Uljana Semjonova
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox basketball biography Iulijana Larionovna Semjonova (Template:Langx; born 9 March 1952) is a retired Latvian basketball player of Russian descent who competed for the Soviet Union.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=sr>Template:Cite Sports-Reference</ref>
Semjonova was the leading women's basketball player in the world in the 1970s and 1980s. Wearing a men's size 21 (US) / 58 (EU) shoe, she was known for having the largest feet ever in women's basketball.<ref>Gazzetta dello Sport, Photoserie Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Comparison with Bill Russell's footprint (size 16 US / size 52 EU),Photoserie Template:Webarchive</ref> For almost all of her playing career, she played for TTT Riga, which was part of Daugava Voluntary Sports Society. With TTT, she won 15 championships in the Soviet Union and the European Champion's Cup 15 times. Semjonova was also very dominant in international play, winning two Olympic Gold medals while playing for the USSR in 1976 and 1980 and never lost a game in official international competition.<ref name=sr/>
Between 1968 and 1985 she played 100 games for the Soviet Union, scoring 1614 points, committing 174 personal fouls and making 162 of 249 free throws.
She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1976,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and in 1993 became the first non-US woman enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was an inaugural member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in the class of 1999.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2007, she was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame. During the 2007 Latvian sports personality of the year award ceremony, Semjonova received the Lifetime Contribution to Sport award.
References
External links
- Template:FIBA profile
- Template:Basketball-Reference.com international player
- Template:Olympedia
- Template:Olympics.com profile
- Uljana Semjonova, the Soviet paving roller of 2,13 meters www.abc.es/historia (Spanish)
- http://www.encancha.com/fotos/foto23810.html At Tintoretto Getafe in the 1987-88 league.
- Template:Webarchive
- Template:Webarchive
- Hoopedia bio
- 1952 births
- 20th-century Russian sportswomen
- Living people
- People from Augšdaugava Municipality
- People from Zarasai
- Sportspeople from Utena County
- Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Basketball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics
- Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games
- FIBA Hall of Fame inductees
- Goodwill Games medalists in basketball
- Latvian people of Russian descent
- Latvian women's basketball players
- Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
- Olympic basketball players for the Soviet Union
- Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union
- Olympic medalists in basketball
- People with gigantism
- Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR
- Recipients of the Order of Friendship
- Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
- Recipients of the Order of Lenin
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
- Russian women's basketball players
- Russians in Latvia
- Soviet expatriate basketball people in France
- Soviet expatriate basketball people in Spain
- Soviet women's basketball players