Last year we pointed to the fact that sports commentators, statisticians and journalists can’t distinguish the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC) from its neighbor the Republic of Congo every time they talk about NBA basketball player Serge Ibaka. He was born in Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo, normally referred to as Congo-Brazzaville, not the DRC or what used to be known as Zaire (until 1997) and now commonly referred to by its initials or as Congo-Kinshasa. The only thing the two countries share is a river: the Congo (yeh, that river which Conrad fictionalized). Earlier this week Deadspin, the American sports blog, pointed out that ESPN lists Ibaka’s birthplace as “Brazzaville, Zaire.” At least they know that Zaire still existed when Ibaka was born in 1989. But again it is the wrong country. Today I noticed they just deleted his country and his birthplace is now only listed as “Brazzaville.” So now he has no country.
NBA player Serge Ibaka has no country
Serge Ibaka is Spanish
Listening to the Spanish commentaries in this video summary (and reading some biographies on the net), you’d be forgiven to believe Brazzaville-born NBA basketball player Serge ‘Air Congo’ Ibaka is from the DRC. But that’s on the other side of the Congo River. He acquired a Spanish passport in July this year, so the Spanish national team welcomed him with open arms. And went on to win the European Championship on Sunday night. Thanks to Ibaka’s blocking five French shots in eight minutes. Nice. A “taponaso,” they call it.
American Sports
By the end of his career, Serge Ibaka, a Congolese basketball national who plays professional basketball for the Oklahoma Thunder in the American NBA League, will probably be best remembered for the antics in the video above. (For those who don’t watch TV this weekend was the NBA’s “All Star Weekend”–basically a big party for sponsors and marketers–and Ibaka competed in the “Slam Dunk Contest.” The eventual winner, Blake Griffin, was even more ridiculous.
