Victor Wembanyama, ‘Wembamania’ sweep France with two years until Paris Olympics

Victor Wembanyama
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France lost to the U.S. by five points in the Tokyo Olympic men’s basketball final. Could Victor Wembanyama, a 7-foot-3 18-year-old favored to be the 2023 NBA Draft No. 1 pick, help Les Bleus reverse that result at the 2024 Paris Games?

“Wembamania” is sweeping France, and everyone is trying to get a look at the “alien,” as LeBron James described his talent, likely to become an NBA star.

Even 85-year-old former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who called Wembanyama’s French club team’s president to ask for a ticket.

His wingspan is nearly 8 feet, and he can nearly grab the rim — 10 feet in the air — without jumping.

“My goal,” Wembanyama told The Associated Press, “is to be like something you’ve never seen.”

Vincent Collet, who coaches Wembanyama’s club team Metropolitans 92 near Paris and the French national team, said the hype is normal and great for the French game.

“It’s something you can’t really control, and it’s because of what happened two weeks ago in the U.S.,” he said, referring to Metropolitans 92’s two exhibition games against G League teams outside Las Vegas. “In general it’s a good thing for basketball, for our club and for the game. It shines a light on basketball, it attracts people.”

Collet thinks that Wembanyama has enough mental strength to cope with the demands of the NBA, despite his young age.

“There’s what the Americans call ‘skills’ — an ability that is out of the ordinary. But remember that he’s only 18 1/2. In basketball at the highest level, there are many things to deal with,” Collet said. “But he has an uncommon capacity for learning. You don’t need to keep teaching him as he learns very quickly. That’s a great asset, along with all the others he has. It’s very valuable, believe me, as it’s very rare.”

Victor’s father, Felix, was a triple jumper, but did not compete at the Olympics. Victor’s mother, Elodie de Fautereau, played pro basketball and also coached.

It was hard to ignore basketball growing up: sister Eve — who is 20 — is a pro with Monaco in the second-tier LF2 league.

Younger brother Oscar is 15, won a national junior title with Nanterre and, just like his brother, then moved to l’ASVEL — which is owned by Parker.

Wembanyama is considered a near-certainty to be the first top-five NBA Draft pick from France.

The most notable French NBA player was soon-to-be Hall of Famer Tony Parker, who was drafted in 2001, one year after not being on the French team at the 2000 Olympics that lost in the final 85-75 to the U.S. Parker was 18 at the time of the Sydney Games.

The most notable French Olympic basketball player was, like Wembanyama, a 7-footer. That’s Frederic Weis, arguably the most well known French Olympian across all sports to Americans after he was posterized by Vince Carter in group play at the Sydney Games.

Like Wembanyama will be, Weis was drafted in the first round the year before the Olympics. He was taken 15th overall by the New York Knicks in 1999, but never played an NBA regular season game, choosing to stay in France.

Come the Paris Games, Wembanyama will be 20 1/2 years old — one year older than soccer star Kylian Mbappé was when he starred for France in its 2018 World Cup win. Both prodigies grew up in the suburbs of Paris, where Wembanyama could take the baton from judo great Teddy Riner as France’s new Olympic star in 2024.

The hype surrounding Wembanyama is growing. National news channel France 2 aired a report on him after his jaw-dropping performances outside Vegas.

“It’s normal, no problem. At PSG people always talk about Mbappe,” Collet said. “We all enjoyed that time in Las Vegas, which would never have happened if Victor wasn’t in the team. He’s a good teammate, and you can’t look for problems that aren’t there.”

Metropolitans president Alain Weisz, the head coach when Parker made his senior French national team debut two months after the Sydney Games, said tickets for last Friday’s game sold out in two hours. The game at Le Mans the previous Saturday — Wembanyama’s first after his Las Vegas bonanza — saw that modest club sell all 6,000 tickets for the first time.

