Diana Lorena Taurasi is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and is considered to be one of the greatest players in WNBA history. She was drafted by Phoenix first overall in the 2004 WNBA draft. Taurasi has won the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award (2004), three WNBA championships, a historic five Olympic gold medals, one WNBA Most Valuable Player Award (2009), two WNBA Finals MVP Awards, five scoring titles, and three FIBA World Cups. She has also been selected to ten WNBA All-Star teams and fourteen All-WNBA teams. In 2011, she was voted by fans as one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time, and was named by the league to its 20th and 25th anniversary teams, respectively the WNBA Top 20@20 in 2016 and The W25 in 2021. Also in 2021, she was selected by fans as the league's greatest player of all time. On June 18, 2017, Taurasi became the WNBA all-time leading scorer and on June 27, 2021, became the first player to surpass 9,000 points. On August 3, 2023, Taurasi became the first player to score 10,000 career points. Her penchant for scoring in crucial situations has earned her the nickname "White Mamba", coined by Kobe Bryant. Taurasi is one of 11 women to win an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, a FIBA World Cup, and a WNBA Championship.
Luigi "Geno" Auriemma is an Italian-born American college basketball coach and, since 1985, the head coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. As of 2021, he has led UConn to 17 undefeated conference seasons, of which six were undefeated overall seasons, with 11 NCAA Division I national championships, the most in women's college basketball history, and has won eight national Naismith College Coach of the Year awards. Auriemma was the head coach of the United States women's national basketball team from 2009 through 2016, during which time his teams won the 2010 and 2014 World Championships, and gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, going undefeated in all four tournaments. Auriemma was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Swintayla Marie "Swin" Cash Canal is an American former professional basketball player who played professionally for 15 seasons in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She currently serves as vice president of basketball operations and team development for the New Orleans Pelicans. A prolific scorer and rebounder, as well as a capable ball handler and defender, she helped lead the University of Connecticut women's basketball team to national titles in 2000 and 2002. In her second WNBA season, she led the Detroit Shock to their first ever WNBA title. In 2015, she was named a studio analyst for MSG Networks covering the New York Knicks pre-games and post-games as well as the weekly coaches show. In 2017, Cash was named the Director of franchise development for the New York Liberty. Cash was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 9, 2022.
The 2005 European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called Eurobasket 2005 Women, was held in Turkey between 2 September and 11 September 2005. Czech Republic won the gold medal and Russia the silver medal while Spain won the bronze. Maria Stepanova from Russia was named the tournament MVP.
EuroBasket Women is a biennial international women's basketball competition held between the nations of FIBA Europe for women's national teams. EuroBasket Women is also used as a qualifying tournament for the FIBA Women's World Cup and also the Olympic Games.
The Australian women's national basketball team is nicknamed the Opals, after the brightly coloured gemstone common to the country. From 1994 onwards, the Opals have been consistently competitive and successful having won nine medals at official FIBA international tournaments, highlighted by a gold medal winning performance at the 2006 World Championship in Brazil. At the now-defunct regional Oceania Championship for Women, the Opals won 15 titles. Effective in 2017, FIBA combined its Oceanian and Asian zones for official senior competitions; following this change, the Opals compete in the FIBA Women's Asia Cup.
Sherri Kay Coale is a retired college basketball coach. She was the head coach of the University of Oklahoma Sooners women's basketball team for 25 years, from 1996 to 2021. Coale was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
Jennifer "Grandmama" Gillom is an American former Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) basketball player who played for the Phoenix Mercury from 1997 to 2002, before finishing her playing career with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2003. Gillom is also a former Sparks head coach, also coached the Minnesota Lynx, and was, until 2015, an assistant coach of the Connecticut Sun.
The FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, also known as the Basketball World Cup for Women or simply the FIBA Women's World Cup, is an international basketball tournament for women's national teams held quadrennially. It was created by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Its inaugural game was in 1953 in Chile, three years after the first men's World Championship. For most of its early history, it was not held in the same year as the men's championship, and was not granted a consistent quadrennial cycle until 1967. After the 1983 event, FIBA changed the scheduling so that the women's tournament would be held in even-numbered non-Olympic years, a change that had come to the men's tournament in 1970.
Candice Dupree is an American professional basketball coach and former player. She was selected sixth in the 2006 WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky. Dupree has won a WNBA Championship (2014) with the Phoenix Mercury. She has also played professional basketball in Europe and Asia. Dupree has two world cup gold medals with Team USA.
National team appearances in the FIBA Basketball World Cup are the number of appearances that individual country's basketball national teams have made at the FIBA Basketball World Cup. A total of 59 countries have made at least one appearance in the FIBA international senior men's basketball competition.
Hana Horáková is a basketball player from the Czech Republic who plays for BK Brno. She was a member of the national team that won the European title in 2005 by defeating Russia in the final. Playing as a guard she also competed for her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, finishing in fifth place in 2004 and in seventh place at the other two Olympics.
Sports play a significant part in the life of many Czechs who are generally loyal supporters of their favourite teams or individuals.
Jayne Appel-Marinelli is a retired center who last played for the San Antonio Stars of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in 2016. She played collegiate basketball at Stanford University.
The USA women's national under-19 basketball team is the women's basketball team, administered by USA Basketball, that represents the United States in international under-19 and under-18 women's basketball competitions, consisting mainly of the FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship for Women and FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women. The events were originally referred to as the FIBA Americas Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament and the FIBA Junior World Championship.
Richard Douglas Bruno is the head coach of the DePaul Blue Demons women's basketball team. In 2016, he completed his 30th season as head coach. Under his tenure, the Blue Demons have qualified for post-season competition play in 24 of his 33 completed seasons, including the last 17 seasons.
The 2015 IIHF World Championship was the 79th event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), held from 1 to 17 May 2015 in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic. It broke the historical attendance record of IIHF World Championships.
The qualification for the Basketball at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament took place from 2010–2012; all five FIBA zones sent in teams.
The USA Women's 3x3 Teams are two of the teams under the auspices of the USA Basketball organization. In 2007, FIBA decided to start championships for the 3x3 event, starting in 2010. Two events are held, one for athletes under 18 years of age and one open event. The under 18 event (U18) is held every year, although in every fourth year, starting with 2010, the event is part of the Youth Olympic Games. The open events are held every other year, in even-numbered years, starting in 2012.
The 1995 FIBA European Championship for Cadettes was the 11th edition of the European basketball championship for U16 women's teams, today known as FIBA U16 Women's European Championship. 12 teams featured in the competition, held in Wladyslawowo, Poland, from 29 July to 6 August 1995.
United States (8th title)
Czech Republic 
Spain 
Belarus 
Yuko Oga 
