When the United States announced the 12 names of its Dream Team to seek the basketball gold medal at the
Paris Olympic Games
, Joel
Embiid
stood out above the rest in France, where they talk about his rudeness and point it out as a betrayal after he obtained French nationality in 2022.
In October 2021, the Cameroonian pivot of the
Philadelphia 76ers
had asked the country's president,
Emmanuel Macron
, for citizenship to play for the French national team in an emotional letter, a document that was made public by the
RMC media in the last few hours.
Sport
.
"I know your sincere interest in basketball and its development and, in general, in the sport that honors France. After conversations with the French Basketball Federation, I have already made my decision. I would like to carry out the procedures to obtain French nationality and so I can be selected by the Blues.
I don't want to play for any other national team
," the basketball player had sworn.
However, since he also has American nationality, he did not hesitate when he received the invitation along with enormous stars such as
LeBron James
,
Stephen Curry
and
Kevin Durant
to join the Dream Team at the Paris Games, from July 26 to August 11. .
In that letter to Macron, Embiid said that "it would be an immense honor" to join the French team "to participate in the next major international competitions, first of all the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games." Directly, the Sixers player asked the French president for "his support to support these initiatives, support without which they will not be successful."
"I beg you, Mr. President, to accept the testimony of my highest consideration
," he demanded.
The basketball player born 30 years ago in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, spoke to him about his origins, his memories in the country, his vacations there and the family members he still has. He
even
told her of his desire to acquire a second permanent residence in Paris
, something that he can hardly execute now, after this rudeness.
The paperwork did not take long and he obtained French nationality in 2022.
But two months later the United States also made him a citizen
.
"Choosing the United States team instead of France makes sense
," French basketball player
Stephen Brun
reacted Thursday on RMC's Super Moscato Show. "You're going to play with the best team in history after the 1992 Dream Team. He has a much better chance of being an Olympic champion than with France. It is the country in which he has lived since he was 16, 17 years old... But now he will have to assume that there has been no apology letter.
"Embiid lied to a country
," he accused him.
Surely, in a few months when he disembarks in France to play with the Dream Team they will remind him of it.