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Joe Ingles has spent most of his life playing basketball and striving for greatness.
Whether it was the NBA or NBL (Australia’s professional basketball league), Ingles wanted to conquer them both by becoming a champion.
But there was one other accolade he always had his eye on, one medal he always wanted for himself and his country.
This past summer, Ingles and Australia achieved that goal when the Boomers took down Luka Doncic and Slovenia 107-93 in the bronze medal game – earning the country’s first medal at the Olympic Games.
“It feels a lot different to the last 11 years of trying to win an Olympic medal,” Ingles said. “Obviously very proud to be the team that won our country’s first-ever basketball medal. … Never doing it before was the reason we kept going back to try and win this medal.
It’s been a long journey for Ingles, which began in 2007 with fellow countrymen Patty Mills – now with the Brooklyn Nets. Together they saw the potential of Australian basketball.
After a slew of moments where they just missed out on winning a medal, Australia broke through in a significant way on the world’s biggest stage, literally.
“Patty and I started in 2007, and trying to build this program and get it to where we thought it needed to be,” Ingles said. “Obviously, in the last few years, coming in fourth three tournaments in a row, to finally do it was something I’ll obviously cherish forever.”
Ingles wasn’t the only member of the Utah Jazz to bring home some hardware over the summer.
What did you do on your summer vacation?
We sat down with Joe & Rudy to talk about representing their country in the Olympic Games and bringing home the hardware #JazzFeatures | @AFCU pic.twitter.com/4m4TqEczvv
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 2, 2021
All-star and three-time defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert led France to the silver medal, falling to Team USA in the gold-medal game. Gobert led France to its third Olympic medal, all of which have been silver and come following defeats to the United States in the championship game.
“It’s an amazing feeling, especially going through what we’ve been through as a team,” Gobert said.
FIBA named Gobert to the ‘All-Star Five’ for the Tokyo Olympics after he averaged 12.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
While not as long of a journey as Ingles had with Australia, Gobert’s road to the silver medal didn’t come without trials and tribulations as well.
“Having to qualify in China in 2019, and then with the Olympics postponed, you come back a year later and to accomplish that as a group, it’s amazing,” Gobert said. “Last time was 20 years ago, so yeah, pretty cool.”
For both players, despite winning medals at the Olympics, the journey and results were far better than bringing home the medals themselves.
While Gobert admits that his is still in his bag from the trip to Tokyo, Ingles’ medal was immediately placed somewhere special – right next to his 5-year-old daughter’s participation medal for playing youth soccer. Ingles gave an honest response when asked where that medal is now – nearly three months after winning it.
“It’s still hanging on the door handle where Milla’s soccer medal is,” Ingles said with a laugh. “It’s where she wanted to put it so it’s still there now. … They’re very much alike.”
— Joe Ingles (@Joeingles7) August 11, 2021
Ingles and Gobert continued a theme of Jazz players winning Olympic medals, joining the duos of Karl Malone and John Stockton and Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer as Utah teammates to bring home medals.
The Olympic medalists return to the court together tonight when the Jazz (5-1) host Sacramento at 7 p.m. MST. To purchase tickets, click HERE.
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