MIES (Switzerland) – Nando De Colo wrapped up spectacular career with France at the Paris Olympics.

After bursting onto the scene in the national team program with the youth side at the U20 European Championship in 2007, De Colo played at five FIBA EuroBaskets, three World Cups and four Olympics.

A slick ball-handler and terrific scorer from all over the court, De Colo will be viewed as one of his country’s legends.

“Representing my country through my sport has been and will remain the greatest of honors”, said the 37-year old guard on his Social Media platforms.

“I’ve been in the French team since 2008,” De Colo said after his last outing with the national team, the Gold Medal Game at the Olympics against the USA.

“I’ve clearly sacrificed all my summers to represent French basketball and I’m proud of it, clearly. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I couldn’t have imagined my career without the French team. I’ve already had good groups, but one like the one this summer, I don’t know. It’s great to have finished with this one.”

Here are De Colo’s top 10 FIBA Games.

A star is born

De Colo joined the senior team before the expansion of the FIBA EuroBasket from 16 to 24 games, and after France endured a terrible finish at EuroBasket 2007 to miss out on the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament the following summer. That poor showing at the EuroBasket forced them to play in Division A Qualifying, and De Colo made his debut.

Against Belgium, on September 3, 2008, in Nancy, De Colo introduced himself by making all four of his shots from long range and pouring in 28 points in an 82-63 French victory.

A game-high 21 against Lithuania at EuroBasket 2011

With their main aim to finish in the top two in order to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since 2000, France carried a 6-0 mark into their showdown with Lithuania and prevailed, 73-67, with De Colo coming off the bench and dropping 21 points on the tournament hosts in the Vilnius Arena.

They would go on to reach the Final and qualify for the London.

France’s main man

As host of FIBA EuroBasket 2015, France showed up confident and ready to take on the world. De Colo led the star-laden team from the front and ended up earning a spot in the All-Star Five, rewarded on this event as France’s best player.

All of his performances were out of the top drawer, but the best was probably against Serbia in the Third-Place Game when he scored his tournament best 20 points and led Les Bleus to an 81-68 triumph.

Nando pours in 27 to beat OQT hosts Gilas

In the basketball-crazed atmosphere of the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, De Colo wowed a packed house on opening night with 27 points and a team-high 3 steals to set the right tone for France in their bid to reach the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The MVP leads France to to Brazil

France booked their place at the Rio de Janeiro Games by defeating Canada – their fourth win in as many games. Picking up where he’d left off at EuroBasket 2015, De Colo was again France’s talisman.

He had 22 points in the 83-74 victory over Canada. Nando was named MVP of the OQT.

De Colo shoots down Serbia in Rio

The French shirt continued to bring out the best in De Colo, who followed up a 19-point effort in a win over China with 22 points in a 76-75 victory over Serbia.

The Sainte Catherine-born playmaker was an efficient 6 of 10 from the floor. On defense, he had 3 steals.

An offensive juggernaut against the Boomers

It can be hard to stand out for a star-packed team like France, yet on numerous occasions, De Colo did. One of those instances was against Australia at the 2019 World Cup.

Nando erupted for 26 points, with an 11 of 16 effort from the floor, including 2 of 3 from behind the arc. The +25 efficiency was his best of the tournament.

Nando’s 18 leads France past USA

Perhaps with a little added incentive to play well in the Quarter-Final since his former San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was at the helm of the USA, De Colo had 18 points, including a 9 of 10 effort at the free-throw line, as France ended the title defense of the Americans.

Another Nando masterclass took French to the podium

Something about the Boomers brought the best out in De Colo, who led all scorers with 19 points in a 67-59 France win.

De Colo also had 3 assists and 2 steals in the victory that clinched third place.

Nando played like gold in Tokyo Final

The final score read 87-82 in favor of USA, yet De Colo and France revealed themselves to be very special themselves. De Colo had 12 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds as Les Bleus made the Americans battle to the final buzzer in the Gold Medal Game at the Japan Olympics.

FIBA