Pau Gasol's triumph with the LA Lakers has prompted more articles in the Spanish media celebrating the country's incredible run of sporting success.

Gasol was a vital cog in the Lakers machine this season and joins a long list of Spanish champions in individual and team sports.

Spain's soccer team, after winning Euro 2008, has cemented its hold on the number one ranking by extending its unbeaten run to 33 matches, Barcelona strolled to the Champions League title last month with a humbling of holders Manchester United, Rafael Nadal is the top-ranked men's tennis player and Spain Davis Cup champions, Jorge Lorenzo is joint leader in the MotoGP world championships and Carlos Sastre won the 2008 Tour de France, the third Spanish victory in a row.

"Another success for Spanish sport," Nadal wrote of Gasol on his website on Tuesday. "It's hard to take in everything that we are achieving," he added. "We should be very proud."

"Gasol has passed a new milestone for Spanish sport, even if there are not that many goals left to achieve," said sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky.

Writing in Marca newspaper on Tuesday, columnist Santiago Segurola said the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 were a turning point for the country, changing the way people outside Spain viewed the nation and laying the foundations for today's sporting achievements.

While Spain might not be the strongest sporting nation overall, it was among those that produced the widest variety of champions, almost all in sports with huge media impact, he added.

However, the recent success of athletes like Gasol and Nadal could be a mixed blessing for the team bidding to bring the Olympic Games to Madrid in 2016.

It helps raise the nation's global profile but also serves to underline the relative weakness of Spain in the key Olympic sports of athletics and swimming.

"We are enjoying the luxury but lacking in the basics," Segurola wrote.

Spain's performance at the last Olympics in Beijing, where they came 14th in the medals table behind the likes of Jamaica, Netherlands and Ukraine, underscored their athletes' deficiencies, Juan Bautista Martinez wrote in Tuesday's La Vanguardia.

But at a time of economic crisis, with unemployment soaring and firms closing down, sport had become a kind of motor of society that had helped lift damp spirits, he said. "When everything is going down the tubes, sport comes to the rescue."

Whether or not Madrid pips Chicago, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro to win the right to host the 2016 summer Games, the elusive dream for many Spaniards remains winning the soccer World Cup for the first time.

If Fernando Torres, David Villa, Xavi and Andres Iniesta maintain anything like their current form, South Africa next year could well be the icing on the cake for this over-achieving nation of 40 million people.

PAU: Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol reaches for a rebound in the 3rd quarter during Game 4 of their NBA Finals series against the Orlando Magic in Orlando, Florida June 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Kolczynski

INIESTA: Barcelona's Andres Iniesta holds the trophy after their Champions League final victory against Manchester United at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, May 27, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples

There has not been one since 1960, the Scottish don’t want its return, neither do the Welsh, nor the Northern Irish and yet the prospect of a British soccer team at the 2012 London Olympics remains.

The English Football Association is refusing to relinquish an idea that nobody else seems to care about.

The other home nations’ standpoint, which centres on protecting their independent status within world governing body FIFA, means any British team in London could be made up entirely of English players, or more accurately, the majority of the England under-21 team.

“What a farce it would be to have those qualification games in Wales and Scotland without the possibility of British participation,” UK Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said this week, before stating that English players will be used if the issue is not resolved.

‘Farce’ or words like it have been used a lot in this debate.

The idea is struggling for credibility and the general reticence does not fit the image of the Olympics as a celebration of the coming together of different countries. Not a good look for a host nation.

I can see the headlines now as the English FA attempt to wheel out a retired David Beckham to help paper over the absence of other home nation players. Perhaps the English players could take it upon themselves to devise their best Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish accents as compensation.

Without the co-operation of all the home nations, the team surely cannot play under a British flag.

Soccer is not high on the list of Olympic events or in viewing priority for Games spectators, meaning the English FA may struggle to find sympathisers for their cause.

The soccer tournament at the 2008 Beijing Olympics included world-class footballers such as Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho of Brazil and yet still audiences chose to watch any number of other events on offer.

It might be the most dominant sport in the world at any other time, but soccer loses its appeal at the Olympics.

Give me a bit of rhythmic gymnastics any day.

Standing in the reception of a Heathrow hotel watching a roll call of British gold-medal winners file past, the overriding impression was just how normal they all seemed.

There was something wonderfully natural and down-to-earth about these luminaries of Britain’s finest Olympic effort in a century.

Hearing them articulate their thoughts about the last few weeks in Beijing, it was hard to avoid making comparisons with Premier League footballers.

Of course, these Olympians were relishing their moment in the sun — whereas top-level footballers facing the media spotlight day in, day out may become understandably more guarded.

