Information AboutHortencia Marcari |
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BIOGRAPHY Hortência is of Italian background, her grandparents having moved to Brazil from that Europe an nation. Hortência's father was a laborer. When Hortência was ten years old, her family moved to Sao Paulo, and Hortência became interested in sports. Her family dissaproved of her choice to play sports-her father had been disabled on the field and they wanted her to work and earn some money to substitute part of the earnings her father used to get- but they eventually gave up on trying to prevent her from doing her favorite activity. At the age of thirteen, in 1972 , Hortência began to play Street Basketball on her School gym. One year later, she was spotted by Waldir Paga Perez , Brazil's national wommen's basketball team's coach. Hortência was playing for the national team at age fifteen. Hortência began to play as a professional with the Sao Caetano Esporte Clube, becoming a celebrity over Brazil instantly. Over the years, she played for Associação Prudentina, C.A Minercal, C.A Consteca/Sedox, NCNB Ponte Preta and ADC Seara, until she retired from professional basketball in 1996 , one year before Arcain began playing in the United States ' WNBA . Hortência was an idol to many female basketball fans in the cities she played at, particularly at Prudentina , where, during an interview with Jeremy Larner , she was stopped many times by Autograph seekers on her way from her house to a game. Hortência's first international experience came in 1976 , when Brazil's women's national basketball team won the South America n juvenile championship in Paraguay . In 1979 , she helped her team to a fourth place at the Pan American Games , held in Puerto Rico . In 1983 , Hortência and the national team improved their previous Pan American performance by winning a bronze medal at the Venezuela games, and, in 1987 , Hortência and the Brazilian Women's national team went yet one more step further by winning a silver medal at the 1987 Indianapolis Pan Americans. In 1991 , Hortência and the Brazilian women's national basketball team won the gold medal at that year's Pan American tournament, held in Cuba . In 1992 , Hortência helped her team to a bronze medal at the Pre-Olympic competition, held in Spain , returning later that year to that country to play in the Olympic Games for the first time. Brazil arrived in seventh place at the Barcelona Olympics . In 1994 , Hortência won the women's world basketball championship in Australia alongside her Brazilian teammates, and in 1996, she retired from international competition with a silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics . Apart from those competitions, she also played in Peru , Singapore , Malaysia , Bulgaria and South Korea . Despite the fact her team did not qualify for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles , Hortência was featured on those games' official program, in an article named ''The Queen''. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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