|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Last time around Five-time Olympian Edwards wants to go out on top
SYDNEY, Australia -- For team captain Teresa Edwards, the U.S. women's basketball team's 89-75 victory over Korea Saturday night was not just the beginning of a long fortnight of competition at the end of a long summer of competition. It was the start of a well-deserved farewell tour. "I feel like I'm doing everything for the last time, for real," says Edwards, who has played on a record five Olympic teams and has won three gold medals and a bronze. "So far, it has been a magnificent experience. Australia is doing a wonderful job with the Olympics, and I'm just trying to embrace it." The 36-year-old Edwards is also embracing the experience of being on a team again. While every one of her teammates played in the WNBA this summer, she lived off her investments and worked out at the Atlanta gym she has frequented for 10 years, playing three times a week with a group of former NBA and overseas players. Earlier in the year, Edwards, one of the founding members of the now-defunct ABL, had turned down an offer from the WNBA, saying the money offered was "disrespectful."
"I didn't want to have to say no to the WNBA, but they are asking players to sacrifice salaries for the league," she says. "In an era of sponsorship and endorsements, I don't see why we should have to do that. I thought, At my age, I shouldn't have to beg for anything." And so she trained essentially alone, the men at her gym her only measure of how she would shape up on the world stage. "It was lonely," she says. "And it was a little weird coming into this, because I didn't know how I'd look compared to everyone else." If Saturday's game is any indication, she hasn't lost a step. Edwards is still a brilliant passer and can still score (8 points; 4 assists), though that won't be her primary role on a team that includes Sheryl Swoopes (29 points) and Lisa Leslie (24). And as one of the disappointed bronze medalists from Barcelona, Edwards brings a certain perspective to a team that enters the Games as the favorite. "The gold medal is completely up for grabs," she says. "The media are putting us on a pedestal too soon, and that puts too much pressure on us. People think we're not capable of losing, and I really don't know where that comes from. Today's game was tough. Hopefully we'll get better, because the games are just going to get tougher." SI For Women writer Kelli Anderson is in Sydney covering the Games for the magazine and CNNSI.com. Check back daily to read Anderson's behind-the-scenes reports from Down Under.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
