Spain lift the EuroBasket Women title in Orchies
Spain lift the EuroBasket Women title in Orchies, defeating France 70-69 in a magnificent final.
Basketball fans waking up in Spain and France on Monday morning were greeted with contrasting images and reflections of what had happened in Orchies, France an evening earlier.
In what was supposed to be France’s night on home soil – a relatively unheralded Spanish team turned the French party into a Spanish Fiesta, defeating the hosts 70-69 in the gold medal game.
The gold medal came as something of a surprise for the Spanish, whilst anything but gold was always going to be digested as something of a disappointment for the heavily favoured French – views that were reflected in newspapers across both countries.
In Spain, MundoDeportivo lauded the tournament as the perfect championship with the perfect end, alluding to the fact that the Spaniards went unbeaten through the course of the tournament. The story also made mention of the fact that only one other country in history, the former Soviet Union, has held both the men’s and women’s EuroBasket trophies concurrently, adding, “let’s see what happens in September at EuroBasket.”
In addition, the article made mention of the fact that Laura Gil has now achieved a feat that no other Spanish player has managed by winning European gold at U16, U18, U20 and now senior level.
Marca ran the headline: “Spain Make Possible The Dream Of Amaya [Valdemoro] and Elisa [Aguilar],” who both retired after bringing gold back to Spain for the first time in 20 years.
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