https://theundefeated.com/features/...owitzki-opens-up-on-his-interracial-marriage/
The Dallas Mavericks star talks being married to a black woman and raising biracial children
The five Kenyan women were covered from head to toe as they stood in front of an African garb-wearing Dirk Nowitzki.The Dallas Mavericks star talks being married to a black woman and raising biracial children
One was the love of the Dallas Mavericks forward's life and the reason they were in Nanyuki, Kenya. The others were decoys who if incorrectly chosen could cost the 13-time NBA All-Star a goat as punishment. The 7-foot German nailed tough shots in the NBA Finals and the Olympics, and on this occasion he did the same, correctly picking his bride Jessica Olsson.
“It was awesome,” Nowitzki told The Undefeated. “They took my wife away. They brought five or six girls out and they were all covered. So the first thing I had to do was find my wife. So I’m walking around and looking at how tall they are.
“I guess it’s one of the traditions. If you get it wrong, you got to pay the parents a goat or something. So I was lucky. I smelled her to find the right one. So, I got lucky there. But that was just an experience that I’ll never forget.”
Nowitzki is a worldwide known basketball name. He is the Mavs’ all-time leading scorer, the 2011 NBA Finals MVP, the 2007 NBA MVP and a two-time FIBA Europe Player of the Year. Basketball also introduced him to his wife.
The two met at a charity event for the Sports for Education and Economic Development (SEED) Project on a snowy night in February 2010. It was NBA All-Star weekend in Dallas. The Senegal-based nonprofit used basketball as a platform to engage youths in academic, athletic and leadership programs.
Nowitzki was tricked into raising his hand during an auction that resulted in him making a major donation in exchange for a Rolando Diaz painting. He also agreed to go on two dates for charity. But he was also hoping to get a real date with a beautiful woman he met that night named Jessica Olsson, who was working at a Dallas art gallery.
Jessica Nowitzki is the daughter of a Kenyan mother and Swedish father. Her mother is from Nanyuki, Kenya, a market town located northwest of Mount Kenya that was founded by British settlers and is the home of the Kenya Air Force. Jessica was raised in Sweden with her younger twin brothers, Marcus and Martin, who are both professional soccer players in England who also have played for the Swedish National Team.
Nowitzki hailed from Würzburg, Germany, a town of about 125,000 people that didn’t include many black or African residents. The racial differences never mattered to Nowitzki, as he quickly became smitten with “Jess” after they met.
“What made her so special? What made me fall in love with her? First of all, she’s got to be attractive. That’s obviously part of it,” Nowitzki said with a big smile. “And I think we just clicked intellectually. She likes art, she likes sports. Her brothers both played soccer, they were professional.
“She grew up around sports. We both love tennis and we love to travel. We both love kids and family.”
Although race wasn’t a big deal to Nowitzki and Olsson, it became a topic when their relationship became public.
Nowitzki and Olsson made their first big public appearance on July 13, 2011, when they were on the red carpet at The ESPYS awards together. They received a lot of comments on Twitter when he kissed her after winning an award during the televised show. The Twitter chatter was not necessarily negative, but it was race-related.
