Jeff Zillgitt

USA TODAY Sports

RIO DE JANEIRO – A remarkable, generation-defining era of FIBA basketball came to end this week.

After losing in the quarterfinals of the men’s Olympic basketball tournament on Wednesday, France’s Tony Parker and Argentina’s Manu Ginobili and Andres Nocioni announced they are finished playing for their national teams at the Olympics and FIBA World Cup.

“It has been an incredible era,” Ginobili said. “It is something very important in your life that is ending, and that means a lot, so you've got to think of so many things, and well. Makes me feel a little emotional.

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"This is my 20th year since my first game with the national team. I'm very proud. And at the same time, I'm happy – sad and happy because having the opportunity to play this game at 39, it's not something that happens often.”

Ginobili, Nocioni and Luis Scola, who said he is not retiring from the national team, led Argentina’s Golden Generation to a surprising gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Argentina is the only team other than the United States to the win gold at the Olympics since 1992.

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“I'm very happy that I took part in an historical cycle. This was unthinkable to me,” Nocioni said. “I thought about being in the Olympic Games once, and now I'm retiring with four, there is no way to explain this rationally.

"When I was a little kid everything I just wanted was to defend this jersey and play a South American (championship). It's incredible, it just has been an incredible career."

An Olympic medal is missing from Parker’s career. But beating Spain in the semifinals of Eurobasket 2013 and then winning the title against Lithuania is a defining moment for France and Parker, who was MVP of the tournament.

"We brought French basketball on the map,” Parker said. “As a French player I'm very proud of what we did in my generation, winning all those medals.

"Especially in 2013, that'll be my favorite moment because that was the first time in French basketball history we won a gold medal.”

Parker said he told San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich this would be his final international competition.

"I want to end my Spurs career on a high note. I want to play five more years," Parker said.

An emotional Ginobili clutched the game ball following Argentina’s loss to the United States. Though the outcome had been decided by the time the fourth quarter arrived, Argentine fans danced, cheered, waved flags and sang the praises of their heroes.

“I've known him ever since he was a child,” Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said. “It is a difficult day for me, I admit it. Seeing this could be his last training, in his last game, it was very difficult, it really moved me. To be a part of the end of this generation is a privilege and today, minutes after we finished the game with the US, the most important thing is we are saying good-bye to these Olympic Games and we are saying good-bye to part of the greatest team in international basketball and I am thankful for this opportunity."

The tributes flooded the postgame news conferences.

U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski called Argentina one of the outstanding basketball cultures in the world. “Congratulations to Argentina and the magnificence they’ve shown to the world over the last two decades," he said. "It’s been truly amazing."

He raved about Ginobili, and several U.S. players hugged and congratulated him after the game.

“A hall of fame player, a hall of fame competitor and as fierce a competitor, as a coach, that I’ve had to face in my entire time in international basketball,” Krzyzewski said. “There really has been nobody completely like him. He’s not a position. He plays all positions. With the heart and the commitment he’s had for his country, no one could have represented his country at a higher level or better than Manu Ginobili. It was an honor to always compete against him and again, ultimate respect, from all of us."

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Spain coach Sergio Scariolo had to gameplan for Parker during Spain-France rivalry, and as good as Spain is, it sometimes lost to France.

“First of all, let me just say that I've been honored to play against Tony Parker throughout so many years with the national team,” Scariolo said. “He is a great competitor. It was so tough to prepare for games against him. He is an example for all young players, especially those that play his position.

"We will enjoy him for a few more years, playing in San Antonio. I just wanted to take 30 seconds to say it was a pleasure and an honor, even painful sometimes, but it was really one of those things that made the experience of coaching the national teams difficult."

Ginobili, Parker (both future Hall of Famers) and Nocioni were the direct products of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the USA Dream Team. They were the core of the massive growth international basketball, filling NBA rosters and winning NBA championships.

Their contributions were important and memorable.