This interview aired on the August 12, 2024 episode of Crosscurrents
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The 2024 Olympics are over, and people around the world are taking stock, celebrating wins and counting their countries’ medals. For people from South Sudan, their basketball team’s success was a surprise highlight of the games this year.
South Sudan is a new country, having gained independence from Sudan in 2011. It is recovering from decades of conflict, and still suffers from a lack of infrastructure and resources. The South Sudanese Basketball Federation is headed by former NBA star Luol Deng and many of the team's players are refugees or diaspora members.
The world watched in surprise the rise of this underdog basketball team. Nyanwaat Julia Baipath is a San Jose entrepreneur, from South Sudan. Her community in the Bay Area is small, she estimates at about 50 people. She says, they’ve always known how talented their players were. Nyanwaat Julia came to the US when she was 16, and married a former basketball player-turned engineer. She is about to bring a new child into the world, so I wanted to know what this moment of Olympic fame meant for her.
Note: Since this conversation was conducted, Team South Sudan made history with a first-ever Olympic win against Puerto Rico, but was then defeated by the USA and Serbia, eliminating the team from the 2024 games
