In 100% CSP, we take advantage of the international window to open the memory box with former players of the France team. In this 2nd episode, the sports director of Limoges Crawford Palmer recounts his adventure in Blues, forever marked by the 2000 Olympic Games in Australia. At the time, there was a maximum of one naturalized player per selection. Crawford Palmer, who in club is preparing to move from ASVEL to Badalone, took over from Ronnie Smith in the France team.
The 2000 Olympic Games, an indelible memory
He was then 30 years old and the one nicknamed the baker plunged very quickly into the deep end. His first official match with the Blues was at the Olympics from sydney. “It’s New Zealand at 9am, the day after the Opening Ceremony in Sydney. These Olympics, it’s easily one of my best memories in basketball” recalls Crawford Palmer. And for good reason. The Blues went to the final against the USA and won the silver medal. However, this Olympic campaign was not a long calm river.
“There really were ups and downs. No one saw us pass. We had beaten New Zealand but we took 20 points against the Lithuanians. We play the Chinese, we are at minus 20 or more and Antoine Rigaudeau catches fire. We still don’t understand why the Chinese played in the zone. By snatching this match, we fall on Canada in the quarter. Behind, the match against Australia, it was huge. To beat the Australians at home. You know you have a medal. It was a very strong moment in the locker roomrewinds the old interior.
It was really unexpected for a lot of people
Then it’s the final against Team USA. An inevitably unforgettable match for the Franco-American Crawford Palmer:At the start, I think we were at minus 19 in the 1st half and it was starting to get a bit watery. But we come back in and they are forced to take their first time out of the tournamentlaughs Crawford Palmer again.There is the medal at the end. It was really unexpected for a lot of people” he continues. The baker then participates in the Eurobasket 2001. But he falls on a bone.
“Personally, I make a good selection until we come across the Germans in the quarter-finals. You have to defend against Dirk Nowitzky and it’s not going very well. Neither for me nor for the team” remembers Crawford Palmer, yet very motivated by the idea of qualifying France for the World Cup the following year in Indianapolis. This will not be the case following this elimination in the quarter-finals. After a few more matches with Blues, it’s time to hand over to the next generation Frédéric Weis, Thierry Rupert and Sacha Giffa.
Always very attentive to the destiny of the France team
He then joined the management of the Blues at the federation after his career as a player for 4 years. After the new silver medal last summer at the Tokyo Olympics, it is happy to see that the France team is a real reference world basketball:France is at a very high international level. It is no longer a surprise that France is present. There is an impressive reservoir of players. They show at almost all competitions that they have a chance of a medal. And it’s deserved“.
At the question who is your favorite in the event of a new France-USA final at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, he also firmly believes in the chances of the Blues: “It’ll be hot ! But I think France will have every chance. If I had to give a prediction, I would say France!“And it’s not nothing to say, especially for a player born in the United States but who since his 25th birthday and his naturalization following his marriage to a French woman, carries the colors of France high in his heart.
(Next episode: Yann Bonato, former winger and captain of Limoges CSP, silver medalist at the Sydney Olympics)