USA Basketball Veteran: I Want to Engage Brazilians

(ATR) Carmelo Anthony tells Around the Rings he wants to continue his social activism in Brazil, schedule permitting.

Anthony will be participating in his fourth straight Olympic Games for USA Basketball, and hopes to win his third straight Olympic gold medal. He is by far the most experienced member of a basketball team which features 10 first-time Olympians.

In the summer preparations, Anthony took on the role as Olympic team captain and used his platform to speak out about a number of social issues in the United States. On July 26, Anthony hosted a Town Hall-style meeting in Los Angeles to discuss police violence against minorities in the United States. The aim of the meeting was to bring together police forces and youths in at-risk communities to find common ground and solutions going forward.

As the United States grapples with handling issues of police violence, Anthony has arrived in a country facing a policing crisis. Police officers were not paid in the months leading to the Games, leading to protests telling Olympic tourists they were visiting "hell." In addition a Human Rights Watch report shed light on to the voluminous amounts of extrajudicial killings done by police in favelas around the city.

"If I did have a chance I would love to [engage people in Brazil]," Anthony said to ATR. "I don’t really know if the timing of everything with practice and scheduling, so it will be a little bit difficult, but I would like to do that."

Anthony told reporters that he had been more vocal in speaking out against issues in the United States due to being on "the biggest stage that you can possibly be on," the Olympic Games. He believes that he has a duty as a high profile figure to speak out, and that Team USA could help towards uniting the country.

"I was speaking on something that was near and dear to me that I was dealing with and I am still dealing with," Anthony added. "For us, as players representing the United States, this is the best way we can go out there and send a message by winning a gold medal and showing the world we are united with all the turmoil going on in our country."

Anthony was the only player to give an opening remark during the USA Basketball press conference. In addition, both head coach Mike Krzyzewski and team director Jerry Colangelo spoke to how Anthony had been vital in rebuilding the program from the lows of the 2004 Olympics.

In Anthony’s first Games, Team USA suffered three of its five Olympic losses en route to a Bronze medal finish. In the 2006 World Championships the United States lost again in the semifinals, a second straight disappointing finish.

Starting in 2007, USA Basketball overhauled the Olympic program, getting National Basketball Association stars like Anthony to commit to multiple tournaments. Since then Anthony has won the 2007 FIBA Americas Championships, along with the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. He is expected to become USA Basketball’s all time leading Olympic scorer during the 2016 tournament.

"I know what it is like to be at the bottom and I know what it is like to be at the top of the game as well," Anthony said in his opening statement. "For me to be here representing USA for my fourth time, saying it is an honor and a blessing, is an understatement. Here in Rio my goal is to help this team and lead this team to a gold medal and enjoy the process and enjoy the journey."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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