Rubén Oscar Wolkowyski (born September 30, 1973) is an Argentine former professional

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 also holds Polish citizenship.Euroleague.net Player Profile
/ref> At a height of tall, he played at the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

and

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

positions.

Professional career

Wolkowyski played professionally in Argentina, the United States, Russia, Poland, Spain, and Greece. In

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, he and Pepe Sánchez became the first Argentines to play in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

regular season. Wolkowyski played a total of 41 NBA games and averaged 2 points and 1.1 rebounds per game. His final game being on Christmas of 2002 in a 81 - 117 loss to the New Jersey Nets where he recorded 1 assist, 1 turnover and no other stats in 6 and half minutes of playing time. On September 29, 2010, Wolkowyski scored 45 points for

Libertad de Sunchales Club Deportivo Libertad (usually called simply Libertad or Libertad de Sunchales) is a sports club from Argentina, with homebase in the Sunchales city of Santa Fe Province. The club is better known for both its association football and basketba ...

in a 118–115 victory over

Obras Sanitarias Club Atlético Obras Sanitarias de la Nación (mostly known simply as Obras Sanitarias or Obras) is an Argentina, Argentine professional sports club that is located in the district of Núñez, Buenos Aires. Although originally conceived as a rugb ...

, for the

Copa Argentina The Copa Argentina (English: ''Argentine Cup''), officially known as the "Copa Argentina AXION energy" due to sponsorship reasons, is an official football cup competition organized by the Argentine Football Association (AFA), with the aim of qual ...

title. The winner of the game was decided after 4 over-times.

National team career

Wolkowyski defended

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 ...

to claim the inaugural gold medal at the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

in the defeat in the final of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, in

Mar del Plata, Argentina Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a sh ...

. He defended Argentina in the win at the

2001 Tournament of the Americas The 2001 COPABA Tournament of the Americas, later known as the FIBA Americas Championship and the FIBA AmeriCup (also as the Championship of the Americas for Men), was hosted by Argentina, from 16 August, to 26 August 2001. The games were played at ...

, and at the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

FIBA Americas Championship The FIBA AmeriCup (previously known as the FIBA Americas Championship) is the Americas Basketball Championship that takes place every four years between national teams of the Western Hemisphere continents. Since FIBA organised the entire Wester ...

s, the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2006 FIBA World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised by ...

s, and for the gold medal at the

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Personal life

He played in Russia as a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an player, rather than as an Argentine, after Wolkowyski obtained Polish citizenship. through his

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

-born grandfather, Anatol, who left Poland before World War II, to Argentina via Paraguay. His family spoke

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

at home, but he does not know the language and communicates only in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

.Rozmowa z Rubenem Wołkowyskim

References

External links

Euroleague.net ProfileACB.com Profile

Latinbasket.com Profile
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolkowyski, Ruben 1973 births Living people 1998 FIBA World Championship players 2002 FIBA World Championship players 2006 FIBA World Championship players Argentine expatriate basketball people in Greece Argentine expatriate basketball people in Italy Argentine expatriate basketball people in Puerto Rico Argentine expatriate basketball people in Russia Argentine expatriate basketball people in Spain Argentine expatriate basketball people in the United States Argentine expatriate basketball people in Uruguay Argentine men's basketball players Argentine people of Polish descent Asseco Gdynia players Atléticos de San Germán players Basketball players at the 1995 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics BC Khimki players Boca Juniors basketball players Boston Celtics players Centers (basketball) Club Biguá de Villa Biarritz basketball players Estudiantes de Olavarría basketball players Greek Basket League players La Unión basketball players Libertad de Sunchales basketball players Liga ACB players Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics National Basketball Association players from Argentina Olympiacos B.C. players Olympic basketball players of Argentina Olympic gold medalists for Argentina Olympic medalists in basketball Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Pan American Games medalists in basketball PBC CSKA Moscow players People from Juan José Castelli Polish men's basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Quilmes de Mar del Plata basketball players Saski Baskonia players Scafati Basket players Seattle SuperSonics players Trefl Sopot players Undrafted National Basketball Association players 1994 FIBA World Championship players Sportspeople from Chaco Province