Steve Nash

Stephen John Nash (born February 7, 1974 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a star Canadian basketball player.

International Career

Steve Nash first attracted widespread notice in Canada when he captained Canada's Mens Basketball team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. There was much TV coverage, due in part to Nash and Todd McCulloch being the only NBA players on Team Canada (while Team USA or the "Dream Team" has been all NBA players), and also because of the Toronto Raptor's successful playoff push earlier that spring. At one point, with a successful round-robin record and a berth in the quarter-finals of the tournament, commentators regarded Canada as a contender for a medal. This was followed by a heartbreaking loss in the quarters to France, by 5 points. However, Canada won their final game of the tournament, a placement game against Romania, which enabled Canada to finish 7th overall. Nash had a breakthough season with Dallas right after the Sydney Olympics.

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Nash again led Team Canada during qualifying for the 2004 Summer Olympics. During the tournament in Puerto Rico, after making it to the semis, Canada would qualify for Athens 2004 if they finished in the top three, so they had to win either the semi-final game or the third place match. Unfortunately, Canada loss the semi-final to the United States, and then the third place match to the home team Puerto Rico. Nash was named tournament MVP, but he admitted that he was dissapointed since Canada didn't qualify for the Olympics.

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