Paris 2024: Rena Wakama wins best coach award in women’s basketball at Olympics
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
The head coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, Rena Wakama, has been named the best coach at the end of the Paris 2024 Olympics in France.
Despite not getting a podium finish, her remarkable achievement of leading Nigeria to the quarter-final of the Olympics with victories over the top 10 ranked teams got the attention of the technical study group.
The feat ensured that Nigeria broke the continent record as the first basketball team (men or women) to reach the quarter-final at the Olympics.
D’Tigress played four games with two wins and two losses.
They defeated Australia 75-62 and Canada 79-70. Host France, which got a podium finish, beat Nigeria 75-54 while glad medalist, the United States of America (USA), had an 88-74 win over the West African team in the quarter-final.
With lots of negatives for Nigeria for not winning a medal at the Olympics, Wakama and D’Tigress’s feat remained the biggest high points for Team Nigeria.
The first women’s coach to win the Afrobasket title took another challenge and successfully broke another African record at the Olympics, which got the nod of the organizers to earn her the best coach in basketball.
