Wembanyama returns home for Olympics. The basketball star will be one of Paris' biggest attractions

PARIS – Sports often are a secondary attraction in Paris, with athletes having a difficult time standing out in a cultural sphere driven largely by food, fashion and the arts.

Victor Wembanyama may use the Paris Olympics to be the first homegrown sports star to dismantle that dynamic.

The 7-foot-4 French-born phenom made San Antonio Spurs NBA games appointment viewing as a rookie in the league this past season, boosting his already swelling global brand. Now the 20-year-old is returning home for the Paris Games as by far the biggest name in his country’s Olympic delegation.

Wembanyama literally will be a center of attention this month, and not just because of what he can do on the court, but because he’s become a central figure with the charisma to draw in both ardent sports fans and casual French citizens alike.

“I tend to underestimate the fan enthusiasm for me. I don’t pay more attention to it than that,” Wembanyama said recently. “But when I returned to France a few weeks ago for the first time, I felt the enthusiasm of the public that was different from before.”

The arrival of “Wemby” in the NBA, the world’ most premier basketball league, had been anticipated for years as his reputation and skill set stood out while he came up through the ranks of French basketball.

It was not unlike the rise of 25-year-old French soccer star Kylian Mbappé, who at just 18 helped lead France to a World Cup title in 2018 and another World Cup final in 2022 while simultaneously taking his place as one of club soccer’s top players.

But after month’s announcements that Mbappé had officially left local Paris Saint-Germain to join La Liga power Real Madrid, followed by news that he won’t be competing for the host country in the Olympics , it’s put even more focus on Wembanyama, who said he’s always held the Olympic stage in high regard.

“I have been preparing for them since the first time I saw the Olympics on TV,” Wembanyama said. “It was always a dream and then as we grew up it became a goal. It’s definitely something that’s really unique in sport. I think it’s the most important sporting event in the world.”

Wembanyama will miss the much-anticipated Friday's Opening Ceremony because of scheduling concerns with France opening basketball group play the next day in Lille, an hour-plus train ride away.

And rest will be important with Wembanyama being central to France’s hopes of being one of the top contenders to end the United States’ streak of four straight gold medals in basketball.

In an interesting coincidence, that same U.S. team, with a roster of players who he competed against as an NBA rookie, is slated to have a few practices on Wemby’s childhood home court in Levallois-Perret in Paris’ western suburbs.

It’s another small reminder of how far Wemby’s imprint in these Paris Games extends.

Benjamin Moubèche, a correspondent for France-based REVERSE who moved to San Antonio to report on Wembanyama's NBA arrival, said while he is still competing for attention with well-known French athletes like judo star Teddy Riner or emerging talents like Léon Marchand in swimming, “no athlete resonates with all generations quite like Victor Wembanyama.”

“Wemby appeals to both young people, who are increasingly interested in the NBA, and older generations, who are fascinated by his unique physique and excited to see a Frenchman excel in a sport where France has not been historically dominant,” Moubèche said.

But what’s also made Wembanyama’s overall ascension different from other French sports stars has been his simultaneous appreciation for the cultural metropolis he grew up in.

In the aftermath of winning NBA Rookie of the Year honors as a member of the Spurs, one of the first thing items on his agenda was to model for French luxury brand Louis Vuitton while serving as one of its ambassadors during a Vogue show at Paris Fashion Week last month.

“I felt a lot more pressure, but positive pressure, at the time of my first match with Spurs than during the Vogue fashion show on Place Vendome,” he said. “Of course I enjoy participating in extra-sports events like that, but it’s not a euphoric pleasure like basketball. Basketball is really my passion. It’s what I live for.”

Whatever this next month does for his personal status, Wembanyama says success on the court is what continues to drive him.

“I don’t read the news about me, I don’t hang out on social networks,” he said. “The enthusiasm around me is not something that bothers me at all. Just trying to take the positive out of it. It’s something I would like to enjoy after winning titles.”

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