France center Rudy Gobert is a hero in his hometown

SAINT-QUENTIN, France – “JUST A KID FROM SAINT-QUENTIN.”

Those are the large, capitalized words painted between two outdoor courts that honor French basketball star Rudy Gobert in his hometown. There is also mammoth painted portrait of the Minnesota Timberwolves center as a kid on the left court and a similarly sized portrait of him on the right court. The only colors painted are France’s national red, white and blue.

Rudy Gobert courts in Saint-Quentin, France pic.twitter.com/2yTpESuta0

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) July 18, 2023

During the 2024 Paris Olympics, French citizens from Saint-Quentin and nationwide can proudly watch Gobert, who is motivating the youth of France with his story.

“It means a lot. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience and opportunity,” Gobert told Andscape about playing in France during the Olympics. “I am really trying to make something historical and be able to do it in front of family, loved ones and friends. It’s unique. It’s great for the country. It’s great for all the people, all the fans, all the kids who get to hopefully experience something that changes their lives and inspires them forever.”

Not far from Parc des Champs-Élysées is the popular restaurant Villa d’Isle, known for its pizza, wine and Gobert’s presence when he’s in town. On the window of the brasserie during these Games are paintings of local Olympians, including Gobert. The four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year was born on June 26, 1992, in this town originally founded by the Romans.

Gobert’s older sister Vanessa Goubet still lives here and loves it.

“It’s a pretty simple and easy city to live in. It’s a city of 60,000. Pretty small. The downtown and schools are nearby. You can do everything walking,” she said through a translator.

Gobert’s father is Rudy Bourgarel, who played pro basketball for Lille Métropole BC in Saint-Quentin during the 1990-91 season. It was then that he met who would become Rudy Gobert’s mother, Corrine Gobert from Saint-Quentin. The couple split when Rudy, her youngest of three children, was about 3 years old.

“I was 18 years when he was born. It was more than just being a big sister. It was like having a baby for me,” Vanessa Goubet said.

Bourgarel returned to his native Guadalupe and has a solid relationship with his son to this day. Corrine Gobert was a hairdresser and beautician who raised Rudy and his two older siblings, Vanessa and Romain Goubet (who have a similar last name to Gobert, but a different father), by modest means. Gobert was always the tallest in his class as a child but also very skinny, which led to him being teased a lot, Vanessa Goubet said. Rudy Gobert is a giant now at 7-foot-1 and a muscular 245 pounds.

With his father away, the game of basketball was not often shown on the house television or talked about over dinner at the Gobert household. Rudy Gobert did occasionally attend the games of the local professional team that his father once played for. As a kid, Gobert also walked past two basketball courts at Parc des Champs-Élysées to and from school. He eventually started playing basketball seriously around 11 years old.

“He was a kid here at this park playing basketball all day and soccer,” said Vanessa Goubet while being interviewed at Parc des Champs-Élysées. “He was pretty [careless]. So, he came here with his [Nintendo] Game Boy, left it on the bench and got it stolen. He was just leaving all this stuff and playing all over the park.

“He started playing basketball [competitively] late. Like age 11 or 12. But it became a passion. And then at 13 years old, he was like, ‘Let’s do it,’ to the NBA.”

Gobert started playing basketball competitively in 2003 with JSC Saint-Quentin. In 2007, he was invited to try out for INSEP, the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance, in Paris where the country’s best youth athletes in 26 different sports are developed. Former and current NBA players developed at INSEP include Hall of Famer Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Clint Capela, Evan Fournier, Joffrey Lauvergne, Johan Petro and Ronny Turiaf.

Gobert, however, was turned down after a tryout.

“Rudy wanted to enter INSEP in Paris where all the best kids go,” Vanessa Goubet said. “He didn’t get picked up there. They didn’t take him. They said he wasn’t mature enough.”

Meanwhile, Cholet Basket in Cholet, France, had serious interest in Gobert when he was about 15 years old. The Western France town was similar in size and life to Saint-Quentin. Cholet was about a five-hour drive from Saint-Quentin, however.

While it took some convincing by the Cholet coaches and pleading from Gobert, his mother eventually gave her son her blessing.

“We had to go visit because my mom didn’t know anything about these programs,” Vanessa Goubet said. “They had to convince her by showing him where he was going to sleep and eat and the people that are going to be around him. When they get there, there is not much communication. And Cholet was fine for him because it was a small city, like home, and it was like a small family. It was easier for him because he could focus on basketball and school and nothing else.

“My mom was afraid for him. She was afraid of everything. He was the last kid. The little one was leaving and she would be left by herself. But she didn’t go against it because Rudy really wanted to go there. So, she gave the green light.”

Gobert eventually grew to become a force in the post and as a shot-blocker for Cholet’s senior team and the France national team. He played for France in the FIBA Europe Under-18 championship and on the under-18 national club. Gobert also averaged 8.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in 27 games for Cholet in France’s Pro A league during the 2012-13 season.

