On July 26, the two-time NBA MVP will fly the flag in Paris with race walker Antigoni Ntrismpioti.
The Greek men’s basketball team qualified for their first Olympic Games since 2008, after beating Croatia in front of a home crowd in Piraeus on Sunday.
After the game, the 29-year-old, who helped the Milwaukee Bucks win the NBA title in 2021 after being selected in the 2013 draft, broke down in tears.
“It’s an amazing sensation,” he remarked following qualification. “Since I was a kid I always wanted to play in the Olympic Games.”
It hasn’t been an easy road for him to become Greece’s Olympic flagbearer.
The parents of Antetokounmpo left Nigeria and immigrated to Greece. With no documents from Nigeria or Greece, Antetokounmpo was essentially stateless for the first eighteen years of his life and was unable to leave Greece. Less than two months before the NBA draft, in May 2013, he was finally granted Greek citizenship.
In a recent interview, Antetokounmpo talked about his early years with news.
“Ever since I can remember, which was when I was six or seven years old, I have sold items.
