All four girls played Division 1 basketball. Another, Olivia, has an MBA and is chasing a doctorate in public policy. Two of her older sisters, Nneka and Chiney, play for the Los Angeles Sparks. The moment is sweet, but it could’ve been sweeter for the youngest of one of America’s most prolific basketball families with four children of Nigerian-born parents finding success on and off the court. “The hardest thing is probably just, you know, making sure you know that school comes first regardless,” she said. women’s team before heading back to the Olympic Village for more flash card drills and medical research projects. Ogwumike played four minutes in an 81-72 loss to the U.S. Her hoop dreams on pause during the pandemic, Ogwumike decided to attend medical school at UT Southwestern in Dallas while continuing to train for the Olympics. She’s playing basketball in the Olympics. If the summer between her first and second year of medical school is indeed the last summer she’ll ever have off in her life, Erica Ogwumike might have found the most interesting way to spend it. Now this is how you do a study abroad program.
#ERICA OGWUMIKE FULL#
The full schedule and a list of WNBA stars on Olympic rosters can be found here.Nigeria’s Erica Ogwumike handles the ball during an exhibition game against the United States on July 18. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images) Nigeria and Team USA open their preliminary schedule on Tuesday at 12:40 a.m. She wants to improve the conditions and expand the game, she said.Įrica Ogwumike, the youngest of four basketball-playing Ogwumike sisters, is suiting up for the country in Tokyo. She told ESPN she saw young girls play on an uneven court and without shoes. Chiney visited Nigeria while at Stanford and served as a volunteer coach for an organization looking to help children in poverty. The Ogwumikes are vocal about their Nigerian roots and spoke of developing basketball in Nigeria. Even if we grew up here, our households look very different than what people think, and that part of us is very real."Īll were on Nigeria's provisional roster and Williams played in a pre-Olympics exhibition tune-up against the U.S. "We're still going to keep appealing and fighting because I think people need to understand there are a lot of us that have dual citizenship. "It's really about the principle now," Williams said, via ESPN. The three argued that FIBA's secretary general can approve their change in national team status since its charter states "if this is in the interest of the development of the development of basketball in this country." Countries are only allowed to carry one naturalized citizen on the roster, which would have created a problem for adding the ESPN host's older sister and Williams. None will compete in the 2020 Olympics.Ĭhiney Ogwumike, also of the Sparks, was cleared to play by FIBA, but as a naturalized citizen. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) denied an appeal from the players that asked they be allowed on Nigeria's roster until the CAS ruled on their case. Williams, an Atlanta Dream veteran, also petitioned to play for Nigeria in a process that had been in the works for a year.īoth were cleared by USA Basketball to join Nigeria, but their petitions were denied by FIBA because of their longstanding association with Team USA. Nneka Ogwumike, the Los Angeles Sparks forward and 2016 WNBA MVP, was left off the USA roster for a third Olympic cycle and petitioned to play for Nigeria. Erica Ogwumike is competing for Nigeria "for my sisters" after petitions by Chiney, middle, an Nneka, right, were denied by FIBA.
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