Ifunanya Okoro has been with the Nigerian national team since she was 16. She came up through the system, played 3×3 basketball, moved to Kenya and now, at age 25, she’s one of the top Nigerian women’s players. Last year, she moved to Europe—to Iceland—where she averaged 17.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. She talked to us about her career so far, her improvements and her team’s chances at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
How did you get into basketball? And when did you start?
I got into basketball in 2014. I started when one of my friends invited me to a basketball camp. So I just casually went there to watch the game, and then when I got there I was like, “Ohh, women play basketball too!” So that was how I got interested. Then I registered with the Hope for Girls Academy.
You are one of over 16 million people who live in the Lagos metro area. What’s the basketball culture like there?
I would say in the whole of Nigeria, Lagos and Abuja have the most top-level athletes. Everyone wants to come to Lagos to play basketball because that’s where most of the things are happening, where the competitions are happening, the camps. We have… I think five or six female teams from Lagos.
