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MADRID : Spanish men's basketball coach Aito Garcia Reneses has resigned from his position after leading the team to the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics, the Spanish basketball federation said on Tuesday.
"I am grateful for the opportunity the Federation president gave me to direct the team at the Olympics, but I want to train throughout the season, not just for two months a year," he said on the federation's website.
The 61-year-old, who had been appointed two months before the Games, used a clause in his contract which allows him to vacate the position after the Olympics, the federation said.
Media reports have linked him with a return to coaching a Spanish league club.
Spain lost a thrilling Olympic final on Sunday to the United States 107-118.
"It is important to reach an Olympic final and to have played the way we did against the United States is something we can feel proud of," he told reporters as he arrived in Madrid from China late on Monday.
Several hundreds fans, some dressed in red and gold national colours, cheered the basketball squad and the rest of Spain's athletes as they arrived at Madrid's Barajas airport.
Garcia Reneses took over from Jose Vicente Hernandez, who led Spain to its first world championship in 2006 and the final of the European championship last year. Hernandez was fired following a dispute with the federation. - AFP/ir/de
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