Dirk Nowitzki is willing to talk to anyone about the game that has shaped his life, but has mostly kept his private affairs under wraps, until now. The German NBA legend recently spoke to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, discussing his interracial marriage and biracial children.
The Dallas Mavericks franchise’s leading scorer met his wife, Jessica Olsson, when the pair attended a charity event in 2010. Nowitzki was infatuated from the start:
“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 joked. “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.”
Olsson’s brothers, Marcus and Martin Olsson, play professionally for Derby County F.C. and Norwich City F.C. respectively. The 2011 NBA Champion wasn’t the only elite athlete in Olsson’s life.
The couple made their first public appearance together in 2011, when they showed up at the ESPYs, walking the red carpet hand in hand. Race has never been an issue for Nowitzki and Olsson, but their appearance sparked a discussion of sorts:
Ur wrong dirk nowitzki did from the mavs RT @MikeydaQueenbee: Rich white men never marry black women. #ThisMovieIsUnrealistic B.E.T!!
— Hassan Whiteside (@youngwhiteside) January 15, 2012
He got a black squeeze!
— Jordan Crawford (@jcraw55) July 14, 2011
“@thekidet: Well I'll be damned. Dirk got him a sister” (always got him one. U didnt know?)
— Andre Iguodala (@andre) July 14, 2011
For some reason jungle fever comes to mind rt now… I LOVE it!!!!!!!
— Candace Parker (@Candace_Parker) July 14, 2011
The 2007 MVP stated that he has never been asked any questions about the role race plays within his relationship:
“Nobody actually approached me with it,” Nowitzki said. “Everybody that’s met my wife has said she’s great with me. So I haven’t heard any of that to my face. I’m sure there’s some people that think of it to themselves. But, I’ve never heard it to my face.
“Growing up in Germany, and basketball,” Nowitzki said. “We’ve always grown up around all sorts of races. I played with the national team where half of my teammates were from Yugoslavia. Color or race for me never really mattered, and that’s also the beauty of sports.
“You’re a team. Same with marriage. You’re a team, and pulling on the same string. You try to make it work and chemistry has got to be there. That is just the way I was raised.”
While enjoying both traditional German and Kenyan wedding ceremonies in 2012, the couple became more familiar with each other’s roots. Both Olsson and Nowitzki were introduced to new traditions and aspects of an unknown culture:
“She didn’t really grow up in Kenya,” Nowitzki said. “Her dad’s Swedish and her mom is from Kenya. They have lived in Sweden basically her entire life. So this is new to both of us.”
Olsson has given birth to three children since they exchanged vows and Nowitzki believes that it’s important that they understand their heritage. The family make regular trips to Kenya and Germany when possible.
“We don’t want them to just grow up [in Dallas]. We were gone for three months this past summer. We want to show them different cultures, different languages so they can grow up, become educated and make educated decisions when they’re older on where they want to live, what they want to do.”
As a full time citizen, Nowitzki shares the concerns of many about the obstacles that his children will meet, being mixed race in America. The 7’0 big man was worried by some of the negative incidents, fuelled by racial hostility in 2016 and feels that the ability to converse is key:
“In your head you’re saying it’s 2016, this stuff shouldn’t be happening in our society,” he said. “That’s a little scary to every parent. You’re just trying to educate your kids so eventually if they do find themselves in a situation, they can talk themselves out of it or make the right decisions, make the right reads.
“You always worry for your kids. Are they going to fall out the crib? Are they going to make the right decision later? Who they’re dating? Are they going to run into a cop one of these days? You always worry as a parent. That’s something for sure that’s in the back of your mind, but eventually educate them the right way and keep teaching them how to respond.
“You react to authority when somebody speaks to you, like teachers, parents or whoever. You have to educate them early enough so they know, this is a person, the higher authority, you need to show them some respect.”
In a world in which needless divides are created based on skin color and vitriolic political campaigns are deemed appropriate, it’s refreshing to hear high-profile athletes such as Nowitzki discuss issues such as race in an eloquent and positive manner.
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