Coach Carlo Recalcati praised Italy for the fighting spirit of their bronze medal-winning performance at the European Championships.

The Italians secured the third spot and a ticket to the Athens Olympics with a 69-67 upset of France in Stockholm.

		“	We may be at the bottom of statistics but we are first in will, pride and morale	„
		Carlo Recalcati

Recalcati attributed their success to the character and mental strength of the players rather than any great natural ability.

He said: "Two months ago I had two possibilities: to construct a team to level our rivals' talents which I would have not been able to do, or point towards the character of 12 players.

"We may be at the bottom of statistics but we are first in will, pride and morale."

Despite the outstanding performance of San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker who was the highest scorer on the night with 24 points, the Azzurri prevailed thanks to a superb performance from veteran centre Dennis Marconato who had a team high 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Such success had looked unlikely earlier in the competition, as a slip against Slovenia (77-67) was followed by a humiliating 85-52 defeat against France in Lulea that placed Italy close to elimination.

However, Recalcati's men found their form with wins over Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany and Greece.

Even Friday's semi-final defeat by just two points against silver medalists Spain did not dampen their spirits.

Recalcati added: "We always believed in ourselves, even in the most difficult moments, I had a trust that we could win.”

The 1983 and 1999 European Champions returned to the podium following their disappointing 11th placed finish two years ago, and there was little doubting what the result meant to captain Giacomo Galanda.

"This bronze medal is worth gold," he said.

In fact, Sunday's victory has given Italy a priceless ticket to the 2004 Olympic Games and mathematical qualification for the 2005 European Championships in Bosnia.

Injuries during the game to playmaker Gianluca Basile (knee), and guard Davide Lamma (ankle) did not hinder an Italian side determined to take Europe's third spot.

Basile said: "We had the right determination and we were a different team to that of the first two matches in Lulea."