The long-awaited 2024 Paris Olympics is underway with some African nations making strides, all in pursuit of glory and a place on the podium in the history of one of the world’s biggest sporting stages.
South Sudan Men’s and Nigeria’s Women’s Basketball teams have started clinching records in France.
Prior to the start of the Olympics, The South Sudan team, affectionately known as the Bright Stars started gaining traction after an impressive showcase against Basketball giant USA in a pre-tournament friendly. That game had lots of fans all over the world heaping praise on South Sudan’s performance, despite their (101-100) loss to the USA who had the likes of Lebron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant in their fold.
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The African side has merged a good lot of home-grown talents and American-born players including marksman Carlik Jones. Jones’ experience with American basketball teams like Denver Nuggets and Chicago Bulls in the last years proved to be an asset for the African side, who after edging Puerto Rico, recorded their first-ever game at the Olympics with a win.
“This is so surreal. I couldn’t experience anything better than this”, head coach Royal Ivey said via FIBA.
FIBA statistics also confirm that the win made South Sudan the third team from Africa in history to win its first game at the Olympics, after the Central African Republic in 1988 and Nigeria in 2012. This is also the second win of an African nation over a team from the Americas in the tournament ending a run of 33 defeats between those wins.
Nigeria Women’s team also recorded their first victory in Olympics Basketball history in 20 years in their opening game.
The D’Tigress stun Australia to make their mark on their debut, recording a 75-62 victory in what is widely regarded as a shock win by tournament fans and analysts. Stunning the Opals means the African side has the momentum to move forward into the competition, after settling their nerves comfortably in Lille.
South Sudan and Nigeria’s exploits at the Olympics indicate the upward trajectory of African Sports development and competition to match the required global standard that enables continents to mark eras.
Both teams still have a lot to play for, but their impressive performances indicate they could make a strong case for themselves as the stages of the Basketball events at the Olympics progress.
We will continue watching their progress.
