D’Tigress head coach Rene Wakama has been named the FIBA Best Women’s Basketball Coach of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after leading Nigeria to a historic quarter-final finish in the tournament.
The 32-year-old and her team made global headlines during the Paris Games after Nigeria became the first African nation to reach the last eight of basketball events — either men or women in the history of the Olympics.
On her way to the impressive run in Paris, Wakama, who took over the team last in 2023, stunned third-ranked Australia in their opening game of the group stage but lost to France in the second game.
However, Nigeria pulled off an incredible win against another top-ranked team Canada, which secured the West African nation’s historic qualification to the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Nigeria were unable to go past the last eight after they were beaten by the United States but managed to show strength against the best-ranked team in the world in the game which ended 88-74 points.
Wakama’s remarkable transformation of the team has earned her the Best Coach of Paris Games in Women’s Basketball over Cheryl Reeve, the head coach of the eventual gold medal winners U.S. and Jean-Aimé Toupane, who is the head coach of silver medalists France.
She became the first female head coach of D’Tigress when she was appointed in 2023 and led the team to their fourth consecutive FIBA Afrobasket Women’s Championship in the same year.
