Legendary Latvian basketball player Uļjana Semjonova has passed away. Her death at the age of 73 was announced by the Latvian Basketball Association.
Uļjana Semjonova was one of the greatest athletes in the history of women's basketball. During her career, playing for the USSR national team, she twice became an Olympic champion (she could have won more, but women's basketball was first included in the Olympic program only in 1976, and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, when Semjonova was still playing, was boycotted by the USSR), three times won the title of World Champion, and ten times triumphed at European Championships. In addition, she became the winner of the European Champions Cup eleven times, which is an exceptional achievement.
Her contribution to the development of basketball was recognized internationally. Semjonova was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame, as well as the World Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
Uļjana Semjonova came from an Old Believer family who lived on the farm of Pabērži on the very border of Latvia and Lithuania. Besides her, five other children were raised in the family: one sister and four brothers.
After numerous childbirths, her mother had health problems, so Uļjana began helping her with household chores from an early age. Constant work on the farm required physical effort and contributed to her strong physical development.
In her teenage years, Semjonova started growing very rapidly. By the age of 13, her height had almost reached 190 centimeters. Her parents became concerned and consulted doctors, but the medics declared the girl completely healthy, calling her condition non-pathological gigantism. Later, Uļjana herself attributed her tall height to heredity, noting that she took after her maternal uncle, whose height exceeded two meters.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, Uļjana Semjonova is the tallest female basketball player in the entire history of the sport. She was also among the tallest women in the Soviet Union. Her height was reported differently in various sources, but the Guinness Book of Records lists the figure of 210 centimeters.
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U 1991-m spadarynia aktyŭna padtrymała niezaležnaść Łatvii, brała ŭdzieł u šmatlikich akcyjach, u tym liku ŭ čas barykad.