Tolo’s story raises spirits

JUST as any elite athlete has done, gun basketballer Marianna Tolo has ridden the highs and lows.

The latest chapter in the story of the Australian Opals centre and now Bendigo Spirit recruit was a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.

Tolo spoke about her journey to Paris and more during breakfast with Spirit sponsors and guests at Bendigo’s Lakeside Hotel.

“It’s special…it’s meaningful,” Tolo said as she clasped the Olympic medal.

To make an Olympic team and to win a medal was a dream from when an 11-year-old Tolo was at primary school in Mackay.

“It was not long after the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and Cathy Freeman (400-metre gold medallist) visited our school,” she said.

“I was inspired by what Cathy had done. If someone from my school, my city can go to the Olympics then why can’t I?”

At the age of 16, Tolo made her way to the AIS in Canberra and then to Canberra Capitals in the WNBL.

“The Caps were back-to-back champions in my first two seasons,” she said.

Her sights were then on selection for the 2012 London Olympics.

“I didn’t make the team, and I was crushed,” she said.

Tolo said support from family, especially her parents who had emigrated from Bosnia, and from friends meant a lot.

“I went to France to play and fell in love with the game again,” she said.

Tolo was then recruited by WNBA club LA Sparks.

“Just before play-offs I tore an ACL. It was 11 months to the Olympics,” she recalled.

Diligence in rehab meant she was in the Opals lineup for the 2016 Rio Olympics, and defeat in the quarter-finals was followed by a similar result at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

And then an ACL injury in the other knee sidelined her yet again.

Tolo was back on court as Canberra Capitals won the 2019 and 2020 WNBL titles.

A brilliant team included Kelsey Griffin and Kelly Wilson, who will be Spirit teammates this season.

Tolo said after a disjointed leadup to the Paris Olympics, the Opals found their groove.

After a defeat to the US in the semi-finals, Australia beat Belgium in the bronze medal play-off.

Tolo’s focus is now on the Spirit. It’s a special partnership as her husband, Dan Jackson, is the club’s new general manager. “It was time to follow him for a little bit,” she said.

Tolo believes she can be part of something special in Bendigo.