LONDON, United Kingdom (2012 London Olympics): Wanted. Vaunted. Haunted. These three words probably best describe Bob Donewald Jr’s time and stint as coach of the Chinese National Team.

The 42-year-old took charge of the Chinese team just before the 2010 FIBA World Championship at Turkey and then steered them through a gold medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and the 26th FIBA Asia Championship at Wuhan (China) last year before signing off with what went down the history as China’s worst performance in the Olympics in two decades.

Donewald spoke to this website in the afterhours of China’s fifth defeat in as many games.

Excerpts

FIBA Asia: Before leaving for the Olympics you said, the performance of the team will be something that the fans can be proud of. At the end of the Olympics, do you stand by your statement?

Donewald: Of course I do. This level just proved to be too much for us. I felt as the tournament went on our swagger left us. We were beat up and in the end couldn’t deal with this level. However, I hope the fans realize the leaders, the coaches, the players – everyone associate with Team China gave everything they had.

FIBA Asia: Take us through the five defeats.

· Spain: We battled in this one – could not make enough plays to overcome the talent they had. I felt the game was closer then the final score showed.

· Russia: They are really good – their length and physical play took us out of it. We lost confidence during this game because of the way they play.

· Australia: They wore us out physically. We battled during the 1 and 3 quarters but the 2 and 4 we were tired from the physical play. Those 2 quarters was the difference.

· Brazil: They are a team I believe can medal. The injury to Sun Yue took away a big play maker for us. He rolled his ankle in the shoot around that morning. Having said that the speed and size of Brazil is a combination that I think makes them dangerous moving forward.

· Great Britain: We were spent. Our confidence was gone and down in the paint they took it to us. Turnovers hurt us some but overall the losses piled up on us and we didn’t have any swagger left.

FIBA Asia: Is there something you might have wanted to differently / better against each of the opponent?

Donewald: No. We are who we are. I thought overall my guys gave it everything they had. In the end, China Basketball has work to do to compete against the world’s best. We have proven we can dominate Asia and that is something all of China should hold the head up high about!

FIBA Asia: Is there something that you missed overall?

Donewald: No. It was a great run.

FIBA Asia: As you leave the team, what are your thoughts?

Donewald: I will miss these players! The leaders were great to me and gave me a lot of support. It will be a part of my career that I always look back upon with a smile.

FIBA Asia: What next for Bob Donewald Jr.?

Donewald: Going fishing for a while and wait and see if the phone rings!

S Mageshwaran / FIBA Asia