Head coach Svetislav Pesic of Serbia, during the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. GETTY IMAGES

Despite being one of the most highly rated coaches in European basketball, he has only had one chance at the Olympic Games, in Barcelona 92. Pesic was coaching Germany at the time. Now he faces the tournament with Serbia and NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.

Serbia is one of the countries  most linked to basketball. Svetislav Pesic, too. A master of the bench, recognised by the whole profession. Just after the Games he will be 75 years old. And it is now that he is getting his big chance at an Olympic Games.

He was at Barcelona 92 with Germany. That year they were not ready to win a medal. They lost in the quarter-finals. In 1993, playing at home, they were European champions.

At the beginning of the 21st century he coached a different Serbia than today. It was still called ‘Yugoslavia’, even though countries like Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia were no longer part of that former state.

Pesic had a short but very successful time with that team. He won Eurobasket 2001 and the 2002 World Cup. He had a dream squad. Argentina made it very difficult for them in the 2002 final, where there was a refereeing controversy, but they ended up winning.

Serbia failed to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Games. After that disappointment, the federation re-hired him to take over the bench. In 2023 they were silver medallists at the World Cup. That result gave them qualification for Paris 2024. They lost the final to Germany, the other team Pesic has coached.

Pesic says he is having the toughest preparation he can remember. His players have arrived tired and not in the best physical condition. He hopes that the motivation of being in an Olympic Games will help his players to be ready.



Another problem is the quality of the tournament. Pesic believes that 10 of the 12 teams arriving in Paris have a chance of fighting for the medals. Serbia is one of them. The coach has a lot of details to prepare, because he believes that every game will be decisive.

Serbia's first match is the toughest. They play against the United States on Sunday, 17:15 CEST. They are the big favourites for gold. They have a squad that is hard to improve.

Their other group opponents are Puerto Rico and South Sudan. That's why Serbia are clear favourites to reach the quarter-finals. Pesic's experience and that of several of his players should prevail against other strong teams.

The big star of the team is Nikola Jokic, a three-time NBA MVP, including 2024. He was also NBA champion in 2023 with the Denver Nuggets and Finals MVP. He also won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Games.

Nikola Jokic takes a shot during the Basketball training session GETTY IMAGES
Nikola Jokic takes a shot during the Basketball training session GETTY IMAGES

Serbia is much more than Jokic. It has three other NBA players: Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nikola Jovic and Vasilje Micic. Pesic also has European basketball stars such as Nikola Milutinov, Marko Guduric, Filipe Petrusev and Vanja Marinkovic.

Pesic is possibly facing his last Olympic opportunity. He has the knowledge, the experience and the players to achieve something important. From Sunday onwards, the pitch of the Pierre-Mauroy Stadium will decide.