left handed.

Tenacity and talent personified, Raúl López was overshadowed by Gasol’s 2001 draft win, but he came up just a few spots behind Pau. Vic’s point guard, yes, had to wait a few years to make the leap due to two serious knee injuries. But he overcame them with tenacity and talent, and he ended up making it big with the Utah Jazz before returning home. In these years he has participated in the bronze medal in Eurobasket 2001, the Olympic silver in Beijing 2008, and has played in the ranks of his club of origin, DKV Joventut, Akasvayu Girona and Real Madrid, with which he was proclaimed champion of the ACB League and the ULEB Cup.

A race for history. Barely two years after winning the title of junior world champion, after starring in a stellar Copa del Rey and ACB League final, Pau broke records by being selected No. 3 in the NBA draft, where that same year, 2001, he began a meteoric career in the ranks of the Memphis Grizzlies. In 2002 he was elected rookie of the year, in 2006 he was selected for the All Star Game, in 2008 he was transferred to the Los Angeles Lakers and this year he has played the All Star Game again, he has scored more than 10,000 points and has been proclaimed champion of the nba. In these years, he has also participated in all the successes of the National Team: Eurobasket 2001 bronze medal, victory over Dream Team USA in the 2002 World Cup, silver medal in the Eurobasket 2003, gold medal in the 2006 World Cup, medal silver in the Eurobasket 2007 and silver medal in the 2008 Olympic Games