Monumental Sports and Entertainment, owners of the Washington Mystics and Wizards, had a great start and finish to the Tokyo Olympics.
Wizards forward Rui Hachimura kicked off the Games by carrying the Japanese flag at the opening ceremony, and Mystics center Tina Charles and guard Ariel Atkins wrapped up the women’s basketball competition with a gold medal victory against Japan.
The Wizards and Mystics had six players at the Olympics – Hachimura, Charles, Atkins, Germany’s Isaac Bonga, Belgium’s Emma Meesseman and Australia’s Leilani Mitchell.
“It’s a unique opportunity,” Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard said. “We’re so proud of them. The international aspect of bringing athletes together for a competition and the exchange of cultural information – the entire experience makes them more rounded as individuals but it also gives us a great of pride that we have some fantastic representatives for their respective countries. It’s just such a neat thing for us.”
No other NBA/WNBA ownership group sent more players to Tokyo, and a record-121 NBA and WNBA players participated in men’s and women’s basketball at the Olympics.
