29 points!
67% from the field!
67% from the field!
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Megan, naturalized citizen of Spain, competing at the Olympics
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
Good story on how Megan ended up on Spain's Olympic team.
Some excerpts:
Earlier this year, Megan went through the steps to earn a Spanish passport, in order to play for Spain's national team during this summer's Olympics.
If you're confused, so was every Hawkeye fan and coach. Head coach Jan Jensen recalls, "She said 'I've got to fly to LA to apply for my Spanish citizenship'. I was like-whoa! Are you Spanish?".
As it turns out, there is no Spanish DNA in Megan's blood. But this is not an uncommon career turn for professional women's players, who can be invited to become a citizen of another country in order to get more opportunities for competition during the WNBA offseason.
The full story:
cbs2iowa.com
Some excerpts:
Earlier this year, Megan went through the steps to earn a Spanish passport, in order to play for Spain's national team during this summer's Olympics.
If you're confused, so was every Hawkeye fan and coach. Head coach Jan Jensen recalls, "She said 'I've got to fly to LA to apply for my Spanish citizenship'. I was like-whoa! Are you Spanish?".
As it turns out, there is no Spanish DNA in Megan's blood. But this is not an uncommon career turn for professional women's players, who can be invited to become a citizen of another country in order to get more opportunities for competition during the WNBA offseason.
The full story:
New Spanish citizen Megan Gustafson helps spread popularity of women's hoops in Europe
Her jersey is one of only two Hawkeyes that currently hangs in the rafters at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. But Megan Gustafson never got the Final Four treatment that
cbs2iowa.com
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I love that her dog is always in the contract and she won’t sign with a team if she can’t bring her dog.Good story on how Megan ended up on Spain's Olympic team.
Some excerpts:
Earlier this year, Megan went through the steps to earn a Spanish passport, in order to play for Spain's national team during this summer's Olympics.
If you're confused, so was every Hawkeye fan and coach. Head coach Jan Jensen recalls, "She said 'I've got to fly to LA to apply for my Spanish citizenship'. I was like-whoa! Are you Spanish?".
As it turns out, there is no Spanish DNA in Megan's blood. But this is not an uncommon career turn for professional women's players, who can be invited to become a citizen of another country in order to get more opportunities for competition during the WNBA offseason.
The full story:
New Spanish citizen Megan Gustafson helps spread popularity of women's hoops in Europe
Her jersey is one of only two Hawkeyes that currently hangs in the rafters at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. But Megan Gustafson never got the Final Four treatment that
It’s kind of a joke isn’t it. Should there be stricter restrictions than just being issued a passport?
I mean I don’t blame her . She didn’t make the rules. But shouldn’t you have spent some legitimate amount of time in country you are representing
I mean I don’t blame her . She didn’t make the rules. But shouldn’t you have spent some legitimate amount of time in country you are representing
To be fair she probably spent more time in Spain than a lot of our mens soccer team has ever actually spent in the US, even though they generally have US citizenship from a parent which makes that part different. Israel and Greece have had baseball teams basically just full of Americans of Jewish or Greek descent that have likely never been there at all. Chris Chelios' son played for China in hockey last time because he played there professionally and they didn't really have enough decent players, so they made him a citizen. It's been going on for years. America has several additional entrants in the freestyle men's wrestling, just all wrestling for different countries.
I get that there are other examples . Still doesn’t make it right imo.
Someone like Embid is fine , because he has lived in States half of his life.
Megan was 14-19 (74%) from 2 point range.
She missed a FT, though! (she was 1-2)
She also had 4 steals, 2 blocks and 1 assist.
I hope she gets to keep one of those "Paris 2024" basketballs as a souvenir
She missed a FT, though! (she was 1-2)
She also had 4 steals, 2 blocks and 1 assist.
I hope she gets to keep one of those "Paris 2024" basketballs as a souvenir
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“I’d love to steal that gold medal from Team USA.”
The story from KCRG:
The story from KCRG:
“With countries allowed to add a naturalized citizen to their Olympic rosters, Spain reached out to Gustafson's agent after seeing her play in Europe. Asked if she wanted a passport, Gustafson said yes.”
