As the first few exhibition games have shown, the United States Mens Basketball team have their work cut out for them at the 2024 Olympics. The match-ups against South Sudan and Germany have been way too close for comfort — a testament to the rising competition around the globe. If Team USAB needed any motivation to power through the Paris Games, they don’t need to look beyond Kobe Bryant who led the 2008 Olympic Team to a redemptive gold medal victory in Beijing.
As famously told through Netflix’s The Redeem Team, no player embodied the spirit of competition more than Kobe Bryant did. The lone wolf was responsible for bringing together the mega-talented squad into a cohesive unit, redeeming the United States after previous failed attempts to capture the gold in global tournaments.
With all eyes on men’s basketball in Paris, Nike has chosen to re-release the Kobe 4 “Gold Medal” at the right time; originally releasing in the summer of 2009 in commemoration of Kobe Bryant’s first-ever Olympic Gold Medal, this Kobe 4 colorway was the perfect representation of the home country and the highest honor in the Olympic Games. A matte gold finish covered the toe and heel, while patriotic navy and red found its way on the upper Swoosh, tongue, Flywire cables, and other surrounding details.