It was the half court buzzer beater than etched Belinda Snell into Olympic folklore.
Snell was competing in her third Olympics in London in 2012 as Australia took on France in the final pool game.
With Isabelle Yacoubou missing the second of two free throws, France led by three points with 3.3 seconds on the clock when Abby Bishop took the rebound and passed it to Snell.
Snell took one dribble and the rest was history.
“I got it and just launched it from a long way out,” Snell reflected this week. I did practice them a lot, you have fun at the end of training and you practice all that. If there was opportunity at an end of a WNBL game I always liked to try some long shots, never would make it, and I remember my coach in Sydney Karen Dalton would always say ‘it’s ruining your percentage, Snelly!’
“But I’d always take them and have a bit of fun with it, I never dreamed of making one at the Olympics.”
The green and gold of the bench rose as the ball dropped in the net and the Opals ran on to court to celebrate Snell sending the game to overtime.
“The moment after shooting it was incredible. The crowd is something I’ll always remember, I had family there and friends, my team mates all coming together and celebrating,” she says.
“I heard a lot of different stories from people back home because it was the middle of night, people throwing the remote at the TV, kicking the cat, accidently hitting their partner in the middle of the night celebrating.
“It was an incredible moment and one I’ll always remember.
“I knew quite a lot of the French girls and the French coach had coached me in Bourges so we had a laugh after the game. I also remember meeting Hamish and Andy after the game.
“I remember getting in a taxi during the Olympics and the taxi driver was like ‘Oh my god, you made that shot!”
The Opals were defeated 86-73 but finished their campaign on a high by beating Russia, 83-74, in the bronze medal match.
“I was pretty shattered I couldn’t make a layup in that France game and we lost in overtime. It was disappointing because it meant we crossed over with the US earlier than we would have liked,” Snell says.
“Eventually we still got to celebrate winning the bronze medal which was very exciting.”