Seems more like she was recruited to play for Spain versus taking residence there
Yeah, the eligibility rules are interesting, to say the least.
It's more obvious why Peter Jok would play for the South Sudan Olympic team. Peter was born in Sudan. He lived in Sudan, Uganda and Kenya before moving to Des Moines in 2003 with his mother and his brother, Dau. His father was a general in the Sudan People's Liberation Army (he was killed during a civil war when Peter was only 3 years old).
Peter Jok shares childhood stories with students
Peter Jok remembers his English language learner classes //he took// as a young boy after his family moved to the United States.
www.press-citizen.com
Also makes it easier for her to play professionally in Europe since they all have rules about how many Americans they can have on their roster….she doesn’t count as an American.
If we are bringing up Jok, what about Tomi?
Olaoluwatomi "Tomi" Taiwo talks basketball experiences, from Iowa to TCU to Portugal to Nigeria
Tomi Taiwo is getting ready for the Olympics with Nigeria.
www.swishappeal.com
Plus Gustafson is about the least Spanish name I can think of
Watched the ending and China had the ball, down 3, with about 6-7 seconds left and no TOs.
Passed into the lane for a layup as Spain defended the 3 pt line.
????
Passed into the lane for a layup as Spain defended the 3 pt line.
????
is it just me or has MG gotten muy caliente?
There's only 1 player on the Olympic soccer team that wasn't born in the US and didn't play in MLS/ MLS academy
I wish WNBA teams would utilize Megan's offensive talents like European teams do.
Great for Meg. Outstanding performance, and beating China is ALWAYS a good thing.
Having watched the WNBA for the first time this season, I don't understand why Megan hasn't been more successful in the league. If the Fever traded for her and Kate Martin to go along with CC, I think Megan would become an instant star. Glad she's having Olympic success and hope she and her team can go on and beat the second best team in the USA for the gold.
Happy that Meg played so well. I happened to turn on that game and thought "holy shit that girl looks like Meg but can't be because that's Spain."
Can't say I like this rule.
Can't say I like this rule.
Sure, but its no different then a high percentage of these athletes from around the world who take up scholarships at USA Universities, AND get most of their training at USA schools and paid for in the USA and then they go compete under their flag. How many of these athletes would even be world class athletes without the training they get here?
It’s different. They are representing their countries. Who cares where they got their education. It’s not relevant whatsoever to representing a country they were born in or have lived in
Um…most of the Athletes in the world that win Gold medals for other countries have not learned their sport in the United States.
Hell some of the most dominating players in the NBA did not go to college in the United States…if they attended college at all.
Ya think soccer players come to the US to learn how to play soccer? Field Hockey players from the Netherlands? New Zealand Rugby players? Tennis? Japanese women’s wrestlers? Iranian or Russian men wrestlers? Distance runners? Figure skaters? Swimmers swimming from Australia to Stanford? Sprinters? Table Tennis? Archery? Speed skating? Gymnasts from China taking over LSU? Badminton?
What sports exactly do every other country depend on the US to train its athletes to become world class athletes?
Ya can make some sort of tiny argument for Basketball…and even that is not going to hold up very well.
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I am sure there are. Doesn’t mean the United States is somehow responsible for their results.
Also pretty sure that far more train elsewhere.
That’s also two sports. Is there a massive badminton enclave next to the elite Tennis schools in Florida?
I am not saying that the US is not a great place to train if an athlete can get the passport and wants to….just for most sports in the world there are other countries much better at the sport than the US.
There's a limit of ONE naturalized citizen per Olympic team. Professionally, when she plays overseas, she no longer counts as an American (there are limitations to how many Americans can be on one team).
Check this out & watch:
Check this out & watch:
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Expect another big game from Meg vs Puerto Rico.
The full text of the tweet:
This will be a long write-up, hopefully everything will go as I expect! Good luck to people who are tailing!
