The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Women's Basketball's Tina Thompson reflects back on Olympic experience
08.19.2016 | Women's Basketball
Tina Thompson won gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games
The all-time leading scorer in WNBA history, Tina Thompson is entering her second season as an assistant coach for the University of Texas women's basketball program.
Thompson participated in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, helping lead Team USA to gold medals in both of those years. With the 2016 Olympic Games currently ongoing, Thompson took time to reflect back on her Olympic experience in this Q&A.
TexasSports.com: You were an alternate for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team before being selected for the roster for the 2004 Olympic Games. What was the journey to that point like and how gratifying was it to be selected for the U.S. Olympic Team?
Tina Thompson: "It was gratifying, but I probably had a little bitterness too. I started playing with USA Basketball in 1994, so it had been a long, long process for me to get to the point of making the team. When you're in that moment and playing, you feel like you should have or could have made the team. At that point [2004], I was kind of stepping away in a sense because I was frustrated with the process. I had a lot of conversations with my inner circle, as well as my agent, and they kind of convinced me that it was worth giving it another try. To actually be able to make the team, to go through the whole Olympic experience, and just the personal effect I had on the team in games that actually kind of made a difference in us winning, made the process worth it and gave me a better understanding. You don't really know what it's like to be an Olympian until you are one. You can have expectations and you can have a certain thought process about how you think it's supposed to be, but until you're there, you don't really know what it takes. Then the what-ifs go out the door, and you're proud and you enjoy the moment. It is an exceptional moment and an amazing process to be part of. To me, there is no higher level than being an Olympian, so I was very proud."
TexasSports.com: You were already one of the most elite players in professional women's basketball when you made your first Olympic appearance. How different was the Olympic experience from your WNBA experience?
Tina Thompson: "There is a sense of pride that goes along with it that is much different than anything else you experience, because you're not just representing a city or a team or your teammates, you're representing an entire country. When you look at it, you're representing millions of people. There is an American pride and a sense of responsibility. I can only speak for the women's basketball program, but there is a motto that kind of goes without saying that we win gold, or it's failure. Gold is the goal and there is no in between. I remember from injury, missing a world championship, and then I actually went to one and we won the bronze medal. I can't even tell you where that medal is today. I didn't want it. I had to be talked into bringing it home and not leaving it there. It was absolutely not good enough and I felt like we had failed. For some countries, just medaling is a pretty big deal. But for us, it is not."
TexasSports.com: With such an absolute expectation for Team USA to win the gold medal, was there pressure associated with that for you as a player?
Tina Thompson: "We didn't feel pressure. We felt as though we were on a mission, that there was a goal to be reached and that it was going to take all of us individually and all of us collectively in order to get it done. When you think about being part of the most prestigious women's basketball program – not just in the country, but in the world – there is no selfishness. There is a sacrifice that is comparable to no other in a sense that you have, arguably, the best individual players at every position. You're talking about the best players in the country and it's not about you. It's not about what you've done up until that point, it's about what you can give to the team. Day in and day out, it could be someone different every game. It's not going to be the same person every night and that's different than when you're playing in college or when you're playing for your professional team. In those instances, there's a certain expectation of you individually. The effort is the same when you play USA Basketball, but the numbers aren't. It would be very hard for me to guess what I averaged in my career as a WNBA player, but in USA Basketball, I don't even think that I could remember the game I scored the most points in. Playing in the WNBA, you might remember things like that. I don't know if I averaged double figures or single figures or how many rebounds I had in USA Basketball. All I remember is that I have two gold medals."
TexasSports.com: What is the feeling like when you have won the gold medal and are on the podium after the championship game?
Tina Thompson: "It's a relief and you have a sense of accomplishment. It's finishing a goal that you set. It's kind of like baking a cake and then putting the icing on there. It's sitting there, the finished product that you've been working through, and the process that happens to get you to that final point where you're able to sit there, eat it and enjoy it. It's a long, hard process, but when you step on that podium, the flag for your country is raised and the song that's played is your country's national anthem, there isn't anything like it. Nobody else gets that – not second place, not third place – only first place. You see the faces in the crowd and it's probably the first time that you've noticed the amount of people there representing you and also the respect that other countries have for you throughout the process. They're booing us and they're cheering against us to the best of their abilities. At the end, there's a level of respect and salute that you receive. It's an appreciation that kind of falls over the arena in a sense that they respect and appreciate the hard work and the effort that we've pulled off in the way that we've performed. And there's hope for them that maybe their own country could be in that position. They're looking at the bar. It's set and now their efforts for the next four years are going to be to reach that point."
