Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin
modified to
9:50 p.m., February 13, 2023
It was on February 3, during a match against the Italian team of Virtus Bologna, that the Villeurbannais Nando De Colo crossed the bar of 4,905 points scored in the European basketball cups. A masterful performance which allows him to dethrone the Greek Nick Galis and of which he said he was “proud” in the show Europe 1 Sport (every evening from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.). “It’s a pride to arrive at this stage of my career and to be able to be number 1 in this ranking, it shows a lot of things,” said the French sportsman.
A record all the more symbolic that he established it in front of those around him: “It was an incredible moment in front of my wife and our daughters and now we have to continue”.
Clumsy reaction from the Minister of Sports
This unprecedented record in French basketball was hailed in a tweet a few days later by Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.
.@KingJames becomes the best scorer in the history of the #NBA overtaking @kaj33 who had held this record since 1984.
Congratulations to this (very) great champion and congratulations also to our basketball player @NandoDeColo who became the top scorer in the history of European Cups https://t.co/FguigMhXAb— Amelie Oudea-Castera (@AOC1978) February 8, 2023
But this record came almost at the same time (a few days apart) as that of the American LeBron James in the NBA. And chance of the calendar, or not, the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra congratulated the French player but… after having praised the performance of the player of the Los Angeles Lakers. A timing and a temporal choice that questions Nando De Colo: “The way things were done was not the best”. “Forgetting to congratulate me is one thing, I think I could have accepted it. But congratulating me in this way is just saying to yourself: ‘We forgot something and we are trying to take it to another record. So here it is, it bothered me a little”, he cursed in Europe 1 Sport.
With all due respect Madam Minister, it is a pity to wait for a foreign record to congratulate one’s own athletes. But thanks anyway. https://t.co/YyR3bp8FHx
— Nando De Colo (@NandoDeColo) February 8, 2023
Lack of interest in French athletes
The French basketball player thus regrets the lack of interest given to French athletes. “As a Frenchman, I try to do my best to represent my sport, to represent France and I think it could have been done in another way but that’s all, it stops there”, s is saddened Nando De Colo.
Beyond this specific case, the Asvel player denounces “a lack of recognition compared to several sports in France”. “We have football which is far ahead and so much the better for them. Afterwards, it is difficult to communicate about other sports in general”, noted the French sportsman. An observation that he hopes to see change, in particular thanks to the emergence of the prodigy Victor Wembanyama: “If thanks to him, basketball can be more exposed, so much the better”. Just over a year from Paris 2024 Olympic Games, French basketball needs the support of the authorities more than ever.