A pair of players with University of Hawaii basketball ties are headed to Paris and the 2024 Summer Olympics. Current Rainbow Warrior forward Akira Jacobs was named to Japan’s 12-member national squad, while hours later Latvia’s 3×3 squad was officially announced with former UH forward Zigmars Raimo earning one of four spots.
It’s been more than 50 years since UH has had a basketball Olympian. UH All-American Tom Henderson was a member of the 1972 US squad that dropped a controversial gold-medal game against the Soviet Union.
At 20 years old, Jacobs is the youngest member on Japan’s Olympic squad. Jacobs grew up in California, but was born in Yokohama, Japan and moved back to his birth country in 2020. Since then he has been part of the national team program, including last year when he competed for the Japanese national team at the 2023 FIBA U19 World Cup in Hungary. He helped Japan to its highest-ever finish in the event, while finishing fifth among all players in the tournament with 17.0 points per game.
Japan will open the Olympics in Group B against Germany on July 27 and will also face France (July 30) and Brazil (Aug 2).
In his true freshman season at UH in 2023-24, Jacobs appeared off the bench in 28 games. He scored in 15 of those games, including a stretch of 10 straight. Jacobs shot 40 percent from the field and 35 percent on three-pointers.
Raimo, meanwhile, is one of four players on Latvia’s 3×3 squad. The sport made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with Latvia capturing gold. Raimo helped Latvia punch its ticket to Paris and the right to defend its gold medal by winning the FIBA 3×3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Hong Kong earlier this spring. Latvia will open pool play against Lithuania on July 30.
A native of Madona, Latvia, Raimo was a four-year letterwinner for UH from 2016-20. He appeared in 114 career games, culminating in a senior season in which he was named Big West honorable mention as well as the league’s Hustle Player of the Year.
Former UH guard Junior Madut is currently in training camp with the South Sudan national team and could potentially be the third Rainbow Warrior to compete in this year’s Olympics.
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