It's time for Germany to start winning medals - Olinde

CHEMNITZ (FIBA U20 European Championship 2018) - Despite all the talent that Germany has produced in recent years, their last youth continental medal came in 1983. Louis Olinde wants to change that this summer on home soil. 

Germany last climbed a continental podium in 1983 with third place at the FIBA U16 European Championship - which just like this summer's U20 European tournament was also held at home in Germany.

"That's a long time ago," Olinde said. "German basketball is on the right way. I think in the next couple of years there are going to be a lot of teams that will have a shot at a medal."

Olinde and Germany have taken the next step in their development and feel - legitimately so - that they should expect to be playing for the podium.

"A lot of talented generations will follow ours. German teams are now approaching a tournament with a different mindset than they did before," Olinde said. "We are now playing to win a championship and not just to be part of it."

Germany have started coming closer to the podium. Olinde and many of his U20 teammates lost in the Semi-Finals and then the 3rd Place Game of the FIBA U18 European Championship 2016 - after having won the acclaimed biennial U18 Albert Schweitzer Tournament in spring of the same year.

"Falling short of a medal was hard since we expected more from ourselves," Olinde said. "I am pretty sure that it will motivate us a little extra to win a medal."

"GERMAN TEAMS ARE NOW APPROACHING A TOURNAMENT WITH A DIFFERENT MINDSET THAN THEY DID BEFORE. WE ARE NOW PLAYING TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP AND NOT JUST TO BE PART OF IT."- Olinde

Looking ahead to Chemnitz, one of  Olinde's teammates there - Kostja Mushidi- was part of the U20 team that finished fourth in 2016.

"Fourth place is a good result," Olinde said of Germany's best-ever showing in the U20 European tournament. "But I think it's time that Germany wins their first gold medal of the competition."

The Hamburg native is excited about playing in a competition at home in Germany.

"Having the chance to represent your country in front of your family and friends is huge and will give us a big push for sure," said Olinde, who will be playing his fourth FIBA competition following the FIBA U16 European Championship 2014, U18 in 2016 and the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017. 

Some of the fans in Chemnitz will be Olinde's family, one that is well versed in the game. His father Wilbert Olinde was born and raised in Louisiana and played basketball at the famed UCLA in southern California and won the 10th of John Wooden's NCAA championships in 1975. He then came to Germany and helped turn Gottingen into a domestic powerhouse, winning three Bundesliga titles in five years. Wilbert Olinde played for 10 years and still attends some games in Gottingen, where he enjoys an almost hero status. Now he also watches Brose Bamberg games to see his son play for the nine-time Germany champions.

"When I was born, my dad had already stopped playing, so I never watched him. But I grew up in a basketball family and that influenced me a lot to start playing and also to stick with it," said Olinde, whose mother played basketball in the second division and whose brother plays football.

That group will be cheering on Olinde and Germany, something Louis did himself eight years ago when Germany hosted its last FIBA youth event - the inaugural FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2010 in his native Hamburg.

"It's great (that Germany is hosting the U20 event). I remember going to the games in 2010 in Hamburg. It was a lot of fun," he said. "Germany hosting the championship shows how much the federation believes in us."

Just like Olinde and his teammates, the DBB federation is also raising the expectations of its teams - and rightfully so with the talent the country has been producing like Louis Olinde.

FIBA