Americans abroad help countries grow women's basketball for Olympic opportunity

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — Germany has lots of players who can score. The Germans knew they needed a point guard for the Paris Games with the country making its Olympic debut in women's basketball.

Alexis Peterson, a native of Columbus, Ohio, has proven to be a perfect fit.

The guard who played at Syracuse in college has helped Germany qualify for Wednesday's quarterfinals in Paris, and German coach Lisa Thomaidis said Peterson has been everything they wanted.

“Ball control, that's always been the issue for us,” Thomaidis said. “We've had to kind of do it by committee. We've never really had a true point guard. We've been able to, you know, do it OK. But to get to that next level? We knew that she was someone that would be a huge help.”

Peterson's not the only American abroad in these Olympics playing for other countries. The reason? The stacked pipeline of U.S. talent is essentially impossible to crack, and a FIBA rule allows countries to tap players with dual citizenships or a player who becomes a naturalized citizen.

For Peterson, it's been a long road.

Now 29, she was drafted 15th overall in 2017 by the WNBA's Seattle Storm. She spent six seasons bouncing around the WNBA from Indiana, Phoenix and the Las Vegas Aces. She's played in Israel, Poland and France.

Then Germany and Thomaidis reached out to Peterson last summer to gauge her interest. She had represented the U.S. in 3x3 basketball, so USA Basketball and the German Basketball Association agreed to a change of Peterson's nationality so she could play for Germany.

“If you recall, like Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon played for Russia," Peterson said of the Aces coach. “So it’s been happening for a while. Players find opportunities elsewhere and make the most of those opportunities. So I’m grateful that I was given this opportunity.”

Peterson has lots of company at these games playing for other countries.

Yvonne Anderson was born in Springdale, Arkansas, and is the daughter of college coach Mike Anderson. The point guard will be playing in her second straight Olympic quarterfinals for Serbia against Australia on Wednesday. She helped Serbia finish fourth three years ago in the Tokyo Games.

Then, Anderson was fitting into a new team, figuring out her role. Time has made a big difference.

“At this point, I have a bond with the team," said Anderson, who has been wearing a mask protecting the nose she broke earlier this year. "This is my family. Like, these are my girls. This is my team.”

Megan Gustafson from Port Wing, Wisconsin, played at Iowa and was the 2019 AP women's player of the year. The 6-foot-4 Gustafson currently is a backup on the WNBA 's Aces and said yes when Spain asked if she'd be interested in playing for their team.

With her scoring and rebounding, Spain was among the first to qualify for the quarterfinals and will play Belgium on Wednesday.

Gabby Williams has dual citizenship. She played at UConn and was a late addition to the 2021 French Olympic team that won bronze in Tokyo, beating Serbia and Anderson.

An Olympics in France?

Even more special because Williams' French mother finally got to watch her daughter play for France in person.

“I think that was really, really hard on my Mum to miss the Olympics (in Tokyo)," Williams said. “And then, of course, when you have games when it doesn’t go well and to not have your family there, that’s always really hard, and then to celebrate without them too is also really difficult.”

There are many others.

Houston native Mya Hollingshed played at Colorado and was the eighth pick overall by Las Vegas in the 2022 WNBA draft. Her grandfather, Terry Sykes, was a 1978 NBA draft pick by Washington. She has been playing for Puerto Rico since the 2022 World Cup.

Nigeria became the first African team, male or female, to reach the Olympic quarterfinals in basketball. The roster features five players born in the U.S. with four others who played at American colleges. Nigeria plays the U.S. on Wednesday.

Peterson spends up to 11 months a year in Europe with Fairfax, Virginia, home when in the U.S. Her European experience and being a pass-first point guard is why Thomaidis saw Peterson as a perfect fit for Germany's roster.

“We knew we had a lot of weapons that we can distribute the ball to, and she’s been just that," Thomaidis said.

Germany wants to make a splash in these games as a big step toward hosting the 2026 World Cup. Olympic success will only give women's basketball a huge boost in Germany, and these Olympians are getting messages of support and know people are paying attention.

“This is huge for German women’s basketball, for little girls in Germany right now watching us here compete here as the underdogs of our group and come out is just so inspiring to them," Peterson said. "And I know it’ll give them something to look forward to as well.”

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games