By Antonis Stroggylakis / info@eurohoops.net
In the most recent installment of Final Four Stories by Stoiximan, Dejan Bodiroga, the current President of Euroleague Basketball, looked back on the weight of history he carried into the Final Four in 2003.
For FC Barcelona, a club he described as a ‘huge organization’, the tournament was a chance to erase a legacy of near-misses. “Barcelona went to many Final Fours,” Bodiroga told Eurohoops. “They got to the Final Four but had never won.”
Coming off a 2002 championship with Panathinaikos, he viewed the pressure of the Catalan giant as a catalyst rather than a burden.
“For them to have organization 2003 in Barcelona and coming after so many Final Fours, of course, was big pressure, but also, for me, let’s say, was one additional motivation or new goal,” he noted.
At 29, he sought a fresh start to test his limits. “This was an additional challenge, and I wanted to also put myself again in the challenge and to start, let’s say, from zero,” he mentioned.
The championship-crowning tournament at the Palau Sant Jordi, where Barca defeated CSKA in the Semifinals before facing Benetton Treviso for the title. Bodiroga, who earned Final Four Most Valuable Player honors after a 20-point performance in the championship game, attributed his success to a relentless internal drive.
“I think that first it was that I compete also with myself and I always try to win again,” he said. “I dream, and I practice, and I prepare myself always when I am on the court to give 100%, and I know that that is the moment. There will not be another opportunity.”
Reflecting on his iconic celebration during the closing moments of the Final, he recalled the sudden realization of victory.
“In that moment, I thought, or I knew we won. Because I think that the difference is seven or eight points or something like this,” he mentioned. “I have this feeling in that moment that that’s and that we won.”
That victory secured a historic triple crown for the club, a feat Bodiroga still holds in high regard.
“I am very happy and satisfied that we did in the first year, and we won a triple crown that is also difficult to win in the Spanish ACB, which is a very strong league, and to combine this with the EuroLeague and the Copa del Rey was something really important and big,” he underlined.