RIO DE JANEIRO -- Tony Parker confirmed after France's lopsided defeat to Spain in Wednesday's Olympic quarterfinals that he has indeed played his final game for his national team.
Parker said after France's 92-67 loss to its longtime Spanish rivals that he has promised San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and team president R.C. Buford he will halt his international career at age 34 -- because of the "toll" it has taken on him physically -- and focus on finishing his NBA career strongly.
"And I'm not gonna change my mind about that," Parker said after scoring 14 points in his finale.
Wednesday's exit was a rough one for the French after they had played so well Sunday in a narrow three-point defeat to the United States, which Parker skipped to rest a bruised toe he had suffered earlier in the tournament.
France and Spain have met in top-level international competition for each of the past six summers. This comprehensive performance improved the Pau Gasol-led Spaniards' record to 4-2 in those matchups and sent them into Friday's semifinals against the United States as the hottest team in Olympic men's basketball.
"I felt like Spain was the Spurs," Parker said of the opposition's high level on Wednesday, "and I was on the other side."
Reflecting on an emotional summer that, in addition to the end of his own international career, saw Tim Duncan announce his retirement from the Spurs, Parker said: "The conversation with Timmy, it was weird when he told me he was not going to play. I knew that was going to come one day, with the Big Three without him, but it's always tough when it finally happens.
"I've been very blessed -- that's all I can say. Those 15 years, all the championships, all the records, everything that we accomplished, it's just stuff when I retire I can cherish and show my kids everything that we won with the Spurs."
"I'm just happy it's not both at the same time," Parker continued, referring to Argentina star Manu Ginobili's decision to play on with the Spurs despite Duncan's retirement.
"I'm happy that Manu got one more year, so it's not everybody at the same time. That day will come too, and then my day will come. It's just life. I think there's a lot of great guys -- it was a great 10 years with Kobe and Shaq and all the rivalries and stuff like that -- but everything comes to an end."
France coach Vincent Collet called Parker "the best French player forever" and said it was "very frustrating" to walk off the court with Parker knowing "he has a last game like that."
"We got four medals in the last five years with the national team, and he was a big part of it," Collet said. "He's been the leader that we needed for a long time."
As Parker said, "Spain was just great tonight, they made every spot. We made a decision to stop Pau, and [Nikola] Mirotic goes off. So ... that's basketball.
"At the same time, I don't want to throw away everything that we've done in the last 16 years [and] in the last eight, nine years with Coach Collet. I'm very proud of what we did as a national team, and it's the best results in the history of French basketball."
The only consolation for Parker, on this night, is knowing that he'll soon be able to call his good friend Gasol a teammate when they join forces for the first time next season after Gasol's decision to sign in free agency with San Antonio. They embraced at midcourt after Spain's emphatic win.
"I've been playing against him since I'm like 14 years old," Parker said. "Great friend and off the court, we go to dinner, stuff like that, double dates and everything. I was so happy that he decided to come play with San Antonio. He's going to be a great guy to have around.
"For me, it makes my job easy, with Pau and LaMarcus [Aldridge], it's going to be great and, like I said earlier, Spain had a great generation. If it was not for Spain, I would have another 10 medals, 15 medals, but life is like that. I beat Pau a lot in the NBA, so it balances out."
Saad Yousuf of ESPN Radio in Dallas (103.3 FM) contributed to this report.