More than 80 years have passed and FIBA EuroBasket Women have reached their 37th edition, with the best European basketball champions ready to take to the field. Serbia and Latvia host the FIBA EuroBasket Women of the competition from 27 June, where Italy is ready to deploy the seventeen promises assembled by coach Marco Crespi: the athletes range from the most - relatively - mature, class of 1984, to the youngest class of 1997.
The teams participating in the EuroBasket Women 2019
The initial phase of the FIBA EuroBasket Women is divided into four groups: Group A matches are held in Riga, Latvia, between Ukraine, Great Britain, Latvia and Spain. Group B also plays in Riga and will see Sweden, France, Czech Republic and Montenegro compete against each other. For group C instead we move to Serbia in Niš, the scene of the matches between Hungary, Turkey, Italy and Slovenia. Finally, group D of FIBA EuroBasket Women with the teams from Belarus, Russia, Belgium and Serbia who will compete on the parquet floor of Zrenjanin, in northern Serbia.
A mix of freshness and experience on which Italian National Team Coach Marco Crespi is determined to bet. "Girls at 16 and 18 dream. We must protect their dream," he explained in an interview, "and we have to think about how there can be more and more girls who play basketball, show that this game is fun and communicate the joy of basketball.
Not only young promises, the Italian women's basketball has produced over the years champions of international level. Among these, Lidia Gorlin is certainly one of the most loved and celebrated for her successful career and passion for this sport, who continues today as a manager.
The history of Italian basketball legend Lidia Gorlin
Born in 1954 in Vicenza, playmaker, she made her debut at the age of 18 in the national team in 1972, at the European Championships. She was also summoned to those two years later in Cagliari to win her first medal, the bronze, together with her companions. In the National team she played until 1989 collecting 231 appearances in the National team and six Euroleague cups won, as well as an Olympic qualification, the one for the Olympic Games in the USSR in 1980, which entered the history of women's basketball.
Also remarkable are her achievements as a club player: Gorlin took her first steps as a young girl on the basketball court of A.S. Vicenza and arrived in Serie A just in time to win the Scudetto in 1969, the first of ten total that she managed to win during her career. After her experience in Vicenza, she moved to Standa Milano and then at the beginning of the 80's to Fiat Torino, where she stayed for two seasons winning the Italian title.
She ended her career in the field in 1991, after returning to Vicenza. It is worth taking note of some numbers related to Lidia's career in Serie A: 493 appearances, 4,972 points scored, ten Championships (two with Turin in 1979 and 1980 and eight with Vicenza 1969, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988) and six Champions' Cups (Turin 1980 and then five victories with Vicenza in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988).
"Capitana" for about a decade, Lidia Gorlin has scored 1,492 points with the Azzurre.
Lidia today is sports director of the Basketball Le Mura in Lucca, but in reality is much more: as a coach and now as a general manager has given and gives her contribution to a club that has helped bring the top women's basketball. From 1994 to the present day, in fact, with Lidia, the Basketball Le Mura Lucca has risen from the B to the A1 series, until you get to the victory of the Italian championship in 2017. After twenty years on the field and twenty years off as a coach and manager in 2011 she was also included in the Italy Basket Hall of Fame.
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