In the men's basketball final, French fans scolded an American player
2024-08-11
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On August 10, local time, in the men's basketball final of the Paris Olympics, the United States defeated France 98-87 to win the gold medal. But in this game, Cameroon-born basketball player Joel Embiid was booed by many French spectators, and many French people angrily denounced him as a "traitor."
Embiid (left) plays against Serbia at the Paris Olympics
On March 16, 1994, Joel Embiid was born in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. Under the careful training of his father Thomas Embiid, a colonel in the Cameroonian Army, Embiid planned to study basketball abroad since he was a teenager.In 2011, Embiid came to the American International School and started his career as a basketball player. In 2014, he was selected to play for the famous strong team "Philadelphia 76ers" in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Embiid performed outstandingly in the NBA. With a height of 2.13 meters and an arm length of 2.26 meters, he is considered one of the strongest inside players in the NBA.According to USA Today on the 9th, in addition to playing in the NBA, Embiid has always had the opportunity to participate in international events such as the Olympics. According to Boris Diaw, who served as general manager of the French national basketball team after retiring from the NBA, Embiid said in a conversation in 2021 that if the French team was willing to give him the opportunity to play in the Olympics, he would become a French citizen and represent the French national team in international competitions.Since losing to the United States in the 2020 Olympic final, France has recruited many well-known NBA athletes in an attempt to build a top team that can defeat the United States in the Olympics. After many negotiations, in July 2022, Embiid announced that he had obtained French citizenship while retaining his original Cameroonian citizenship. At that time, many media said that if Embiid played for France, "the United States team would face the strongest opponent in history."However, when Embiid finally chose to join the US national team to compete in the Olympics, the French, who had worked so hard to help Embiid obtain naturalization, felt that they were "backstabbed" in their own home court. During the Paris Olympics, all the games Embiid played were booed by the French fans on the scene, and Embiid was extremely tough to the French who accused him, and even publicly angrily said, "Let these people die."When reporting Embiid's predicament, the New York Times joked in its news headline on the 9th: "This Olympic basketball final was between Embiid and French fans."The report mentioned that the main reason Embiid did not play for France was the tension between France and Cameroon. Historically, France had implemented brutal colonial rule over most of Cameroon, and in recent years, Cameroon has also clashed with France over political and economic disputes. Embiid said that he would choose to stand on the side of his motherland Cameroon without hesitation.Embiid also mentioned that although he enjoyed the Olympic experience, he would rather represent the Cameroon team: "The next Olympics will be in Los Angeles. Maybe then I will not play for the US team, but for the Cameroon team."Source: Global Times New Media