“What the lad’s doing is unheard of,” Weisz told France Info radio. “It’s not just young people here or rappers who identity with Victor. Even Lionel Jospin called me for a ticket. What happened in the United States created an interest level what was unimaginable.”

The club has already sold twice as many jerseys as last season in one month of competition — 85% with Wembanyama’s name. An average of six scouts come to each game and one from the Sacramento Kings even spent two days watching him train before attending the Le Mans game.

“Victor’s determination is extraordinary,” Weisz said. “He reminds me a lot of Tony Parker.”

Wemby, as he is already affectionately called, was lethal in Las Vegas. He finished two exhibition games with 73 points, nine 3-pointers, 15 rebounds and nine blocked shots and an army of fans dreaming of what he might do in the NBA.

After the Vegas showcase, Wembanyama was named to the French roster for 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers taking place next month. They would mark his senior national team debut.

“We’ll try to help him as much as possible to stay focused because there’s a lot at stake. We need to help him in the best way possible,” Collet said. “He will have to get used to (the hype) because it’s not going to get any less.”

Wembanyama could be just what France’s national team needs to overtake the U.S. men’s basketball team, which won the last four Olympic titles. If the U.S. has any weakness, it is height. Anthony Davis, who skipped the Tokyo Olympics, is the lone U.S. center to make an All-NBA team in the last five seasons.

A wild card is Philadelphia 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid, who is Cameroonian. In the spring, French media reported that Embiid started the process to become eligible to represent France in international basketball, quoting national team general manager Boris Diaw.

Then Embiid said last month that he gained U.S. citizenship.

Embiid, who has never played in a major international tournament, could choose to represent Cameroon in Olympic qualifying. Cameroon has never qualified for an Olympic basketball tournament. Or he could look to the U.S. or France, his decision having a significant impact on the 2024 Olympic men’s tournament.

In announcing his U.S. citizenship last month, Embiid said it was way too early to think about his international status.

France’s national team is already led by yet another 7-footer, three-time NBA All-Star Rudy Gobert. Adding Embiid and Wembanyama could give Les Bleus a triple tower frontcourt.

France’s Olympic team last year had five NBA players to the U.S.’ 12: Nicolas BatumEvan FournierTimothe Luwawu-CabarrotFrank Ntilikina and Gobert.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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IOC recommends how Russia, Belarus athletes can return as neutrals

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The IOC updated its recommendations to international sports federations regarding Russian and Belarusian athletes, advising that they can return to competitions outside of the Olympics as neutral athletes in individual events and only if they do not actively support the war in Ukraine. Now, it’s up to those federations to decide if and how they will reinstate the athletes as 2024 Olympic qualifying heats up.

The IOC has not made a decision on the participation of Russian or Belarusian athletes for the Paris Games and will do so “at the appropriate time,” IOC President Thomas Bach said Tuesday.

Most international sports federations for Olympic sports banned Russian and Belarusian athletes last year following IOC recommendations to do so after the invasion of Ukraine.

Bach was asked Tuesday what has changed in the last 13 months that led to the IOC updating its recommendations.

He reiterated previous comments that, after the invasion and before the initial February 2022 recommendations, some governments refused to issue visas for Russians and Belarusians to compete, and other governments threatened withdrawing funding from athletes who competed against Russians and Belarusians. He also said the safety of Russians and Belarusians at competitions was at risk at the time.

Bach said that Russians and Belarusians have been competing in sports including tennis, the NHL and soccer (while not representing their countries) and that “it’s already working.”

“The question, which has been discussed in many of these consultations, is why should what is possible in all these sports not be possible in swimming, table tennis, wrestling or any other sport?” Bach said.

Bach then read a section of remarks that a United Nations cultural rights appointee made last week.

“We have to start from agreeing that these states [Russia and Belarus] are going to be excluded,” Bach read, in part. “The issue is what happens with individuals. … The blanket prohibition of Russian and Belarusian athletes and artists cannot continue. It is a flagrant violation of human rights. The idea is not that we are going to recognize human rights to people who are like us and with whom we agree on their actions and on their behavior. The idea is that anyone has the right not to be discriminated on the basis of their passport.”

