Matthew's Story
Matthew Nielsen made his NBL debut in 1995 for the Sydney Kings and then returned to the League after completing an AIS scholarship, winning the 1997 NBL Rookie of the Year award. Nielsen was first selected for the senior national team in 1998 and played in the 2004 Athens Olympics. He missed the 2006 World Championships and Commonwealth Games due to international commitments but returned to the national team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 World Championships.
He made his third Olympic Games appearance at the London 2012 Games. With Australia losing their opening two preliminary matches to Brazil and Spain, they went on to defeat China, hosts Great Britain and Russia to set up a quarter-final match against the USA. The Australians went down 119-86 to the eventual gold medallists to finish seventh.
