Reuters
Paris 2024 Olympics – Basketball – Women’s Group Phase – Group B – Canada vs France – Lille, Pierre Mauroy Stadium, Villeneve-d’Ascq, France – July 29, 2024. Dominique Malonga of France celebrates the team’s win REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Reuters
Paris 2024 Olympics – Basketball – Women’s Group Phase – Group B – Canada vs France – Lille, Pierre Mauroy Stadium, Villeneve-d’Ascq, France – July 29, 2024. Dominique Malonga of France celebrates the team’s win REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
She can dunk, she can take those jumpers. Dominique Malonga can do it all. The 19-year-old became the youngest WNBA player to be drafted when the Seattle Storm roped her in at 2 in the 2025 draft. She is not new to professional basketball at all. She was balling for Lyon at 15. With the unending Victor Wembanyama comparisons, Malong will arrive on a team with four all-stars and even All-WNBA caliber players in Skylar Diggins, Nneka Ogwumike, Ezi Magbegor, and Gabby Williams.
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There will be a learning curve in a new atmosphere and a new country. “We all know what she can do, but can she evolve? Can she get better? Is she willing to learn? Is she willing to start at zero?” Williams said of her fellow French national team member. It seems she is absorbing everything from the vets so far, and her limitless potential has just crawled the skins of competing franchises. On the court, she is a demon, but such a young professional athlete needs a solid support system in her family.
Where is Dominique Malonga from? What’s her nationality?
Coming from African roots, Malonga was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on November 16, 2005. That’s a hard fact to get used to– 2005! Anyway, Malonga’s parents saw what their daughter could be and moved to France for better basketball opportunities. At just 15, she signed for ASVEL and was later loaned to Tarbes.
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Now a French national, she has taken the global stage by storm, representing France in international competitions. At just 18, she played a pivotal role in France’s silver medal finish at the 2024 Summer Olympics, proving she is not just a rising star but already a standout on the world stage.
What is Dominique Malonga’s ethnicity and religion?
Dominique Malonga is of Cameroonian and Congolese descent. Her mother, Agathe N’Nindjem-Yolemp, is a former professional basketball player from Cameroon, while her father, Thalance Malonga, is a French-Congolese physician who once played for the Republic of Congo’s national basketball team.
She acknowledges all of her roots and is proud of it. “I’m a multicultural person,” Malonga beamed. “I’m here to represent France, Cameroon and Congo—my home countries. I am so happy that my family came to show that.”
Although Dominique has shared extensively about her heritage and basketball roots, she has not publicly disclosed her religious beliefs. Given her diverse background, it would be inapt to speculate on what faith Malonga follows.
Which high school did Dominique Malonga attend?
There is currently no public information detailing the specific high school Dominique Malonga attended. Given that she started her professional basketball journey at such a young age, did she even go to school? She did, however, attend INSEP, a national training center and boarding school in Paris. From there, she went on to join the LDLC ASVEL (Lyon) club, owned by Tony Parker. Here we are now.
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Edited by
Shivatmika Manvi