Nigeria Basketball's First Olympic Win In 20 Years Led to Best Photos of Paris Games

The Nigeria womne's basketball team hadn't won an Olympics game since 2004 until Monday's huge upset of Australia.
The Nigeria women's basketball team celebrates on the court at Pierre Mauroy Stadium after its 75-62 win over Australia at the Olympics in Paris on Monday, July 29, 2024.
The Nigeria women's basketball team celebrates on the court at Pierre Mauroy Stadium after its 75-62 win over Australia at the Olympics in Paris on Monday, July 29, 2024. / Screengrab Twitter @DtigressNG

The Olympics never fails to disappoint.

The Nigeria women's basketball team pulled off a stunner in Paris, upsetting Australia 75-62 in a Group B contest on Monday at Pierre Mauroy Stadium. The victory was not only a massive upset of an Australian women's national team ranked No. 3 in the world heading into the Paris Games, but also a historic win.

Monday's win was the first in 20 years for Nigeria's women's basketball team—and the monumental moment produced some truly iconic photos.

Here are two of the very best pictures, courtesy of the team's and FIBA's official accounts on X, formerly Twitter.

With 3:54 left in the fourth quarter and the Australians making a push, Nigeria women's basketball captain Amy Okonkwo rose to the occasion, sinking a three-pointer to extend the D'Tigress lead to seven points. A FIBA photographer then had the perfect shot of the cold-blooded look on Okonkwo's face after she hit the massive shot.

Then, the Nigeria women's basketball team's celebration after the buzzer produced perhaps an even better photo, complete with the perfect caption from the team's account.

Incredible.

The D'Tigress will look to keep defying the odds when they take on France on August 1.


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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.