One Times writer made the point that if the rowers received “120,000 pounds a week, a team of flunkies, a 10-page spread in Hello! and more groupies than they know what to do with”, they too might find their priorities blurred.

It is evident that the massive earnings of top soccer players have set them apart — and ensured they are considered fair game for criticism by both media and fans. Yet their own behaviour — be it snarling indiscipline on the field or excessive salary demands off it — does not help their image either.

Some are also guilty of believing their own hype — as evidenced by the sight of ears glittering with expensive jewellery when they pass through mixed zones after matches.

Arguably the epitome of this came at the 2006 World Cup in Germany when England’s footballers shut themselves away in an exclusive Baden Baden resort. The only thing ordinary about the Golden Generation was their performance level.

For the unassuming sportsmen and women on view at Heathrow, the only gold on view was that dangling from their necks.

PHOTO: Britain’s Olympic gold medallists arrive back from the Beijing at Heathrow Airport in London, Aug 25 REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

It’s been a little quiet around here lately. That’s because I’m in Beijing covering the Olympics, and I hope you won’t mind a shameless plug for the relaunched Reuters Olympic blog — View from the Bird’s Nest.

From August 8-24 the focus will be on the Beijing Games rather than the football world, although we will of course have plenty to say about the soccer tournament at the Olympics, which Argentina, Brazil and the rest will be taking very seriously indeed.

That coverage will be cross-posted back here but if you’re at all interested in other sports please pop over to blogs.reuters.com/china and give us your views on the great gold rush. There is life outside football!

Kevin Fylan, Beijing

Pic by Ceerwan Aziz, Reuters 

Barcelona’s Argentine forward Lionel Messi took a step closer to Beijing on Wednesday when FIFA ruled that clubs are obliged to release players aged 23 or under to play at the Olympics.

Barcelona and Bundesliga clubs Werder Bremen and Schalke, who want to keep Diego and Rafinha out of the Games, will probably fight on in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but for now FIFA has made the right decision, one that’s for the good of the game as well as the Games.

Seeing Bremen and Schalke threaten legal action against their young Brazilian internationals earlier this month was a sad sight not only for the Olympics but for soccer.

Diego and Rafinha decided (quite nobly, if you ask me) to put their country and the Olympics temporarily ahead of their club careers and defied the orders of their employers — going AWOL in the process and putting themselves in line for large fines and other disciplinary problems on their return.

Barcelona and Schalke have Champions League qualifiers coming up, so it’s easy to see why they in particular want their players back home, but the long-term consequences could be more damaging than the short-term loss.

How can anyone expect a brilliant player like Diego to get excited about playing in Bremen ever again if he is forced to miss the Olympics in order to take part in a pre-season Bundesliga training camp on the North Sea island of Norderney?

Could we expect Rafinha to have his heart in the Bundesliga’s first two matches when his compatriots were trying to win a first gold medal in China?

“(The judge stated that) taking part in the Olympic Games is a unique opportunity for all athletes of any sporting discipline,” FIFA said in its statement.

Shouldn’t everyone have the chance to take that opportunity, regardless of who their employers are?

PHOTO: Messi scores his first goal during Barcelona’s pre-season friendly against Dundee United, July 26, 2008. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

Werder Bremen have dashed the Olympic hopes of Brazil playmaker Diego, telling the 23-year-old they will not release him and thus depriving the Games of perhaps one of the world’s most exciting young players

Werder sporting director Klaus Allofs said there was no legal reason for clubs to release their players because, he said, the Olympics are not part of world soccer’s governing body FIFA.

“So I’m not expecting any reaction from FIFA,” Allofs said.

Just last week FIFA said that even though clubs are not obliged to release overage players they must release any players younger than 23. Diego turned 23 on Feb. 28 and he was nominated for Brazil’s Olympic team on July 8 by coach Dunga.

Diego got his first cap for Brazil in April 2003 as a 19-year-old so how are Werder getting away with this? Why will Diego be spending August training with his club on Germany’s North Sea island of Nordeney instead of playing for Brazil in China?

Werder released a statement from Diego that said: “The Olympics are my dream. But Werder don’t want to release me. I’ll respect that. I don’t want to cause any problems.”

But Bild newspaper reported on Tuesday that Diego has not given up yet. “I don’t know yet what I’ll do. I’ll wait to see what FIFA decides,” he was quoted as saying.

AC Milan have stopped Kaka from going and Barcelona said Brazilian compatriot Ronaldinho could not attend. Ronaldinho has just moved to Milan from Barca so all eyes are on what the Italian club decide. 

Is it time FIFA made a definitive ruling.

PHOTO: Diego scores for Werder against Bayern Munich, Feb 10. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach