2024 FIBA Women's Basketball Olympic Qualifier Tournaments: 'Dauntless' Nigeria obtains Olympic quota in Antwerp
The defending Afrobasket champions are hoping to build a legacy with this trip to the Olympics.
Before the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Antwerp, Belgium, the Nigerian women’s basketball team chose the word “dauntless” to focus on as they prepared. Now they can take that dauntless energy to the Olympic Games, because Nigeria secured a quota for Paris 2024 thanks to their performance in the tournament.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Nigeria lost 78-61 to Belgium in the final game of the tournament, but their win on Thursday (8 Feb) over Senegal was enough. Nigeria is the defending Afrobasket champions, and are hoping to build a legacy with this trip to the Olympics.
“It's been a journey, and I think it is just a testament to who we are as Nigerians. We'll put a team together and we'll fight. We'll fight as good as we can, and we're going to show our mentality and a warrior spirit,” said Nigerian coach, Rena Wakama.
This will be the third time in the Olympics for Nigerian women’s basketball. They finished 11th both in 2004 and 2020. Nigeria wants to go to Paris and make a mark.
“The goal is always to win. The goal is to win, to prepare, to win. Whoever we face, continue to use the word dauntless, and we continue to embody that word as a team and show that on the court as well. And not just for a couple of glimpses, but for a whole 40 minutes,” said Amy Okonkwo, who was on the team in 2020.