By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Gigi Datome was the focus of the 10th installment of the “Final Four Stories by Stoiximan” series. The now-retired Italian great revisited the historic moments when he became a EuroLeague champion with Fenerbahce in 2017.
While the Datome is widely recognized for his signature beard, it was his hair that became the center of now legendary post-game ritual at Istanbul’s Sinan Erdem Dome. Following a midseason bet, Pero Antic took a pair of scissors to his teammate’s ponytail on the court, a deal struck with the condition that if Fener became champions, the hair would undergo a certain… modficiation.
Reflecting on the wager, Datome noted that he got off relatively easy. “Pero couldn’t do anything else,” he told Eurohoops. “He could have shaved my beard, and I would have been okay with it. But thank God I only made that decision for my hair, so it was fine.”
The victory over Olympiacos Piraues in the Final and the triumph of lifting the first-ever EuroLeague championship in the history of Turkish basketball arrived amid immense desire and anticipation from a fanbase hungry for the club’s maiden European title. Datome recalled the intensity of the days leading up to the EuroLeague Final Four, noting that while the team shared the fans’s hunger, they knew success was never guaranteed.
“The days before the Final Four, everybody was ready. Everyone was saying, ‘Hey, come on, guys, you have to win, we’re ready, we’re going to be champions.’ Of course, all of us wanted that, but it isn’t automatic. The expectations and the desire were massive,” he mentioned.
The true scale of the achievement only hit Datome during the victory parade. As the team bus rolled through the heart of the city, the connection between the players and the community became tangible.
“I realized how big it was for the entire community when we went to Bahariye Street, the main street in Kadıkoy, with the bus during the parade,” he said. “You could really see the happiness in the faces of the people who were just exchanging looks with us. They were so happy and so proud.”
“We play basketball for many reasons. To reach our goals, to have fun, and to have good careers, but at the end of the day, one of the main goals is to provide emotion. I think the emotions we gave that weekend are something people will remember for the rest of their lives,” he added.
While the public celebrations were grand, Datome found his most meaningful moment of peace in the quiet hours of the following morning, alongside head coach Zeljko Obradovic and their families. By 5:00 a.m., the crowds had dispersed, leaving only the inner circle of the championship team.
“The moment I enjoyed most was at the end of the night. Everyone was gone, and I was at the table with my family and Zeljko’s family. We were essentially the last ones there,” he remembered.
In that stillness, the weight of the victory finally settled.
“We kept drinking and talking. We could really talk then, because before that, there were so many people, sometimes people you had never seen before, asking for selfies,” he said. “It wasn’t the best atmosphere to celebrate privately. But at five in the morning, everyone was gone.”
“My family and Zeljko’s family were there, so we were able to sit, talk, and joke. In that moment, I was really at peace with myself, enjoying the moment through those simple things,” recalled Datome.