(Ike) Diogu came to the Olympics looking for a single person: that one NBA general manager who will give him another chance, a real chance, to play at the highest level. He never thought he’d inspire a country.
The son of Nigerian schoolteachers, Diogu led the D’Tigers to stunning upsets of Greece and Lithuania at a qualifying tournament in Venezuela. For an encore, his 25-point, 10-rebound performance against the Dominican Republic clinched Nigeria’s first-ever Olympic berth in basketball.
Once here, it didn’t take long for Diogu’s crew to score a first Olympic victory, beating Tunisia in its London debut. Do you believe in miracles?
“When we first got together, we talked about making history,” Diogu said. “My brother lives in Nigeria, and he said the place is just going crazy. With all the turmoil going on over there, this gives the country something to rally around. Our soccer team didn’t make it, so we’re the team everyone is riding on.”
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