Spanish basketball player Rudy Fernandez believes it is going to be hard for his team to win an Olympic medal in Beijing next month.
Speaking to "El Mundo Deportivo" from Spain's training camp near Cadiz on Tuesday, the shooting guard, who will be attending his second Olympics after having seen in the Spain basketball squad for Athens 2004 when he was just 19-years-old, said although Spain are reigning world champions, it will be tough to win one Olympic medal this time around.
"We have got a team that has got a lot of talent, because we are all important players in our respective clubs and we also have a good future ahead of us because we are young," said Rudy.
"The players also know that there are other teams who will go to the Games and they will also have prepared very well," he said remembering what happened in last year's European Championships, where Spain were surprised by the Russians in the final and had to settle for second place.
"We are the world champions, but we saw that Russia beat us in the EuroBasket. Every rival can give you a surprise," he said.
However, despite admitting it is not going to be easy, Rudy still has his sights set on gold in Beijing.
"Our objective still has to be to win a medal. It is going to be complicated, but as the tournament progresses, you fix your mind on going as far as possible. To try and take some of the pressure off, we are going to take it one game at a time," he concluded.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2008)