Olympics-Basketball-'End of generation' as Argentina's Ginobili bows out

By Mary Milliken RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 17 (Reuters) - For Argentina, losing to the United States Wednesday and bowing out of the Olympics might be easier to handle than the departure of beloved basketball star Manu Ginobili. Ginobili confirmed he was retiring from the national team the same day fellow San Antonio Spur Tony Parker announced the end to his career for France. Their exits were bittersweet, as both of their squads crashed hard in the Olympic quarterfinals, Argentina losing to a revived U.S. team and France to a resurgent Spain. Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said it has been a difficult day for him, watching the 39-year-old guard he has known since childhood go through a last practice and Olympic game. "We are seeing the end of a generation," said Hernandez. "We are losing one of the great teams of international basketball." Ginobili played in four Olympics for the team known as "The Argentine Soul" and won the gold in Athens in 2004, a milestone that catapulted the country to the top tier of international basketball. In a post-game interview on Wednesday, Ginobili told NBC Sports it had been an "amazing journey". "I started playing at 19, 20 years old and now I am almost 40," he said. "Some amazing times, some unbelievable, some really tough ones. Most of them with the same core group of guys, good friends," he added before being overcome with emotion. In a final farewell, Argentine fans congregated in the stands of the Carioca One arena to cheer him on one last time as the United States wrapped up a stinging 105-78 victory. U.S. team basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski took time to pay homage to Ginobili, calling him "as fierce a competitor that I as a coach have had to face in my entire time in international basketball. There has been no one completely like him." Argentina forward Andres Nocioni, who has played with Ginobili for much of that time, said it was also his last game and reflected on what an accomplishment it was to even get to the point of playing against the United States. "To be at this level for many years, it is all so improbable," said the 36-year-old Nocioni. "To fight against people like this, it is something I could not imagine," he added. (Reporting by Mary Milliken; Editing by Andrew Hay)