Former WNBA Forward Gabby Williams Plays for France Thanks to Dual Citizenship

After a tight gold medal game with France, the U.S. women's basketball team emerged with the gold at the 2024 Olympics by just a single point. The game led many to pay attention to players on both the U.S. and French teams, and many noted that Gabby Williams , who used to play in the WNBA, was on the French team.

Many wanted to better understand why Gabby was playing for the French team instead of for the U.S. Here's what we know about why one of France's best players was on the team to begin with.

Why does Gabby Williams play for France?

Gabby may be familiar to U.S. basketball fans because she was part of a national championship team at UConn and was then drafted into the WNBA by the Chicago Sky in 2018. She started playing internationally full time in 2022, but she is originally from the U.S. Given that she was born in the U.S., many wanted to understand why she was on the French team and not on Team U.S.A.

Gabby is eligible to play for France because her mother, Therese, is from the host country. Gabby has dual citizenship, meaning that she is both a U.S. and French citizen, and could choose to compete for either country. While she has been one of the best players on the French team this Olympics, it's unclear whether she would have made the U.S. roster, which may have explained her decision. It's also possible that she's loyal to her mother's home country.

Gabby also competed for France during the 2021 Olympics, and during those games, France earned bronze. She also told ESPN at the time that she was fluent in French, which would undoubtedly be essential if she were competing on a team composed primarily of native French athletes. Gabby currently plays for Fenerbahce in Istanbul, and was college teammates with Napheesa Collier, who made the American team.

Gabby Williams emerged as one of the big stars of the game.

Although France narrowly lost to the U.S., Gabby nonetheless emerged as one of the game's biggest stars. She had 19 points and 7 rebounds in the loss, and there's plenty of conversation about teams trying to recruit her back to the WNBA following the performance. At just 5 feet, 11 inches, she has proven that her outside shooting makes her an asset, at least for the French team.

It's unclear whether Gabby would be interested in returning to the WNBA, but given how much trouble she and her French compatriots gave the U.S., it seems like there will be plenty of interest in her return.

In fact, Gabby almost took the game to overtime with a last-second shot, but her foot was on the three-point line, making her last-second shot a two instead of a three.

Whatever comes next for Gabby, she certainly earned plenty of attention with her performance. France may not have come away with the win, but they got about as close as they could.