Gobert entered the 2013 NBA draft and set combine records for his 7-8½ wingspan and 9-7 standing reach. The Denver Nuggets selected him with the 27th overall pick and traded his draft rights to the Utah Jazz. Gobert has turned into a potential Hall of Fame player with four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards, three NBA All-Star appearances and three All-NBA team selections.

Gobert also has played for France on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medal squad, FIBA World Cup bronze medal teams in 2014 and 2019 and won a silver in 2022 and a bronze in 2015 at EuroBasket. But playing in the NBA or international competitions elsewhere doesn’t compare to playing with France on your jersey in your home country during the Olympics. Saint-Quentin is about halfway between Paris and Lille. The Olympic basketball quarterfinals begin Tuesday in Paris.

“It’s amazing. It’s a lot of love,” Gobert said. “I know we want to try to make it worth it and accomplish something. Regardless, it’s been emotional watching our families watch our team. It’s a dream to play in the Olympics. To try to do something bigger is unique.”

Vanessa Goubet said that herself, her mother, brother and other family members have proudly been attending Rudy’s Olympic games. The only disappointment is that Olympic security is so tight that it makes it difficult to visit with Rudy afterwards.

“We are all patriotic. We were very proud,” Vanessa Goubet said. “I was there wearing his French jersey. Wearing the national team is jersey is different, something bigger. He has two dreams remaining: Winning an NBA championship ring and a gold medal in the Olympics.

“All the French people think the Olympics in France is something huge. The last time it was here was 100 years ago.”

Even with Gobert, 2023 NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama and other current and former NBA players on the roster, France has struggled in Olympics so far with lackluster Group B wins against Brazil and Japan. France (2-1) finished preliminary action with an 85-71 loss to 2023 FIBA World Cup champion Germany on Aug. 3. Next up for the French is NBA All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a host of notable NBA players on undefeated Canada (3-0) Tuesday night.

Perhaps the French could be energized with the competition now in Paris and a home crowd.

“We have to try to use everything we can do to learn from the [Germany] game and the first three games,” Gobert said. “And at the end of the day, it’s a new competition that starts. Quarterfinals is zero-zero. You live or you die.”

The only other Timberwolves player taking part in the Olympics is USA Basketball guard Anthony Edwards.

Edwards said that during the NBA regular season he and Gobert enjoyed some lighthearted trash talk about a possible France-USA game. Edwards has also joked to reporters about USA center Joel Embiid deciding to play for the Americans over France and getting booed during the Olympic Games. The only way USA and France will play in these Olympics is if they both make the gold or bronze medal game.

“I talked to [Gobert] when I first got here, but we are competing against each other,” Edwards said. “We ain’t talking. He knows I want to [play against him]. It means a lot [for him]. He loves playing every year for France. He looks forward to it.

“Midseason we were talking trash to each other. I am looking forward to playing against France.”

To honor Gobert, his hometown park refurbished and painted the two basketball courts in 2023. The artistic court is listed by FIBA as one of the “Courts of the World.” There were about 200 kids in attendance during the opening ceremony. A bird’s eye view gives the best sight of the court.

Just the mere mention of his court brought a huge smile to the usually stoic Gobert.

“When I was a kid, it was just a court,” Gobert said. “When I was a kid, I was able to play basketball, play football. I was able to have a good time. To see my face on it now, it’s pretty poetic. It was pretty much my idea. We did one in Paris. We really wanted to do one in my hometown, too.

“Thanks to my partners, the city and all the people and artists that helped, we were able to make it happen. Every time I go there, there is a lot of crowds and people playing. That’s cool.”

Said Vanessa Goubet: “This is crazy. It started as a kid with a dream. Now he’s a grown up. Time flies. It’s important for him and represents a lot for him.”

Saint-Quentin native Alexis Rambur, a former French professional basketball player, said: “This is the place he used to play as a kid. And every time he comes back with his family or his wife, this is the place he wants to show him.”

Gobert is known to return to Saint-Quentin during the offseason to visit family and friends and host a youth basketball camp. He has a charitable foundation here and his annual youth basketball camp has had about 200 kids each since it started in 2015. Gobert plays with the kids, too, and three of the campers came to a Timberwolves game in Minneapolis in February. While Rambur runs Gobert’s camps primarily in a gym, the final day includes all-star games on Gobert’s outdoor court.

Gobert was not able to host the camp this year due to the Olympics, but he did make his presence known with a surprise Zoom call.

“He is the kind of guy that likes to give back to his hometown,” said Rambur, also general manager of sports marketing agency Sport Plus Conseil. “He means a lot to this town. Every time he is back, the mayor is trying to welcome him. People are coming around. It’s always crowded around the courts.

“People are very proud of him because he started from the bottom from a neighborhood just behind here. He was coming here and playing. Everybody used to know ‘Lil Rudy.’ ”

It’s not uncommon to see basketball players of all ages packing the Rudy Gobert courts on weekday afternoon and on the weekend for pick-up and league contests. Gobert hopes that his story will encourage kids from his hometown and all over the country to dream big.

“Don’t be scared to dream,” he said. “Don’t let anyone tell you that anything is impossible. Believe, dream and put in the work. Nothing worth having is easy or everyone would do it. Dream big. Try to make it happen.”