Rubén Menini was one of Argentina’s top basketball players during the late 1940s and early 1950s. His first major international competition was the 1948 Summer Olympics, where the Argentine squad finished 15th; Menini played in six of the team’s seven matches. He had much better luck at the inaugural World Championships in 1950, however, as Argentina won the gold medal, although they were unable to replicate this result at the 1951 Pan American Games, coming in second behind the United States. At the 1952 Olympics, Menini’s final major international tournament, Argentina finished just off the podium in fourth, after losing the bronze medal match to Uruguay. Menini took part in seven of the squad’s eight games. He lived a quiet life after his retirement, but appeared in the 2010 documentary film Tiempo muerto, about the difficult conditions in Argentina in the 1950s, when the national basketball team won the World Championships.
Argentina