1u Megan Gustafson over 17.5 pts -113 FD
- The line is higher than against China but as we saw in most games, teams are fighting for a point difference cause of a different way of drawing in the 2nd round.
- Megan in the WNBA isn't a high-usage player but for Spain, she is, as she had 10 shots per game and 2 fta average at round 20 mpg in Olympic qualifiers
- In the first game, Megan shot 21 times and almost everything was in the paint, with some shots against Li Yueru who is taller than her
- She shouldn't have minutes like in the game against China but I expect her to play 26-32 minutes
- Puerto Rico is gritty but their talent is lackluster. Mya Hollingshed is their only high-level big. In Olympic qualifiers, Li Yueru had 22 pts 23 reb game in 24 minutes, while in preparation games Portuguese center dropped 16 on them, and Poland had two centers at double digits (both Portugal and Poland aren't anything good in women's basketball, especially Portugal).
- Megan played against Puerto Rico when the Aces had a pre-season game against them. She had 17 pts in 23 minutes, shooting 4/7 for three
- In the Olympic qualifiers, Megan had 12 vs Hungary (in 23 minutes, everything on jump shots as 2.08m/ 6'8'' Hatar was in deep drop), 15 vs Japan (22 minutes), and 16 vs Canada and Kayla Alexander (22 minutes). Spain now doesn't have Raquel Carerra, who had the offensive role of the main pnr rim roller cause of her solid short roll reads. Laura Gil isn't high usage player so Megan should get usage like against China
- Megan plays high usage in European women's basketball and she dropped 17.5+ on much better and talented inside defenses in women's Euroleague and women's Eurocup
- Puerto Rico gives up bigs shooting from a distance, Dragana Stankovic had 3/3 from midrange and all were open. But Dragana also bricked some easy layups where Puerto Rico made mistakes, she had 9 deep paint/rim attempts
The full text of the tweet:
This will be a long write-up, hopefully everything will go as I expect! Good luck to people who are tailing!
1u Megan Gustafson over 17.5 pts -113 FD
- The line is higher than against China but as we saw in most games, teams are fighting for a point difference cause of a different way of drawing in the 2nd round.
- Megan in the WNBA isn't a high-usage player but for Spain, she is, as she had 10 shots per game and 2 fta average at round 20 mpg in Olympic qualifiers
- In the first game, Megan shot 21 times and almost everything was in the paint, with some shots against Li Yueru who is taller than her
- She shouldn't have minutes like in the game against China but I expect her to play 26-32 minutes
- Puerto Rico is gritty but their talent is lackluster. Mya Hollingshed is their only high-level big. In Olympic qualifiers, Li Yueru had 22 pts 23 reb game in 24 minutes, while in preparation games Portuguese center dropped 16 on them, and Poland had two centers at double digits (both Portugal and Poland aren't anything good in women's basketball, especially Portugal).
- Megan played against Puerto Rico when the Aces had a pre-season game against them. She had 17 pts in 23 minutes, shooting 4/7 for three
- In the Olympic qualifiers, Megan had 12 vs Hungary (in 23 minutes, everything on jump shots as 2.08m/ 6'8'' Hatar was in deep drop), 15 vs Japan (22 minutes), and 16 vs Canada and Kayla Alexander (22 minutes). Spain now doesn't have Raquel Carerra, who had the offensive role of the main pnr rim roller cause of her solid short roll reads. Laura Gil isn't high usage player so Megan should get usage like against China
- Megan plays high usage in European women's basketball and she dropped 17.5+ on much better and talented inside defenses in women's Euroleague and women's Eurocup
- Puerto Rico gives up bigs shooting from a distance, Dragana Stankovic had 3/3 from midrange and all were open. But Dragana also bricked some easy layups where Puerto Rico made mistakes, she had 9 deep paint/rim attempts
What I wouldn’t give to see Megan Gustafson replace Na Smith in the Fever lineup. Start MG and rotate Fagbenle in for 12-15 minutes. Ex-Iowa players bring energy and effort.
Happy to see her flourish on the world stage. Feels like she hardly gets any minutes on the Aces.
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