Carmelo Anthony went out on top. After winning his fourth Olympic medal and third gold on Sunday as Team USA blew out Serbia in the 2016 Olympic final, Anthony said "I know this is the end. This is it for me."
Carmelo Anthony’s emotional postgame interview after winning gold is what America is all about
Carmelo Anthony got emotional after winning his third gold medal.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Anthony had to pause during an emotional post-game interview with NBC as fans chanted his name. He is the first American men’s basketball player to win three gold medals.
Here’s a transcription of Melo’s interview:
We fought. It wasn’t always pretty. We came together July 17, and we all committed for this reason. It was a special moment for me. I know this is the end. This is it for me. I committed to something ....
I committed to this in ‘04. I’ve seen the worst and I’ve seen the best. I stuck with it, we stuck with it. I’m here today, three gold medals later. I’m excited for me, but also for the other guys who have never experienced anything like this. Coach K, myself, Jerry Colangelo and everybody else who have been a part of this since I’ve been here. I just want to say thank you for allowing me to be one of the leaders, not just of our team but of the country. Despite everything that’s going on right now in our country, we got to be united. I’m glad I did what I did, I stepped up the challenge but this is what it’s about. Representing our country on the biggest stage you can be on. America will be great again, I believe that. We got a lot of work to do but one step at a time. I’m glad we represented it in the fashion that we did.
Anthony has used this Olympic experience as a platform for social change. If this really is it for him on Team USA, it’s been an amazing international career.
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