A Waterford High School product and former Badgers basketball player, Rae Lin D’Alie, will represent Italy at the Olympics.
Playing 3 on 3 basketball, she hit a shot at the buzzer in the qualifying final and became an Italian hero.
"World Cup MVP Rae Lin D’Alie. The biggest shot of her career, is going to send Italy, to the Olympic Games!" said an announcer.
"They gave me a chance to be able to play a sport I love, in a country that my dad's side derives from," Rae Lin D’Alie says. "And for me, it's just a dream. So to be able to live that dream out with the Italian people and bring them to the Olympics, which is a dream for them - we're all just kind of in this euphoric state of celebration."
D’Alie played for the Badgers, despite being just 5 feet 3 inches tall. On this day, she shows what drives her is family and faith.
"For me, my number one is Jesus," D’Alie says. "Like, I literally, I love God so much. And I started a journey with him in 2009 and I didn't look back. And when I started that journey, the journey with basketball and the doors that were opened were unconventional, honestly. It wasn't the path to this moment. It wasn't the traditional path. And I'm OK with that. And I think being 5'3", everybody when I was younger, a lot of people said, 'you know maybe you should focus on a different sport because your body structure's not really fit for that.' But for me? It didn't matter!"
D’Alie plans to leave for Italy on July 1, and later around July 16 for the Games.
