Patrick Ewing perfectly summed up the enthusiasm that surrounded the Dream Team in the summer of 1992.
"We were rock stars. We were The Beatles. We were The Jacksons,” the New York Knicks icon said, upon the arrival to Barcelona, Spain.
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The USA Basketball Men’s National Team, made up of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, and of course, Michael Jordan, went undefeated en route to an Olympic gold medal in the Catalonia capital in ‘92 and left an indelible mark on both basketball and the Olympics.
Despite fears he’d get kicked out of the tournament for elbowing an Angolan player in the USA’s first game, Barkley was the Dream Team’s best player and leading scorer in ‘92, averaging over 18 points per contest.
The outspoken Round Mound of Rebound was also the most enigmatic and colorful character on that star-studded squad, famous for his love of high stakes gambling, numerous controversies -- including accidentally spitting on an eight-year-old girl -- and absolute insistence that he wasn't a role model.
The Beatlemania-esque fanfare that swarmed the Dream Team in Spain 22 years ago meant they passed on staying at the Olympic Village where athletes typically reside.
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Instead, Chuck Daly's all-conquering team found a base at the Ambassador Hotel, just off the city’s main drag, Las Ramblas - not that it made much difference.
“It was too hard to go out. You were mobbed,” Kim Bohuny, NBA manager of international events, reportedly said.
Night owl Barkley was undeterred by the overzealous mob.
“I wasn’t going to stay in my room the whole time,” he remarked.
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Sir Charles regularly ventured into the vibrant Barcelona night, ignoring the obvious security concerns that came with wandering around a foreign country late at night as one of the most famous sportsmen on the planet.
According to NBA columnist Jan Hubbard, Chuck would walk down Las Ramblas, and people would ask him, "Charles, what are you doing for security?"
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Barkley’s response was about as Barkley as it gets.
"He’d show you his two fists and say, 'This is my security,'" Hubbard wrote.
"He [Barkley] was like the Pied Piper," Hubbard went on. "He’d have this huge group of people following and yelling and smiling and taking pictures. And he loved it."
The 1993 MVP’s late night antics didn’t stop there.
According to David DuPree, a reporter for USA Today, “Barkley did this first-person column where he would meet up with me after the games and tell me stuff, and I’d write it up.
“He’d say ‘Meet me at such and such club,’ so I’d go to the club, and of course, no Barkley, but there’d be a note saying meet him at some other club.
“So it would take about four or five clubs until about six in the morning before I could track him down. But he always left a note.”
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Barkley finished the Olympics with a gold medal after the US beat Croatia 117-85 in the championship game.
His last act of the '92 Games was to rebel against Reebok with MJ and Magic during the gold medal ceremony.
The 11-time All Star returned to the Olympics in '96 and once again led Team USA in scoring (12.4 points per game), as well as rebounds (6.6 per game) and field goal percentage (81.6 percent).
An NBA championship ultimately eluded Barkley's Hall of Fame NBA career, but his legacy as an elite rebounder and fierce competitor is forever etched in history.
He's also one of the toughest operators to ever grace The Association's hallowed hardwood, packing his own security in the very hands that enabled him to become a basketball legend.
The 2024 version of Team USA are currently in London ahead of the Paris Olympics getting underway next week.
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LeBron James, Steph Curry and 10 other MVPs, All-Stars and NBA champions take on South Sudan at The 02 Arena on Saturday before a final warm up game against Germany on Monday.
Their first group game of the 2024 Olympics will be against Nikola Jokic and Serbia on July 28.