TexasSports.com: What did you learn from competing in the Olympic Games that helped you as a WNBA player?
Tina Thompson: "I felt like throughout my career, no matter what level I played at and no matter how good or bad my teams were, that my effort was absolutely the same. From an experience perspective, you'll never be in an experience like the Olympic Games where you can look in front of you and look behind you, or to the right or left, and the expectations of the people that you're playing with are so high. You know certain things are going to happen because of the people who you play with. It's almost impossible to have a franchise with those capabilities. It wouldn't be fair if all the players you have on an Olympic team were on a team that plays in the WNBA because you're going to be a shoe-in to win. That is an experience that you just can't recreate any other place than in the Olympic Games."
TexasSports.com: As a two-time Olympic gold medalist, what is it like for you now when you watch the Olympics?
Tina Thompson: "My most favorite sporting event is the Olympic Games. As a young child and a family experience, it's what we've done my entire life. We've always watched the Olympics. And when I tell you we watch the Olympics, we watch everything – everything from rowing to fencing. We watch things that you just don't necessarily watch on a regular basis. For me, watching and loving the Olympic Games the way that I do, to have been able to be a part of it is amazing in itself. It is an unbelievable accomplishment and I never thought, at the time that I was watching the Olympics as a child, that that's where I would be. Then you fast forward to actually being a part of it and watching it now, the love is still the same. The only difference is that I can truly understand the process, what they're going through and the emotions that you have when you're a part of that experience. I know the joy that they're feeling when they win gold and our national anthem is being played. I get it. That would be the difference, but I watch just the same. And now my son [Dyllan] watches, and we sit there and we cheer and we scream at the TV. We're clinching our hands together almost in agony in some moments when it gets really, really close and you just don't know. Those moments are still the same and it's really cool that I get to share that with my son. He has become an Olympic geek too."
TexasSports.com: With watching the Olympics being a part of your family tradition, was playing in the Olympics a goal from the point you started playing basketball?
Tina Thompson: "Not at all. I don't think the Olympic Games were a goal until I was probably in college. It was probably when I got my first invitation with USA Basketball. I just played basketball because I really, really liked it a lot and then that turned into love. When I got to high school, maybe even up through the 10th grade, I didn't even have a realization of what was possible to consider. Even going to college, I knew I was going to go to college but I thought, in my mind, that I was going to have a whole lot of student loans and the stress of trying to figure it out was going to be ridiculous. It was probably during the summer between my 10th and 11th grade years when I started getting a lot of attention and getting all of these letters. I really didn't get it, and then my brother was like 'Are you crazy? This is a really big deal.' But he was a basketball player and he was a guy, so he knew it too. I was the first girl in my family to seriously play a sport other than my mom who was a swimmer. That process started happening and, even still, I was very naïve. Then I thought, 'Wait a minute, I can go to whatever school I want and they're going to pay for everything? I'm pretty good now. We're going to have to turn this thing up.' Of course, as you mature, you do your research and you get a lot more information. You go through the process and the recruiting and you meet people and get to know them. Then you have to figure out whether you click and all of that. I ended up going to USC and not until I was there did I really have an idea about the whole Olympic process. I was invited my freshman year at USC but, before then, I didn't even think about it. Not one bit. I was playing sheerly for the love. I think it's almost better when you are naïve and you don't really know and you're just blindly doing it because of love. Because when you start tacking on goals and expectations, it totally changes the experience. At that age, kids shouldn't be stressed out about sports because for me, it was fun for so long. Really just fun. I didn't have a problem with working hard and I didn't have a problem with receiving instruction. The goal was just to continue to get better. When you start with the expectations and the numbers and the goals, it definitely changes it."
