Deron Williams, who earlier this summer became the first Fighting Illini to make
the U.S. Olympic basketball team, is now the first Illini ever to win an Olympic
basketball gold medal.
Williams had seven points, one assist, one rebound and one steal in 16 minutes
of play vs. Spain. He made perhaps his biggest shot of the Olympics during the
fourth quarter, hitting a 3-pointer in a tight game with 7:30 left that gave the
U.S. a seven-point lead.
Over the eight games in Beijing, Williams averaged 8 points in 19 minutes and
was third on the team with 22 assists. But just as during his Illinois career,
it was not about individual statistics. Instead, his focus only was on one
thing: winning.
DERON WILLIAMS QUOTES (courtesy of USA Basketball)
On winning the gold medal...
"It feels like gold! It's heavy, it feels great. It was a lot of hard work. We
put a lot into this. We've been (together) for a month now, 28 days away from my
kids, I can't wait to get back to see them. We put a lot of work and effort into
it and it all paid off.
"It feels great for us to be the only anthem being played, we represented our
country the right way."
On his overall Olympic experience...
"It's been a great experience for me, a lifetime experience. Something I'm going
to cherish the rest of my life. It makes it so much sweeter now that I have the
gold medal around my neck. I have stories to tell my kids. It's kind of surreal
right now to think that I'm an Olympic champion."
Where this ranks in his athletic career...
"No. 1 on my list. I don't have an NBA championship, I don't have a college
championship. But even if I did I'd still think the same. This is for your
country, it's not for your team it's for your whole country, for a whole nation
of people back home supporting us. For our troops overseas fighting for us. This
is for everybody."
U of I SID Office