Paola Ogechi Egonu (born 18 December 1998) is an Italian

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player. She plays for Turkish volleyball club

VakıfBank S.K. VakıfBank is the second largest bank in Turkey in terms of asset size, established with an initial capital of TL 50 million on January 11, 1954 and later started operating on April 13, 1954. Abdi Serdar Üstünsalih has been selected as the CEO ...

and was part of the

Italy women's national volleyball team The Italy women's national volleyball team is governed by the Federazione Italiana Pallavolo (FIPAV). The team's biggest victories were the gold medal at the 2002 FIVB Women's World Championship, being the first team to break the domination of ...

until 2022 when she is considering leaving from the team allegedly due to racism. She participated at the

2018 Montreux Volley Masters The 2018 Montreux Volley Masters is the 33rd edition of the women's volleyball competition set in Montreux, Switzerland. Participating teams Squads Group stage The first 2 teams of each group qualify for the final round. *''All times are Cent ...

, 2018 FIVB Volleyball World Championship, and

2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League The 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League was the inaugural edition of the FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League, a new annual international women's volleyball tournament contested by 16 national teams that replaced the former World Grand ...

. On club level she played for Club Italia in 2015. She was selected to play the Italian League All-Star game in 2017. In 2017 she moved to AGIL Novara. She was awarded the prize for Woman of the Year 2019 by ''D - la Repubblica delle donne'', a weekly magazine of ''

la Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...

''. She was one of the flagbearers of the

Olympic Flag The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses icons, flags and symbols to elevate the Olympic Games. These symbols include those commonly used during Olympic competition—such as the flame, fanfare and theme—as well as those used throughout ...

at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.

Personal life

Egonu was born in

Cittadella Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...

, in

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

, to Nigerian parents. Her father, Ambrose, is

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a ...

from

Imo State Imo State ( ig, Ȯra Imo) is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its n ...

and her mother, Eunice, from

Benin City Benin City is the capital and largest city of Edo State, Edo State, Nigeria. It is the fourth-largest city in Nigeria according to the 2006 census, after Lagos, Kano (city), Kano, and Ibadan, with a population estimate of about 3,500,000 as of ...

. She has two siblings, Angela and Andrea. Her cousin Terry Enweonwu is a volleyball player as well. In November 2018, in an interview for the

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...

, she

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

, revealing to have a girlfriend that comforted her after the defeat at the

2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship The 2018 FIVB Women's World Championship was the eighteenth edition of the event, contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the ' (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The final tournament was held in Japan from 29 Sep ...

. Later on, her girlfriend's name was revealed: she is the volleyball player Katarzyna Skorupa. In 2020, she dubbed the character Dreamerwind (italian: ''Sognaluna Dibrezza''), originally voiced by

Cathy Cavadini Catherine Janet Cavadini is an American voice actress. She is most well known as the original voice of Blossom on Cartoon Network's animated television series ''The Powerpuff Girls'', and as and Tanya Mousekewitz in ''An American Tail: Fievel ...

, for the italian version of the animation movie

Soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, produced by

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...

. In the season 2020-2021, she co-presented the italian show ''

Le Iene ''Le Iene'' (; , but referencing the Italian name of Quentin Tarantino's 1992 movie ''Reservoir Dogs'') is an Italian television program. The program ''Le Iene'' is a television program broadcast on the Italian channel Italia 1. Beginning in 1997, ...

''. After the conclusion of the 2022 FIVB World Championship, Egonu was captured on video telling her manager "This is my last game with the national team.”, following the bronze medal match against the United States, leading to speculation that she was quitting the team. She later confirmed these reports, stating she is considering taking an indefinite pause from the team due to persistent racism she faces.

Awards

Clubs

* 2017 Italian Supercup - Simple cup icon

Champion, with Igor Gorgonzola Novara * 2017-18 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) - Simple cup icon

Champion, with Igor Gorgonzola Novara * 2018-19 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) - Simple cup icon

Champion, with Igor Gorgonzola Novara * 2018–19 CEV Women's Champions League - Simple cup icon

Champion, with AGIL Novara * 2019 Italian Supercup - Simple cup icon

Champion, with

Imoco Volley Conegliano Imoco Volley is an Italian women's volleyball club based in Conegliano and currently playing in the Serie A1. History The club was founded on 15 March 2012, two months after the bankruptcy of the other volleyball team in Conegliano. In April 2 ...

* 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship - Simple cup icon

Champion, with

* 2019-20 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) - Simple cup icon

Champion, with

* 2020 Italian Supercup - Simple cup icon

Champions, with

* 2020-21 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) - Simple cup icon

Champion, with

* 2020–21

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

Champion, with

* 2020–21

CEV Women's Champions League The Women's CEV Champions League, formerly known as CEV Champions Cup (from 1960 to 2000), is the top official competition for women's volleyball clubs of Europe and takes place every year. It is organized by the Confédération Européenne de V ...

Champion, with

* 2021 Italian Supercup - Simple cup icon

Champions, with

* 2021-22 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) - Simple cup icon

Champion, with

* 2021–22

Champion, with

Individuals

* 2015 U18 World Championship MVP * 2015 U18 World Championship Best Outside Spiker * '' 2016 Europe Olympic Qualification Tournament "Best Outside Spiker"'' * ''2016–17

"Top Scorer"'' * ''2017-18 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) "Most Valuable Player"'' * '' 2018 Montreux Volley Masters "Most Valuable Player"'' * '' 2018 FIVB World Championship "Best Opposite Hitters"'' * '' CEV Champions League 2018–19 "Most Valuable Player"'' * ''2018–19

"Top Scorer"'' * ''2019 Italian Supercup "Most Valuable Player"'' * '' 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship "Most Valuable Player"'' * ''2020-21 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) "Most Valuable Player"'' * ''2020–21

"Most Valuable Player"'' * '' CEV Champions League 2020–21 "Most Valuable Player"'' * '' CEV EuroVolley 2021 "Most Valuable Player"'' * ''2021

European Volleyball Confederation The European Volleyball Confederation (french: Confédération Européenne de Volleyball or ''CEV'') is the continental sports governing body, governing body for the sports of volleyball, indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, and snow volleyball ...

"Female Volleyball Player of the Year 2021"'' * ''2021–22

"Most Valuable Player"'' * ''2021-22 Italian Cup (Coppa Italia) "Most Valuable Player"'' * ''2021–22

"Top Scorer"'' * '' 2022 FIVB Nations League - "Best Opposite Hitter"'' * '' 2022 FIVB Nations League - "Most Valuable Player"''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Egonu, Paola 1998 births Living people Italian women's volleyball players Italian people of Nigerian descent Italian sportspeople of African descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent People from Cittadella Volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players of Italy LGBT sportspeople from Italy Bisexual women LGBT volleyball players Serie A1 (women's volleyball) players Volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from the Province of Padua VakıfBank S.K. volleyballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate volleyball players in Turkey