Iván José Olivares Alvárez (born 10 December 1961 in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

) is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who competed in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. He is considered one of the greatest Venezuelan basketball players of all time. In addition to the Olympics, he represented his country at the

1990 FIBA World Championship The 1990 FIBA World Championship was the 11th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at the Luna Pa ...

and 1991

South American Basketball Championship The South American Basketball Championship, or FIBA South American Championship, is the main FIBA tournament for men's national teams from South America's region of FIBA Americas. The tournament was first played in 1930. The tournament often has ...

. Olivares played for

Springfield College Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, earning

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

All-American honors in 1986. That season, he broke the school record for points in a season with 832. In 1998, he became the first Latino to be inducted into the NCAA Hall of Fame. After college, he played for the

Gaiteros del Zulia Gaiteros del Zulia was a professional basketball team based in Maracaibo, Venezuela. The team played in Venezuela's Liga Profesional de Baloncesto. The team won the Venezuelan championships four times. Trophies *Liga Profesional de Baloncesto ...

Cocodrilos de Caracas Cocodrilos de Caracas () is a Venezuelan professional basketball club based in Caracas. Established in 1990, the club competes in the Venezuelan SuperLiga and has won six national championships. The Cocodrilos' home games are played at the Parque N ...

and

Trotamundos de Carabobo Trotamundos B.B.C. (), also known as Trotamundos de Carabobo, is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, located in the Venezuelan Carabobo State. The team currently plays in the Venezuelan SuperLiga. The team has won the Venezuelan champ ...

in Venezuela's

Liga Profesional de Baloncesto The Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto, commonly known as the SPB, is the Venezuelan first division national professional basketball league. Founded in 1974 as the Liga Especial de Baloncesto, it adopted the name Liga Profesional de Baloncesto i ...

, winning five league titles with the Trotamundos (1986–89, 1994) as well as the 1988 and 1989 editions of the

South American Club Championship South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

. He led the league in scoring in 1994 while teaming with American import

Stanley Brundy Stanley Dwayne Brundy (born November 13, 1967) is an American-Israeli former professional basketball player. He was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the second round (32nd pick overall) of the 1989 NBA draft. A 6' 6" (1.98 m) and 210 lb (95 ...

. He also played in Colombia with Leopardos de Bucaramanga, leading the team in scoring and rebounding in 1988, in addition to stints in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

References

External links

Springfield Pride bio

Iván Olivares
at RealGM 1961 births Living people Venezuelan men's basketball players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Springfield Pride men's basketball players Cocodrilos de Caracas players Trotamundos B.B.C. players Olympic basketball players of Venezuela Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Venezuelan expatriate basketball people in Argentina Venezuelan expatriate basketball people in Brazil Venezuelan expatriate basketball people in Colombia Venezuelan expatriate basketball people in the United States Sportspeople from Caracas 20th-century Venezuelan people 21st-century Venezuelan people {{Venezuela-basketball-bio-stub