Ginobili Emanuel. Biography

Emanuel (Manu) Ginobili is a professional basketball player, who was born on July 28, 1977 in the Argentine city of Bahia Blanca. Currently, he plays in the North American NBA for the Spurs team from San Antonio, in which he won the championships of 2003, 2005, 2007, and also in 2014.

In May 2008, Ginobili Emanuel was included in the list of fifty most outstanding personalities of European basketball. The official award ceremony was organized by the Euroleague basketball and was held at the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid in Spain.

early years

Ginobili Emanuel was brought up in a family of professional basketball players, so he started training at the age of three. His older brother, Leandro, was a player of the Argentine basketball league for seven years, but in 2003 he decided to give up his professional sports career. Another brother named Sebastian played in both the Argentine and the Spanish professional league. Their father, Jorge Ginobili, was a club coach in the city of Bahia Blanca, where Manu learned to play basketball.

Personal life

Emanuel Ginobili has both Argentine and Italian citizenship. He is fluent in Spanish, Italian and English. In 2004, he married Marianela Oroneño, and on May 16, 2010, a pair of twins - Dante and Nicolas - was born.

The beginning of sports career

The professional career of Ginobili began in the 1995-1996 season at the Andino Sports Club of La Rioja. A year later he was transferred to the Estudiantes team from Baia Blanca. For a while Manu played for his hometown, but soon he was noticed in the Italian basketball league. From 1998 to 2000, he played for the club "Viola Reggio Calabria". In 1999, he took part in the NBA draft, was chosen under the 57th number and was invited to the San Antonio Spurs. However, at that time, Emanuel decided not to sign a contract with a team from the NBA and two more years played in the Italian league for the team "Kinder" (Bologna). In 2001, he won the iconic title - the champion of Italy and the Euroleague, and also won the Italian Cup in 2001 and 2002. After winning the Euroleague, he was awarded the title of "The Most Valuable Player of the Final Four" of the Euroleague. In the seasons of 2000-2001 and 2001-2002. To this title was also added the title of "The Most Valuable Player of the Italian League".

The San Antonio Spurs

The first contract with the "San Antonio Spurs" Ginobili signed only after the 2002 World Basketball Championship, when he was elected to the symbolic top five of the championship together with Dirk Nowitzki, Predrag Stoyakovich, Pero Cameron and Yao Ming. In his first season in the NBA (2002-2003), Emanuel came from the bench to replace Steve Smith. Part of the season, he missed because of the injury, which he received, because he could not immediately adapt to the American style of the game.

Despite the fact that Manu did not participate in all games, at the end of the season he became a member of the NBA All-Rookie Team, where the best recruits of the past season are invited. In the playoff games, Ginobili managed to make a real breakthrough. He participated in every match, improved his performance compared to the qualifying games of the season, and his team managed to defeat the Phoenix Suns, the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the New Jersey Nets on their way to victory In the 2003 NBA Championship. After that, Ginobili Emanuel was chosen as the sportsman of the year in Argentina.

Awards and titles

In 2005, he officially became the star of American basketball, as he first took part in the so-called Match of All NBA Stars, which was selected from the Western Conference. In the 2006/07 season, Emanuel almost succeeded in getting the title of "Best Sixth NBA Player": he took 2nd place, losing to Leandro Barbosa. But in the next, 2007/08, the year Ginobili still achieved this title, that is, was named the best reserve player. In the voting, 123 out of 124 judges voted for Emanuel. In total, he received 615 of 620 possible points. In 2011 Manu for the second time in his sports career became one of the participants in the Match of all NBA stars at the choice of the West.

Having won the title already in his debut season, later Manu became the winner of the championship in the Spurs three times (in 2005, 2007 and 2014). In 2008 and 2011, Ginobili became one of the members of the third national team of all NBA stars.

July 20, 2015 Emanuel extended the contract with the "Spurs". On January 14, 2016, Ginobili played his 900th game in the NBA, in which his team defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers. On February 4, he underwent surgery after a testicle injury, received the previous night in a game against the New Orleans Pelikans. As a result, for one month, Manu had to refuse to participate in the games. Having missed 12 games due to injury, he returned to the system and scored 22 points in 15 minutes in a match against the "Sacramento Kings".

National team

Manu Ginobili is a player who ensured the success of the Argentine basketball team at the championships of recent years. During the Indianapolis basketball world championship in 2002, Emanuel's team managed to defeat the US team starred for the first time in the NBA and eventually took second place.

In 2004, at the Olympic Games in Athens, the Argentine national team once again repeated this feat, winning the United States in the semifinals. August 28, 2004 in the final, Argentina defeated the Italian team and became the Olympic champion. After this, Ginobili Emanuel was chosen as the most valuable player in the Olympic Games basketball tournament.

His second Olympic medal, he won in 2008 in Beijing, where the Argentine team took third place. In April 2010, Manu announced that for family reasons he would not participate in the 2010 World Basketball Championship. Nevertheless, he played for his country's national team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where Argentina lost to the Russian team in a match for bronze medals.