Germany clinched the last place in the 12-nation line-up at the Olympic Games men’s basketball tournament on Sunday with a 96-82 win over Puerto Rico.
Greece and Croatia had qualified on Saturday and, with Germany, will join Angola, Argentina, Australia, hosts China, Iran, Lithuania, Russia, Spain and the US in the Beijing tournament.
Dirk Nowitzki starred for Germany with 32 points on Sunday to lead his team to a fifth Olympics place, but their first since 1992.
They were also aided by the efforts of 2.13m Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman who, courtesy of his great-grandparents, became a naturalized German citizen at the start of the month.
Despite not speaking a world of German, Kaman played a key role on Sunday, scoring 10 points with 12 rebounds.
“I’ve only been here 12 days, but Dirk has waited 12 years for this to happen,” Kaman said. “I can’t even imagine the emotions that he must be feeling at this moment.”
At the Games in Beijing, the 12 teams will be split into two groups of six.
Group A sees defending champions Argentina alongside Australia, Iran, Lithuania, Russia and Croatia while Angola, China, Spain, the US, Greece and Germany make up Group B. In Beijing, the US will be looking for their first gold medal in the event since Sydney in 2000.
Since that time, their much-vaunted collection of NBA stars have suffered a series of setbacks with a humiliating sixth place at the 2002 world championships in Indianapolis and a third place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The US were also third at the 2006 world championships in Japan.
Defending Olympic champions Argentina, world champions Spain and Greece will also be among the gold medal favorites.
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