Ademola Okulaja

Ademola Okulaja (born 10 July 1975 Lagos, Nigeria ) is a former German professional basketball player.

Life and career

Okulaja pulled the age of three to West Berlin. In his youth he played at the Berlin Sports Club rugby and a lot of street ball. His basketball career began in 1989 at the age of 14 years at the DTV Charlottenburg. The following year, he joined the talent of TuS Lichterfelde Berlin. In 1994 he moved to ALBA Berlin and could it get a place in the Bundesliga side to have 1995 as the first and to date the only German team to win the Korac Cup year.

The 2.06 meters tall and 107 kilograms Ademola Okulaja playing on the small forward / power forward position. His nickname is " The Warrior " because of his fighting spirit. In 1995 he was appointed to the European Championships in Greece in the German national basketball team. His first international game he played on 19 May 1995 against the Netherlands and made two points.

Okulaja attended the John F. Kennedy High in Berlin and made 1994 the High School Diploma and one year later High School. In autumn 1995, then Okulaja moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a member of the college basketball teams for which he played a total of 139 games. He was elected to the most important players of the team and to the First Team of the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference ).

1999 ended Okulaja studying in International Studies ( with a focus on economics, politics and law) with a degree.

As no offer from the NBA came, he changed for the 1999/2000 season again to ALBA Berlin and was awarded the German team champion. For the following season, he moved to the 76ers NBA team Philadelphia. But he got no playing time and then moved even during the season to the Spanish CB Girona, where he become a star and performer. He was elected Rookie of the Year in Spain and landed in choosing the most important player (MVP) in second place.

His second attempt to play in an NBA team, this time with the San Antonio Spurs, failed. He played the following season for Spain's top club FC Barcelona and was the MVP of the team.

At the European Championships 2001 in Turkey, he was with the German team finished fourth. At the World Championship in Indianapolis in the following year, he even won the bronze medal with the team.

The 2002/03 season he played again in Spain, this time with Unicaja Málaga. The team reached the semifinals of the Spanish play-offs. In 2003, when his last attempt at Utah Jazz failed to come to the NBA, he gave up his dream of the NBA.

2003/ 04 he was back at CB Girona under contract. When the team missed a place in the play-offs, he played the rest of the season with the top Italian team Benetton Treviso.

Also for season 2004 /05 he joined the team again, this time to Pamesa Valencia. Since he incurred a knee injury, he had to cancel in Serbia and Montenegro, a large part of the season and the 2005 European Championships. In early 2006, he moved to Rhein Energie Cologne, where his medical treatment was continued successfully. The end of the 2005/06 season he was with the Russian first division club BK Khimki in the Moscow region under contract. There, he played most of the season 2006/07.

In the Basketball World Championship 2006 in Japan, he was next to Dirk Nowitzki of the most important players of the German team.

After his separation from BK Khimki beginning of the year, he completed only in mid- April at the Spanish side Alicante Etosa a contract until 2008 from. Ademola remained in the remaining five games of the season 2006/ 07 with Alicante despite a cut of 8.2 points and 4.4 rebounds without a win. His team still crashed in the table starting on the 17th place and were relegated to the second division.

For the 2007 /08 season was Okulaja for two years at the Brose Baskets in Bamberg under contract.

Since the summer of 2008, Okulaja is on sick leave, because after a vertebral fracture, a tumor was diagnosed. After surgery, a still ongoing chemotherapy treatment concurred.

In the spring of 2009, he then reported in the second play-off final against fourth MEG Göttingen that he had beaten the cancer and would soon begin training again.

June 30, 2009 Okulaja announced on his website that he was dismissed from his club Brose Baskets. Just over a year later, on July 10, 2010, declared Okulaja his career as a player ended.

Since October 28, 2010 Ademola Okulaja has worked for the TV station Sport 1. He acts as an expert and co - commentator for live broadcasts on TV and has its own column on the homepage of the transmitter.

Achievements

Awards

• Participation in European championships: 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007
• Participation in world championships: 2002, 2006