Olympic champion basketball team loses another player

(BEIJING, April 6) -- Argentina has lost another member of its Olympic gold medal-winning men's basketball squad as Walter Herrmann announced his retirement from international basketball.

The 28-year-old player, currently playing with the Detroit Pistons in his second year in the NBA, told coach Sergio Hernandez that he wants to spend more time with his family and loved ones, reports Ole Newspaper. Herrmann competed in the Athens Olympic Games despite losing his mother, sister and girlfriend in a car accident in 2003 and his father to a heart attackin 2004.

The Olympic champions will also have to defend their gold medal without veteran guard Pepe Sanchez, who announced his retirement from the team at the end of March.