Interview: Rae Lin D'Alie isn't just a 3x3 basketball Olympian, she also wrote the sport's official anthem

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Łukasz Muniowski is an assistant professor of English at the University of Szczecin, Poland and an author of books on the NBA.

At 37 years old, Rae Lin is still going strong, representing Italy in 3x3 basketball and averaging the same numbers she did in high school 19 years ago. The 5-foot-7 guard, who is from Wisconsin and played for the Badgers for one college season (2009-10), is a leader and an inspiration to younger players.

She recently spoke to Swish Appeal about her childhood in Wisconsin, her move to Italy, the 2020 Olympics and the importance of religion in her life. Some highlights from the talk.

Just to be clear, I don't consider myself a musician or an artist, but music has always been a part of my life. And honestly, writing songs came from my faith because one day I was praying and I really wanted a way to encourage my team. So I really felt like I believe that I was supposed to write a song to use words as a tool of encouragement, to build team chemistry. When I was in the second division in Italy, I had a friend in the music industry who was a producer. So we got it produced and it was just my gift to the team and to the fans to get us ready for the playoffs. So that was in 2017. And in 2019, I was at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in Amsterdam, and I was walking around the city and it's a beautiful environment. Amsterdam is very inspirational. And I just remember I was walking around and I was praying, and I just felt a similar thing, like I was supposed to write this song for FIBA, as an instrument to teach people what 3x3 was. So if you listen to the song, it's actually kind of like an intro to the sport, to the listener and to the fan.

It was amazing. It was awesome. It was like being a kid all over again. When you're in the village, you're living in the greatest neighborhood on Earth. You're looking around, you see all these athletes that are the best in the world, and they're all in the same space. And everybody's doing it just because they love it. Making it there is such an achievement and then being able to compete at the highest level on Earth is just unbelievable.