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}} Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon (; (:olaɟuwɔ̃); born January 21, 1963), formerly known as Akeem Olajuwon, is a Nigerian-American retired professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played the center position in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors. He led the Rockets to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. In 2008, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Listed at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) (but closer to 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) by his own admission),〔Araton, Harvey. (ON PRO BASKETBALL; Feet of Dancer, Touch of Surgeon, and a Shot, Too ), ''The New York Times, June 8, 1994, accessed May 4, 2010.〕 Olajuwon is considered one of the greatest centers ever to play the game.〔〔Heisler. Pg. 3〕〔Ruley, Clayton. (Top Five Centers in NBA History ), geoclan.com, accessed January 3, 2007.〕 He was nicknamed "The Dream" during his basketball career, for his grace on and off the court. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Olajuwon traveled from his home country to play for the University of Houston under Coach Guy Lewis. His college career for the Cougars included three trips to the Final Four. Olajuwon was drafted by the Houston Rockets with the first overall selection of the 1984 NBA draft, a draft that included Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton. He combined with the 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) Ralph Sampson to form a duo dubbed the "Twin Towers". The two led the Rockets to the 1986 NBA Finals, where they lost in six games to the Boston Celtics. After Sampson was traded to the Warriors in 1988, Olajuwon became the Rockets' undisputed leader. He led the league in rebounding twice (1989, 1990) and blocks three times (1990, 1991, 1993). Raised as a Muslim, Olajuwon became more devoted to the faith during this period and corrected the spelling of his name from Akeem to Hakeem. Despite very nearly being traded during a bitter contract dispute before the 1992–93 season, he remained in Houston where in 1993–94, he became the only player in NBA history to win the NBA MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP awards in the same season. His Rockets won back-to-back championships against the New York Knicks (avenging his college championship loss to Patrick Ewing), and Shaquille O'Neal's Orlando Magic. In 1996, Olajuwon was a member of the Olympic gold-medal-winning United States national team, and was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. He ended his career as the league's all-time leader in blocks, with 3,830, and is one of four NBA players to record a quadruple-double. ==Early life== Olajuwon was born to Salim and Abike Olajuwon, middle-class Yoruba owners of a cement business in Lagos, Nigeria.〔(Hakeem Olajuwon ), nba.com/history, accessed January 3, 2007.〕〔Olajuwon and Knobler. Pg. 15〕 "Olajuwon" translates to "wealth that surpasses" in Yoruba.〔 He was the third of six children. He credits his parents with instilling virtues of hard work and discipline into him and his siblings; "They taught us to be honest, work hard, respect our elders, and believe in ourselves".〔 Olajuwon has expressed displeasure at his childhood in Nigeria being characterized as backward. "Lagos is a very cosmopolitan city...There are many ethnic groups. I grew up in an environment at schools where there were all different types of people."〔Blount, Terry. (Hakeem: For the record/"Kunta Kinte' image was way off ), ''Houston Chronicle'', May 22, 1994, accessed November 6, 2010.〕 During his youth, Olajuwon was a soccer goalkeeper, which helped give him the footwork and agility to balance his size and strength in basketball, and also contributed to his shot-blocking ability.〔Howerton, Darryl. (It Was All A Dream ), nba.com, accessed January 2, 2007.〕 Olajuwon did not play basketball until the age of 15, when he entered a local tournament.〔 It has been said that a coach in Nigeria once asked him to dunk and demonstrated while standing on a chair. Olajuwon then tried to stand on the chair himself. When redirected by staff not to use the chair, Hakeem could initially not dunk the basketball.〔Rapaport, Ron. "(Olajuwon: He's not the best – yet" ), ''Spokane Chronicle'', April 4, 1983, accessed June 22, 2012.〕 Despite early struggles, Olajuwon quickly became taken with the game: "Basketball is something that is so unique. That immediately I pick up the game and, you know, realize that this is the sport for me. All the other sports just become secondary."〔''Hakeem Olajuwon:Hakeem the Dream'', NBA TV, air date 1/03/07.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hakeem Olajuwon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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