Samantha Whitcomb

An unexpected opportunity to come to Australia when her European basketball team went broke set Samantha ‘Sami’ Whitcomb on the path to the Olympics.

Something of a basketball globetrotter, Sami was born in Ventura, California and played college basketball for the University of Washington before packing her bags to play in various leagues in Europe.

When her German team went bankrupt in 2013, Sami was at a loose end and got an offer to fly to Western Australia to play for Rockingham Flames in the State Basketball League. That season, she was crowned the league’s MVP and earned All-Star Five honours, averaging 22.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.8 steals.

Since then, Sami has maintained a relationship with the Flames as her career has blossomed. She has played in the WNBL with the Perth Lynx and the Townsville Fire, won two WNBA titles with the Seattle Storm as well as playing for the New York Liberty.

She has also married her long-time partner, West Australian former basketball player Kate Malpass, and become a mum.

Sami became an Australian citizen in 2018 and debuted for the Opals at that year’s FIBA World Cup in Spain, where Australia finished second, going down to the United States in the final.

In 2021, she captained the Opals at the FIBA Asian Cup, leading them to the bronze medal match where they defeated South Korea 88-58. Sami contributed 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in that game and was the leading scorer for the tournament with an average of 17.5 points per game.

She again led the way for the Opals at the 2022 FIBA World Cup in Sydney, where Australia finished with the bronze medal, averaging 11 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

Sami was also among the top performers as the Opals secured their place at the Paris Olympics with a clean sweep of the qualifying tournament in Belem, Brazil, in early 2024 – scoring wins over Germany, Serbia and the host country. She averaged 4.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2 assists.

Sami made her Olympic debut as a 36-year-old in Paris and led the team in minutes played (31.3 per game), points (13.0 per game) and assists (5.3 per game). The Opals recovered from a first up loss to a physical Nigeria team (75-62) to beat Canada (70-65) and the host nation France (79-72), which meant they automatically progressed to the knockout rounds.

A big win over Serbia in the quarter-finals (85-67) put them in a semis showdown against the USA, with the Americans' victory (85-64) sending the Opals to the bronze medal match against Belgium.

The Opals won the match 85-81 for the team's first Olympic medal since London 2012.