By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Back in 2022, Wenyen Gabriel organized a basketball camp in his home country. This sounds like a pretty usual practice for professional basketball players. But in that case, we were talking about something majorly unique.
Prior to that, the former Los Angeles Lakers superstar never walked in his homeland, forced to escape with his family as a refugee – just like the rest of the South Sudanese team, which is all older than the actual country of South Sudan – to the United States, growing up in Massachusetts.
Thanks to the collaboration of the UNHCR, the promising power forward managed to come back to his country, finally sovereign after gaining independence in 2011. He told the whole story right after the narrow defeat to Team USA in London, a few days ago.
“I’m happy we were able to represent our country. A lot of people around the world don’t know what South Sudan was, but today we were able to represent our country with pride, put up a good fight, and show them the potential of our country. It was a proud moment for a lot of people”, he first said.
South Sudan recently wrote history once again, winning for the first time on the Olympic stage by getting their revenge against Puerto Rico, which beat them in the opener of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
Their climb up to success, helped by the astonishing work done by Luol Deng, who decided to give back to his people what he couldn’t fulfill during his professional career when the South Sudanese basketball program wasn’t even imaginable, is a history-making lesson.
In only a matter of few years, they went from qualifying for their first-ever FIBA AfroBasket to the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, arriving in the Eiffel Tower’s shadow by being the best-classified African team in the competition, in their debut.
Listening to Wenyen Gabriel’s words makes these achievements even more powerful. “We don’t have any indoor basketball courts in our country. We are a bunch of refugees who come together for a few weeks out of the year, trying our best, playing against some of the best players ever. This is bigger than basketball for us”, he stressed out.
“To show people that we can compete and understand that hoops in Africa are something for the future. It’s only a matter of time before the next generation gets built up. There are millions of people in the country who are no different from any of us. We were able to represent us and get to this level, based on these opportunities”, Wenyen Gabriel continued, emphasizing the concept of opportunity.
His words reached audiences worldwide, giving a whole other power to South Sudan’s basketball story. And going back to his visit two years ago. “There are some tall kids back in the village, I remember I came back home to South Sudan to visit them, and they didn’t have any opportunities. Seven feet tall and they’re herding cows”, he said.
“Some people around the world don’t have the opportunity to play basketball for a living, to go shoot hoops, to go fish for food, do different things to survive. Today was an example and something to bring us together. We’ve been a war-torn country, been through a lot, every single year a lot of bloodshed. For us to have something to have together, to stop looking at each other differently”, he added.
Tonight, the circle goes full way, as South Sudan crosses paths once again with Team USA. On the other side of the floor, he will meet once again LeBron James, with whom he shared a season with the Los Angeles Lakers, which made his visit to Juba possible back in 2022.
Right after that friendly encounter in Great Britain, the King spoke highly of the 27-year-old. “Wenyen [Gabriel] is like a little brother of mine. I had a lot of great time in Los Angeles. Fun guy, a charismatic guy. He loves the game”, Team USA’s flag-bearer said.
“I told him tonight how much, continuing his journey in the game of basketball, It’s always great to have someone in his home country to be able to play professional basketball. Wenyen [Gabriel] is an inspiration to all of his brothers and sisters from where he’s from”, LeBron James continued.
This time it isn’t only a friendly game in London, but a five-interlaced rings matchup to write history once again at the Olympic stage. Wenyen Gabriel has come a long way.
Visualizza questo post su Instagram
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA Basketball