Peter Jok Earns a Spot on South Sudan Olympic Basketball Team

PHOTO: FIBA A few days after the Bright Stars nearly upset the United States in a pre-Olympic exhibition, Peter Jok was named to South Sudan’s 12-man Olympic roster. The former Hawkeye and his teammates will open Olympic play against Puerto Rico on July 28.

Peter Jok (23BS) witnessed how basketball can unite a nation. The former Hawkeye and his South Sudan men’s basketball teammates returned to their homeland last September after qualifying the country for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Despite political conflict and ongoing violence in South Sudan, thousands of fans gathered in the capital city of Juba to celebrate Jok and the rest of the Bright Stars for earning the country’s first Olympic basketball berth. “To represent South Sudan and bring joy to the people back home—we’re the reason everybody was united with everything that’s going on, all the negativity,” says Jok, whose team qualified at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in the Philippines. “To see everyone being positive and cheering us on as one instead of as different tribes, it was special to go out there and play for the whole country.”

This summer, Jok will represent South Sudan against the world’s best in Paris. The two-time All-Big Ten honoree scored eight points in a near-upset of the United States on July 20 in an exhibition in London. A few days later, Jok was officially named to the Bright Stars’ 12-man Olympic squad.

Academic Accomplishment

Soon after last year’s World Cup celebration, Jok completed another milestone. The 6-foot-6 swingman earned an Iowa degree in sports management last fall and donned his cap and gown this past spring at commencement. “It means everything,” says Jok, who left Iowa early in his final semester in 2017 to prepare for the NBA. The former Hawkeye All-American has played professional basketball in the NBA Summer League, NBA G League, and in Spain, France, Greece, and Canada.

PHOTO: Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com After finishing his final classes to earn a UI degree last fall, Peter Jok returned to campus this spring for commencement and found time to get on the basketball court.

Poised for Paris

Jok, who has played on the South Sudan national team for the past three years, was one of 25 players to participate in an Olympic team training camp earlier this month in Rwanda. Representing the world’s youngest country, the Bright Stars will face a couple basketball superpowers at the Olympics in Team USA and Serbia. “We don’t have anything to lose,” says Jok, who scored against some of the NBA’s best defenders, including Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis, in South Sudan’s narrow exhibition loss to the U.S. “At the end of the day, it’s a great opportunity for the team, the players, and the whole country. We just have to go out there and leave everything on the floor.”

PHOTO: FIBA Peter Jok drives the ball against China in a 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup game last August in the Philippines. The former All-Big Ten honoree averaged 10.2 points per game and shot 58% from beyond the arc in World Cup play last year.