You’d have to have a heart of stone not to feel for Dirk Nowitzki. After 12 years of spending his summer holidays playing basketball for Germany in the hope of one day making it to the Olympics, the Dallas Mavericks forward led his country into the tournament when they got third place — and the last ticket to Beijing — in a qualifying tournament on Sunday in Athens. 

Nowitzki cried tears of joy after Germany beat Puerto Rico 96-82 in the match for third place after they had lost to Croatia on Saturday night. He  buried his face in a towel while walking off the court after scoring 32 points and cried and then sat in the locker-room and wept  some more as journalists watched and waited for the chance to talk to him. “I needed to be alone for a bit at first,” Nowitzki said later.

He may be one of the richest sportsmen ever in Germany, earning many millions of dollars each year. But his tears of happiness were a moving reminder that there is something larger at stake. Even if basketball isn’t a very big sport in Germany — far behind not only soccer but also ranking below motor racing, handball and even water polo on many sports pages — Nowitzki’s emotion-filled achievement was the big story on Monday. ”A dream has really come true,” Nowitzki said. “I still can’t believe it. It’s an incredible feeling because we’ve all waited so long for it. I’m so happy and so proud. I was really tired at the end and a bit emotional. I just came unglued.”

But Nowitzki and his teammates were all smiles again on Monday. They went to German Olympic headquarters to pick up some team uniforms for the Opening Ceremony but had a hard time finding suits that would fit. “I heard the shot putters were here before us and snatched away all the suits in our size,” Nowitzki said. “Now some of us are going to have to run around Beijing with a bare midriff.”

Germany has had one of the world’s top 10 basketball teams for years, in no small part due to Nowitzki. They won the bronze medal at the 2002 world championships in Indianapolis, second at the 2005 European championships and fourth in Europe in 2001. But they always came up tantalisingly short in the pre-Olympic years in the qualifying for Sydney and Athens. But Nowitzki never gave up dreaming about walking into an Olympic stadium for the Opening Ceremony, even after Germany failed once again to qualify in 2007. The tickets they collected on Sunday in Athens were their very last chance for Germany’s first Olympic qualification since 1992.

“I’ve been watching the Olympics on TV ever since I can remember,” Nowitzki said in a recent interview in Berlin after a tune-up match against Poland. “The Opening Ceremony, the Olympic flame, the whole thing just fascinates me.” With Nowitzki now bound for Beijing, the whole thing fascinates me even more. 

Pix from top: Nowitzki (R) tries to score against Puerto Rico’s Alex Falcon during their FIBA Olympic qualifying basketball game in Athens. And Nowitzki hugs Demond Greene next to Robert Garrett (2nd L). Photos by Yiorgos Karahalis.

Dirk Nowitzki says he’s been dreaming about going to the Olympics since he saw the 1988 Games on TV as a 10-year-old boy.

He’s spent the last 10 summers in the NBA off-season working hard to help Germany qualify for the Olympics again for the first time since 1992 — and the Dallas Mavericks’ all-star from Germany looked completely shattered when his team came up heartbreakingly short in the 2003 European Championships, the qualifier for the 2004 Olympics. 

Nowitzki and Germany again failed to qualify directly for the Olympics at last year’s European Championships as well — but they still could get tickets to Beijing if they finish in the top three at a 12-team tournament set for mid-July.  

It’s not like I really know how Nowitzki feels because I don’t. I’ve never been in the NBA nor have I played for Germany or any other country.

But in a way, I think I do understand.  

Ever since I first saw the 1968 Olympics on TV as an eight-year-old in Connecticut, I too started dreaming about going.

As Nowitzki said: ”The whole thing just fascinates me”.

My never-really-that promising high school basketball career ended at 18 and despite some modest success later on in local triathlons, I knew I didn’t have a prayer there either — and it wasn’t even yet an Olympic sport. 

 When I started working as a financial journalist at Reuters in 1990, I began looking into the “qualifiers” needed to get onto the Olympics reporting team. The competition was fierce. I nevertheless thought I might be getting close to a ticket to Sydney in 2000 but wasn’t nominated.

I felt even closer to making the squad in 2004 but again wasn’t picked, although I did make it on the “alternates” list.  I had pretty much given up hope when suddenly in mid July 2004 the phone rang. Someone on the team had become pregnant and couldn’t go. Was I still available?  

So I made it to Athens at the last minute and have been looking forward to Beijing ever since. I hope Nowitzki gets his mid-July invitation this time too.

Picture of Dallas Mavericks and Germany forward Dirk Nowitzki  by Mike Stone