The IOC’s Tuesday recommendations included not allowing “teams of athletes” from Russia and Belarus to return.

If Russia continues to be excluded from team sports and team events, it could further impact 2024 Olympic qualification.

The international basketball federation (FIBA) recently set an April 28 deadline to decide whether to allow Russia to compete in an Olympic men’s qualifying tournament. For women’s basketball, the draw for a European Olympic qualifying tournament has already been made without Russia.

In gymnastics, the ban has already extended long enough that, under current rules, Russian gymnasts cannot qualify for men’s and women’s team events at the Paris Games, but can still qualify for individual events if the ban is lifted.

Gymnasts from Russia swept the men’s and women’s team titles in Tokyo, where Russians in all sports competed for the Russian Olympic Committee rather than for Russia due to punishment for the nation’s doping violations. There were no Russian flags or anthems, conditions that the IOC also recommends for any return from the current ban for the war in Ukraine.

Seb Coe, the president of World Athletics, said last week that Russian and Belarusian athletes remain banned from track and field for the “foreseeable future.”

World Aquatics, the international governing body for swimming, diving and water polo, said after the IOC’s updated recommendations that it will continue to “consider developments impacting the situation” of Russian and Belarusian athletes and that “further updates will be provided when appropriate.”

The IOC’s sanctions against Russia and Belarus and their governments remain in place, including disallowing international competitions to be held in those countries.

On Monday, Ukraine’s sports minister said in a statement that Ukraine “strongly urges” that Russian and Belarusian athletes remain banned.

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Summer McIntosh breaks 400m freestyle world record, passes Ledecky, Titmus

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Summer McIntosh broke the women’s 400m freestyle world record at Canada’s swimming trials on Tuesday night, becoming at 16 the youngest swimmer to break a world record in an Olympic program event since Katie Ledecky a decade ago.

McIntosh clocked 3 minutes, 56.08 seconds in Toronto. Australian Ariarne Titmus held the previous record of 3:56.40, set last May. Before that, Ledecky held the record since 2014, going as low as 3:56.46.

“Going into tonight, I didn’t think the world record was a possibility, but you never know,” McIntosh, who had quotes from Ledecky on her childhood bedroom wall, said in a pool-deck interview moments after the race.

McIntosh’s previous best time was 3:59.32 from last summer’s Commonwealth Games. She went into Tuesday the fourth-fastest woman in history behind Titmus, Ledecky and Italian Federica Pellegrini.

She is also the third-fastest woman in history in the 400m individual medley and the 11th-fastest in the 200m butterfly, two events she won at last June’s world championships. She is the world junior record holder in those events, too.

MORE: McIntosh chose swimming and became Canada’s big splash

McIntosh, Titmus and Ledecky could go head-to-head-to-head in the 400m free at the world championships in July and at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Titmus is the reigning Olympic champion. Ledecky is the reigning world champion, beating McIntosh by 1.24 seconds last June while Titmus skipped the meet.

The last time the last three world record holders in an Olympic program event met in the final of a major international meet was the 2012 Olympic men’s 100m breaststroke (Brendan Hansen, Kosuke Kitajima, Brenton Rickard).

Ledecky, whose best events are the 800m and 1500m frees, broke her first world record in 2013 at 16 years and 4 months old.

McIntosh is 16 years and 7 months old and trains in Sarasota, Florida, which is 160 miles down Interstate 75 from Ledecky in Gainesville.

McIntosh, whose mom swam at the 1984 Olympics and whose sister competed at last week’s world figure skating championships, is the youngest individual world champion in swimming since 2011.

In 2021, at age 14, she became the youngest swimmer to race an individual Olympic final since 2008, according to Olympedia.org. She was fourth in the 400m free at the Tokyo Games.

NBC Olympic research contributed to this report.

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