The Olympic Games deliver thousands of remarkable and remarkable stories. Among them, the effort of the African country of South Sudan, one of the last countries to join the International Olympic Committee and which has them as one of the nations to compete in Paris 2024: they have managed to place their basketball team in the Olympic Games -thanks to a great job in the last FIBA World Cup- and will compete against no less than the US Dream Team.
This is the story not only of the youngest and most ‘explosive’ team FIBA has on its hands, but the true story of an entire nation that has yet to have a quiet year since its birth.
In 2011, South Sudan achieved its independence and today it is estimated that 9.4 million of the nearly 11.5 million inhabitants depend on humanitarian aid and the more than 50 organizations that are in the African country do not have funds to meet the needs of the population. Almost ten years of conflict have plunged the world’s youngest sovereign state into violence and insecurity, a climate in which sport is a precious but scarce commodity.
Today it seems that the confrontation in South Sudan has no end and the endless clash between the army and the rebels of the Rapid Support Forces have already caused the forced displacement of six million people. Neighboring countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan receive daily the hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese who cross the borders to seek refuge.
THE MARCH OF PERINA LOKURE NAKANG
A large percentage of people fleeing combat are children and one such story is that of Perina Lokure Nakang, who was born in South Sudan but due to conflict had to flee to Kenya, where she found her love for athletics. In 2023 she competed at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest and will be present at Paris 2024 as part of the Refugee Athletes Team.
Despite all these complications, in 2015, South Sudan officially joined the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and made its first appearance at Rio 2016 and was also part of Tokyo 2020 being its most prominent Olympic sport athletics, a discipline in which it has as figures Lucia Moris and Guor Marial. In London 2012, precisely the marathon runner Guor Marial had competed as an ‘independent athlete’.
🇸🇸 Best team in Africa ✅
🇸🇸 Olympics 2024 ✅
🇸🇸 Olympics on 1st try ✅✍️ HISTORY!!!#WinForSouthSudan 🇸🇸 pic.twitter.com/HQ6EWT8M5D
— South Sudan Basketball (@SSBFed) September 3, 2023
DREAM TEAM AGAINST SOUTH SUDAN
For this summer’s event and after a great performance in the last FIBA Basketball World Cup, South Sudan earned a spot for the Olympic Games where they will face Puerto Rico, Serbia and the United States in their group. Among the list is Khaman Maluach, who will play at Duke University, USA, and is one of the great talents for the 2025 Draft.
His basketball team is one of the great inspirations in a country where good news is scarce due to the number of dramatic stories, escapes and forced departures. Their games will be a gift for their people and a necessary placebo moment for their day to day life. Hopefully the example of this team, formed recently and which in a short time is achieving formidable successes, will serve for the growth of their society.
