As August began, Gan Guoyang spent over a week with his family in Barcelona.
The initial novelty gradually faded away, and some life problems and troubles surfaced.
The most troublesome was the Las Ramblas next to the hotel, where a large number of tourists and locals gathered almost every day for festivities.
Honestly, neither Chinese people nor Americans can easily understand the mental state of the Spanish.
Many men and women gathered bare-chested on the streets, engulfing everything that appeared.
If you accidentally get caught up in it, you’ll become part of the revelry, whether you want to or not.
Someone in the crowd will offer drinks, letting you revel and get drunk, finally losing direction and wandering around with the group.
The crazy Spaniards left even the open and enthusiastic Americans bewildered, and these days Barkley rarely went out.
He often ran to Gan Guoyang’s room to play video games with Gan Guoyang’s son and Stockton’s son.
In April 1992, the Super Nintendo gaming console was released in Europe, this classic gaming console could play "Super Mario," "Dragon Quest."
Gan Wenshan, who was just over three years old, still didn’t know how to play, sitting nearby dumbfounded, while Stockton’s son could already play happily with Barkley.
Magic Johnson tried to take his son out for a walk, but their stroller was nearly crushed by the enthusiastic Spanish locals, so Johnson protected his son and returned to the hotel.
Thus, this not-so-spacious four-star hotel became a luxurious prison for the stars, the only one going out was David Robinson, who went to church to attend a concert and played the saxophone, showcasing his excellent musical talents.
Gan Guoyang wanted to find a place to train, but the situation outside made him give up the idea; he didn’t want to trouble the bodyguards to protect him painstakingly, nor was he interested in riding a helicopter.
Unlike Robinson, who was interested in music and could play the piano and saxophone, Gan Guoyang’s talent and energy were all focused on basketball.
During the wait for the elimination match when he couldn’t go out, he chose to spend time in the hotel’s gym and swimming pool to maintain his physical state.
For these monotonous, repetitive days, Gan Guoyang instead became more accustomed; he enjoyed being with his soul, silently waiting for the outbreak.
On August 4th, at two-thirty in the afternoon, the first elimination match was about to take place, with Croatia and China as the opposing sides.
Gan Guoyang arrived at the arena by helicopter after lunch and warmed up with his teammates for half an hour to get in the mood.
The quarterfinals were the best achievement of the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team in the Olympics, and after successfully reaching the elimination rounds, the China Team increased in confidence but also felt a bit perplexed.
A single game decides victory; win to continue, lose to fall into the battle for the 9th-10th place, the brutality of the knockout stages is different from the group stages, there is no strategic abandonment, nor any slack.
For the Olympics, for the country, for the once-every-four-years opportunity, every player will give their all.
Just like in football, the regular club matches and the World Cup, club matches might have higher technical and tactical levels and be more attractive, but the World Cup is absolutely at war-level.
Especially in the elimination matches, each player carries the expectations of their nation and country, turning the game into a battle until the very end.
The influence of basketball is naturally not as great as football, but the Olympic basketball matches, are akin to the World Cup in football, the highest honor in national basketball.
During the group matches, Gan Guoyang would still banter and joke with his teammates, Sabonis, and Petrović.
In the elimination matches, he completely changed his face, serious, calm, like a statue in the noisy stadium, indifferent yet full of majestic power.
The warming-up Petrović across had the same expression, though he felt more anxious inside.
Playing together with Ah Gan for three years, being teammates for three years, winning three championships, Petrović knew the terror of this man.
Sabonis had already tasted it once in the group stage, and now in the elimination stage, each cut would be bloody; Petrović also had to endure it once.
He saw it as a hardship he must experience on his path forward.
The three years in Portland, Petrović’s life was really tough.
He was obsessed with basketball, for which he broke up with his girlfriend, abandoned his handsome long curls, and cut his hair short.
He trained his previously slender and graceful body to be robust and upright to enhance his ability to withstand challenges.
In the past, he was the Mozart of European basketball, the Croatian basketball prince in people’s hearts.
Now, he was more like a general, a brave, powerful basketball commander.
Only, today he had to face the emperor to whom he pledged allegiance.
Of course, Croatia had the advantage in lineup strength.
Except for Ah Gan at this position, every other position in Croatia was stronger than the China Team.
And not just a bit stronger, they were a notch above.
Especially in talent and skill, the young Chinese players could be considered promising at home, with hopes to become a golden generation.
But the Croatian talented players’ gifts could stand shoulder to shoulder with the NBA stars.
If they had been exposed to American basketball education early and grown up in the American basketball environment, they would definitely be backbone players in the NBA.