Outrage has followed the recent omission of Nneka Ogwumike from the team that will represent the United States in the fast-approaching Tokyo 2021 Olympics. Her sister Chiney Ogwumike and Los Angeles Sparks coach are among those angry about her non-selection.
Nneka Ogwumike is a Nigerian-American basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted No 1. Overall in the 2012 WNBA draft and is the President of the WNBA players Association.
Ogwumike has a long list of achievements since joining the team which includes being the WNBA MVP for the 2016 season as well as leading the team to win the WNBA Finals the same year.
Find out how much Nneka Ogwumike has accomplished in her career and why her recent Olympic snub is generating outbursts online.
Nneka Ogwumike Personal life
Nneka Ogwumike was born in Tomball, Texas, and is the daughter of Nigerian immigrant Parents, Peter and Ify Ogwumike. Her first name “Nneka”, means” mother is supreme” in the Igbo language of Nigeria. She is the oldest of the family of four daughters. Her sisters are Chisom, Ernima, and Chiney Ogwumike who also plays for the Los Angeles Sparks.
Her educational history includes the Cypress-Fairbanks High School in Cypress Texas where she played basketball and led them to a 5A State Championship in her senior year. She also attended Stanford University where she helped the Cardinal Varsity team up to their fourth final four.
Moreover, Nneka Ogwumike is the President of the WNBA Players Association. She was elected for a three-year term in 2016 and was re-elected in 2019 for another term of three years.
Basketball career
Nneka Ogwumike started out as a gymnast as a young girl but switched over to basketball after her parents realized that she was going to be a little too tall for gymnastics. She began to play basketball from the age of 11 and got the hang of it easily.
She was a prominent face in the high school basketball team where she took part in the 2008 WBCA High school All-America Game scoring 17 points, 6 rebounds, and was the MVP for the team.
Ogwumike had an impressive performance in College where she played for the Stanford Cardinal and became the second all-time leading scorer for the team behind Candice Wiggins.
She is the power forward player for the Sparks with an impressive career that has won several awards. She is a six-time All-Star, a four-time All-WNBA, a two-time FIBA World cup Gold medalist, a Four-time WNBA All-defensive team as well as the 2016 league MVP (which happens to be the last Olympic year), and several other accolades.
Why is Nneka Ogwumike’s Olympic Snub Generating Disgruntle
Outrage has followed the recent release of the 12-player USA Women Basketball roster for the Tokyo Olympics by the USA Basketball. This is because Nneka Ogwumike was left out of the list yet again after missing the 2016 cut.
Considering her achievements, Ogwumike was seen as one of the top prospects for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Therefore it was rather surprising that her name was missing from the roster this time given that she has participated in all the Olympic qualifying games for team USA and has been a regular face on the team for the past five years.
Sparks coach Derek Fisher is not pleased and has said that he was “pissed” and that Ogwumike’s snub was a “freaking travesty”. He added that she has done everything a player was supposed to do and that “nothing has to be given to her”. He further stated that Nneka turned down opportunities to make more money overseas because she thought she would get a spot on the Olympic team.
The USA Olympic team has won six consecutive Olympic gold medals. They have many talented players to choose from. But what makes Nneka Ogwumike’s case special was that she is the only MVP not to have made it to an Olympic event. Moreover, she will be considered over-age by the time the next Olympics is due.
Her sister, Chiney Ogwumike, also a fellow Sparks player is not pleased either. She took to social media to express her fury over the matter, saying that her sister has done so much that it just doesn’t feel right that she was excluded from the Olympic lineup
Several others have also voiced their disagreement including Candace Parker, a former Sparks player who was also snubbed during her time despite her accomplishments (she was two-time MVP and five-time All-Star).
In a blunt statement, Parker said, “How many times are we going to say it’s unfair? How many times are we going to say it’s not politics?”
USA basketball coach, Dawn Staley has stated that the omission ‘’broke his heart’’ and has however implied that Ogwumike’s knee injury could be responsible for her omission. But Sparks coach Derek Fisher is not having that at all, saying that he is “calling BS on that too”. He added that the timeline of her injury does not ‘’add up to her not being unavailable for the Olympics’’ according to Fox news.
Besides, another injured player was still able to make it to the team. She is Diana Taurasi who is recovering from a fractured sternum but was still able to make it to the roster in what will be her fifth straight Olympics according to AP News.
And how does Nneka Ogwumike feel about this? She is keeping mute at the moment but her coach says that what makes her unique and special is that she has inner strength and fortitude. Hopefully, she will be able to forget the disappointment and push forward in her career.
