Carmelo Anthony reveals how he snuck out of USA's team boat in 2004 to explore Greece: "I wanted to get back and see Athens"
Carmelo Anthony, along with fellow rookies LeBron James and Dwyane Wade from the infamous 2003 NBA draft, were selected to represent the USA at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Coming out from a good rookie season, Anthony performed well on the international stage. However, Team USA failed to grab the gold medal and walked home with a bronze instead.
In a recent interview with Rachel Nichols on "All The Smoke" podcast on Thursday, the former Nuggets star revealed a story of him secretly getting out of Team USA's boat in the 2004 Olympics. Nichols asked Melo to tell the audience about his highlight, and he did not hesitate.
"I didn't sneak off to do anything. I just snuck off because I wanted to. I'm a community guy, right? So I wanted to get back," Anthony said.
Nichols taunted the former Nuggets star on his "community guy" statement, and Melo chuckled as he carried on with the story.
"I wanted to get back and see Athens and see the people, be outside. I'm like, "If I'm coming here and I can't even play, I want to get outside." So, yeah, unfortunately, I snuck off. I snuck off the yacht, off the boat. But I had a good time off the boat because I was around the people in Athens, and people weren't expecting to see us get off that boat."
Anthony revealed that it was strictly prohibited for anyone to get off the boat, but he took a chance and snuck out. He wanted to see Athens, as he was not sure when he would be able to come back to the city.
Carmelo Anthony attends epic Team USA comeback against Serbia in the Olympic semifinals
Former NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony was in attendance for Team USA's epic comeback against Serbia in the semifinals of the men's basketball tournament at the Olympics. Team Serbia dominated the USA, maintaining a lead through the game that grew to a massive 18 points at one time.
Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jokic proved to be big problems for the United States. However, things started to turn around for Team USA in the final quarter when Carmelo Anthony imparted his valuable advice to his friend and former rival LeBron James. the USA made a successful comeback and defeated the Serbians with a final score of 95-91. The USA will now face France in the final for the gold medal on Aug. 10.