Patrick Anderson has been described because the Michael Jordan of wheelchair basketball.
PARIS, France — After six Paralympic appearances, three gold medals and 27 years of wheelchair basketball, Patrick Anderson is sort of prepared to maneuver on.
However as he made clear in Canada’s first match on the Paralympics, he plans to exit on his personal phrases.
Anderson, 45, helped lead Canada to an 83-68 victory over France within the first spherical of males’s wheelchair basketball pool play, scoring 31 factors on Friday.
The Canadian star didn’t face a pleasant crowd. French followers confirmed as much as Bercy Enviornment in droves to cheer on their males’s crew, who’re enjoying within the Video games for the primary time since 2004. Each Canadian level was met with a refrain of boos and each missed basket was answered with a collective jab of the French flag.
However the victory helped Canada get nearer to a medal, which it has missed out on the previous 12 years.
The crew’s dry spell comes on the heels of Anderson’s five-year hiatus from wheelchair basketball. From 2012 to 2017, he determined to spend extra time on his musical profession — he and his spouse Anna Paddock carry out because the singer-songwriter duo The Lay Awakes — and enjoying on a membership crew, and stepped away from the nationwide crew.
Since he’s been again within the combine, Anderson himself admits issues haven’t been the identical.
“I typically replicate on that first half of my profession and discuss it, reminisce about it,” Anderson mentioned. “However on the similar time, this has been a complete completely different story.”
Anderson and the Canadian crew earned gold medals in 2000, 2004 and 2012 (together with silver in 2008), however didn’t advance to the medal spherical in 2016 and 2020. That Tokyo match was performed with little or no fan attendance because of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, one thing that Anderson talked about he feels is completely different about these Video games.
“Trying as much as see my family and friends up there, after the Tokyo expertise,” Anderson mentioned. “That’s going to dwell in my thoughts as an important reminiscence tonight, enjoying towards an important crew in an important environment.”
Anderson advised a Spanish information outlet in February that he meant for Tokyo to be his final Paralympics displaying, however when the consequence wasn’t what he hoped, he determined to aim to guide the crew towards yet one more medal. He additionally noticed a number of potential in his new crop of teammates.
Whilst retirement looms, the person described by many because the Michael Jordan of wheelchair basketball is maintaining his eyes on the prize and remaining optimistic about Canada’s possibilities this 12 months.
“A superb begin, but it surely’s eight actually good groups and a few actually nice ones,” Anderson mentioned. “It’s solely uphill from right here for us.”
