Even for a basketball legend like Dearica Hamby (’15), winning an Olympic medal turned out to be magical.

Hamby long ago proved herself a superstar, finishing her time playing women’s basketball at Wake Forest as the program’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. She was the Demon Deacons’ first women’s basketball player ever drafted to the WNBA, helping to win the 2022 WNBA championship for Las Vegas before being traded to the Los Angeles Sparks last year. There, she’s having her best season yet and was recently named to her third WNBA All-Star team.

Taking on Duke back in 2013. Photos courtesy of Wake Forest and Dearica Hamby (’15)

Then came Hamby’s Olympic debut this summer in the Paris Summer Games as a last-minute addition to the U.S. women’s 3×3 basketball team. She replaced Sparks teammate Cameron Brink on June 24 as one of the national team’s four members after Brink suffered a knee injury.

Hamby already had 3×3 bona fides: In 2023, she played for the U.S. team that took gold in the FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup and was named tournament MVP. The pressure was on, following that win and the U.S. team’s taking gold in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

But with only one week for the team to practice together in a sport that relies on quick decision making and fast shots, along with a loss in overtime to Spain in the semi-finals with controversial officiating, Hamby gratefully celebrated the U.S. team’s third-place win. Wake Forest Athletics says she is the first Wake Forest woman to win an Olympic medal.

“We will call it Rose Gold. THANK YOU Paris.” she posted to 160,000 Instagram followers before resuming the WNBA season.

Managing Editor Kelly Greene (’91) of Wake Forest Magazine caught up with Hamby recently to hear more about her Olympic experience. Here are excerpts from their conversation, edited for length and clarity.

Kelly Greene: Congratulations on your Olympic victory! You have had so many big wins — how did this one feel in comparison?

DH: You don’t want to ever say you expect to win gold, but the standard for USA basketball was gold. Going into it, that was the reality for me. But it is just not the same when it comes to 3×3. If you’ve watched the sport, it’s a little bit different than 5×5. And you can see, as our record showed in the beginning, it is an adjustment that takes a lot of chemistry that we just didn’t have the time to put together. A lot of those teams have been training for the Olympics for four years, so they are all very familiar with each other and know the style of play, the nuances.

So to be down the first three games in such an exhausting sport and fight the adversity that we did, this win is pretty much up there as one of my top basketball accomplishments. 

It’s one of the things in hindsight where I’m going to be like, “Oh wow, I really was an Olympian and a medalist.” I was looking at some pictures yesterday from the ceremony, and it’s just kind of cool to reflect back on it. But in the moment I don’t think you truly realize what an accomplishment it is.

KG: Playing such a fast game outside under the beating sun looked incredibly tough. Had you gone up against many of your opponents before?

DH: What makes it 3×3, what makes it fun, is the environment. The venue is always really high energy and just kind of family friendly outdoors. So yeah, I was new to the sport, but I did get to play the previous November in Puerto Rico outside, so it was kind of the same field. But at one point in Paris it was 104 degrees (Fahrenheit) underneath that tent.

It’s a very instinctual game, reactionary and impulsive, so to say. And I think that’s why my game kind of translates easier, just being able to be so versatile and being able to guard pretty much any position on defense allowed me to do well.

I got to play the Canadians a few times, but all those other teams, no. But yes, there is a community for it. Cierra Burdick, one of my teammates, is the grandmother of 3×3. She’s friends with all of those girls and she knows everyone really well. So it is like its own little community.

KG: Did you stay in the Olympic Village, and if so, did the chocolate muffins that went viral on the internet live up to the hype?

DH: Since everyone’s pretty much high profile in USA basketball, we stay in a separate location, so we got to have our families there with us. I kept my room with my kids — my daughter, Amaya, is 7 and my son, Legend, is one-and-a-half — and my mom. I didn’t know about the chocolate muffins, but we had a personal chef, and I was definitely a fan of the Nutella croissants. I lived in Italy for three years, and it was so nice to come back for a nice croissant that I got to smear Nutella on. Me and Amaya were back in Italy, basically. … I’m supposed to eat more, but you know how it is when you get busy with kids.

KG: Tell us more about your Olympics experience. What was it like on the boat to the opening ceremony? And did you keep your Ralph Lauren gear?

DH: The way our schedule was set up, you have shoot arounds in the morning and we played at 9 at night, or 6 or 7 p.m., so you don’t want to be walking around. But my mom took my kids to do different fun things, and my daughter got to go to Disney.

The boat ride was cool except for the rain. I saw that picture of LeBron (James) at the front of the boat that everyone’s talking about. It looks like history. You could see me in the back with my head down, trying to wipe my makeup off. I still have the Ralph Lauren jacket — my mom’s not going to let me get rid of that. She keeps all of my trophies and medals. She’ll hold onto it, and I’ll appreciate it later on in life.

KG: Did you find any Wake Forest connections at the Olympics, or in Paris in general?

DH: Matt James (’14), who played football when I was there but wasn’t that good — I’m joking! I can say that because he’s my friend — was in Paris. He got to come to a game, and we got to do some things together. We’ve been friends since pretty much my sophomore year of college, and sometimes he shows up randomly where I’m traveling.

(James included “watching friends win Bronze in women’s 3×3” as one of his “top five Olympic moments from Paris” in an Instagram post.)

KG: What sticks with you from Wake Forest?

DH: I would say just the community. I always remember just how small it was. I really like the access of the school and being able to wake up, and I could literally brush my teeth and walk to class in five minutes and not be late.

In basketball, I’ll always remember Senior Night. Pretty much everybody from my entire family came. And it was also the night that I broke the scoring record. Me and my mom were super close, and she does a good job of keeping my family very involved in my basketball world. So I really appreciate that special moment. 

KG: You’re a three-time WNBA All-Star and you’ve won an Olympic medal. What’s next?

DH: Maybe not this year, but next year hopefully get our team to the playoffs. We’ve got a lot of young girls, so I’ll keep being a leader. Hopefully we win a championship within the next four or five years.

KG: Congratulations again on your Olympic victory. Your fellow alumni are very proud that you’re a Demon Deacon. And best wishes for the rest of your season.