The USA Basketball women’s squad won its seventh consecutive gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. But Nneka Ogwumike – the 2016 WNBA MVP and the WNBA players’ association president – was not part of the winning effort. The WNBA superstar previously won MVP of the qualifying tournament and led the team scoring in 2020.
She gave an emotional interview yesterday, describing the case of her dismissal before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“They always say that in trials, you grow stronger, and that what is inside of you is exacerbated. I would like to say that, out of that, I have always been described as resilient, and I had to tell myself that a lot to make sure that I believed it because it’s been a few weeks of feeling unvaluable or unworthy”, said Nneka Ogwumike. “It’s been very difficult. I’m sorry. I swear I wasn’t gonna cry. It’s been very difficult. I just want to play basketball. I’m sorry, you guys. I just want to play and have fun”, added she.
Nneka Ogwumike is working to shift her focus away from the Olympics and towards the second half of the WNBA season. Her Sparks struggled earlier in the summer due in large part to the injury bug biting many of its foremost stars, including Ogwumike and her sister – Chiney.
Nnemkadi Ogwumike is a Nigerian-American basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), after being drafted No 1 overall in the 2012 WNBA Draft. Soon after being drafted, Ogwumike signed an endorsement deal with Nike. She is the older sister of Chiney Ogwumike, who also plays for the Sparks. Ogwumike was named WNBA MVP for the 2016 WNBA season; as well as winning the WNBA Finals that year in 2016.
