Despite already being two years removed from being an active NBA superstar, stories about Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant's work ethic continue to emerge to this day. This time around, Jonathan Abrams of Bleacher Report shares a story about how Bryant pretty much single-handedly established what is known today as the Olympic Breakfast Club.
This now legendary early morning congregation of NBA superstars came to be during the buildup to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As it turns out, it all started with Kobe hitting the gym by his lonesome while everybody else was still fast asleep.
Kobe's drive and determination appeared to be very contagious in the Team USA camp, and soon enough, other players started following Bryant's lead.
Bryant woke up early to practice. And other players soon followed suit, waking up early with Bryant, adjusting to his schedule.
Wade was the first player to join. “He met me in the gym at five, and then LeBron started showing up at five, and then they all started showing up at five. And then next thing you know, most of the guys were in the gym at five getting some work in,” Bryant says.
What started out as a standard pre-dawn workout for Bryant eventually turned out to be the stuff of legends.
That time in the gym built a kinship among teammates and became known as the Olympic breakfast club.
Those early morning practices may have done little to help further those players' basketball aptitude, but it surely did wonders for the bond that they built in such an organic manner. For the hard work they put in, the celebrated 2008 Team USA squad earned an Olympic gold medal by the end of the tournament.
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