Bryant, Dominici, Mendy, these sports icons who died in 2020
On the left, Kobe Bryant on June 17, 2008. On the right, Christophe Dominici after the victory of the XV of France against New Zealand at the 2007 World Cup. © ally Skalij / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images - iewig christian / Corbis via Getty Images
Text by: Tom Rossi Follow
7 min
NBA star Kobe Bryant, former French rugby team winger Christophe Dominici, Franco-Senegalese world boxing champion Jean-Baptiste Mendy, Congolese founder of the African Games Jean-Claude Ganga: the world sport lost a lot in 2020.
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The star Kobe Bryant
Before the death of Diego Maradona on November 25
, there was the immense shock of the news of the death of
Kobe Bryant on January 26 at 41
.
The excitement over the Argentinian's disappearance reminded us all of the painful memory of early 2020, when the "
Black Mamba
" died in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles with eight other people, including his daughter Gianna.
A true NBA legend
, considered by some to be the natural successor of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant had won the title five times with the Los Angeles Lakers, the franchise of his life for which he played twenty seasons from 1996 to 2016. The double Olympic gold medalist with “
Team USA
” (2008, 2012), was an incredible scoring machine: at 34, he was the youngest player in NBA history to cross the 30,000 point mark during a career.
For example, he scored
81 in a game against Toronto in January 2006
.
Former Lakers legend Kobe Bryant on February 19, 2012, during an NBA game in Phoenix, Arizona Getty / AFP / Archives
His death aroused great emotion across the planet, testifying to his immense popularity with a whole generation who discovered the prestigious North American Basketball League from the mid-1990s, when it opened to the eyes of the world.
David Stern, the man who revolutionized the NBA
The globalization of the NBA, it is he who is at the origin.
If all over the planet it has been possible to see the exploits of Michael Jordan, then Kobe Bryant and today LeBron James, it is because
David Stern
, who died of a brain hemorrhage on January 1, has made the NBA a global brand when he was its boss from 1984 to 2014.
Before his mandate, the league suffered from a very bad image (problems of racism and drugs) and the audiences were not there.
With Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, he manages to export the
NBA
“
product
” all over the world despite the time difference.
Then, he opened the League more to foreign players in the early 2000s to hatch in particular Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki or Yao Ming.
With him, the NBA also went from 23 to 30 franchises and the incomes of the actors have reached new heights.
The players remembered it when paying tribute to him
.
Former NBA boss David Stern in 1996 with Michael Jordan.
BRIAN BAHR / AFP
Abdoulaye Sèye, a Senegalese boss of world basketball
He knew David Stern very well having served as president of the governing body of international basketball (FIBA) during the American's tenure.
Senegalese Abdoulaye Sèye
, boss of FIBA from 1998 to 2002, died on June 28, at the age of 90.
Before taking the reins of world basketball, the former player had led the Senegalese Federation from 1974 to 1993, before being taken to the head of FIBA Africa.
Today, another African presides over the International Federation,
the Malian Hamane Niang
.
Christophe Dominici, he was the "
French flair
"
The former winger of the XV of France combined audacity, vision, speed and courage on the ground.
A symbol of the famous "
French flair
", an expression that emerges after a twirling action of genius.
Christophe Dominici, committed suicide on November 24, at the age of 48
.
A shock for many rugby lovers, and not only in France.
Because this small winger of 1m72, five times champion of France with the Stade Français, had also won four Six Nations tournaments and participated in a World Cup final in 1999, after having scored an anthology try in the semi-final against New Zealand.
His 25 tries in 67 selections speak volumes.
Only five players have done better than him in Blues.
Dominici was a genius, the epitome of rugby that dazzles you.
Jean-Baptiste Mendy "
the Diamond
" perfectly polished
67 fights for 55 victories including 31 by KO, the lightweight Jean-Baptiste Mendy was a giant of English boxing.
Born in Dakar, this Franco-Senegalese was, at the end of the 1990s, WBA and WBC world champion (two of the four most prestigious international federations).
Nicknamed "
The Diamond
", Jean-Baptiste Mendy was renowned for his elegance in the ring.
He died on August 31 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.
The former world champion from Dakar passed away at the age of 57.
Wikimedia Commons / Sugar-m
Jean-Claude Ganga, father of the African Games
He was the great architect of the creation of the African Games, the first edition of which was held in 1965 in his city, Brazzaville.
Jean-Claude Ganga
, former Minister of Sports of Congo-Brazzaville and president of the African Olympic Committee (ACNOA), died on March 28, 2020, at the age of 86.
Jean-Claude Ganga was also at the forefront in the fight against apartheid.
He greatly contributed to the boycott by many African nations of the 1976 Montreal Games. A continental protest because of the presence during these Olympics of New Zealand which had sent its rugby union team to South Africa for a tour .
The Congolese was, much later, in 1999, excluded from the IOC for accusations of corruption within the framework of the candidacy of Salt Lake City for the attribution of the Winter Games 2002. He always proclaimed his innocence.
They also passed away in 2020
Nicolas Portal
, former French cyclist, who became sports director of Ineos, died of a myocardial infarction on March 3, at the age of 40
Navid Afkari
, 27-year-old Iranian wrestler, executed on September 12.
He had been sentenced to death by the Iranian regime for the murder of an official during "
riots
" in 2018. Navid Afkari and his family have always denied this accusation, claiming that he was forced to confess under torture, and victim of a scenario imagined by the Iranian intelligence services.
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