Tatyana Nikolaevna Ovechkina (russian: Татьяна Николаевна Овечкина, мордовка по национальности;

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used ...

: Kabayeva; born 19 March 1950) is a former

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Russian basketball player who played for a national team that won two Olympic gold medals, the 1975

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and six European Championships. Today, she runs the Russia women's national basketball program.

Early life

Ovechkina was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. At age 7, she was walking home from school when an automobile struck her and mangled her right leg. She spent a year in the hospital recovering.

Career

At 16, Tatyana joined

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

's women's basketball team and soon became its star. At age 19, she was named team captain and played in the club for 13 more years. Ovechkina won two Olympic gold medals with the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

team, in 1976 and 1980, and never lost a game in an official international competition. She also won the 1975 World Championship, six European Championships (1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980), and the

1977 Summer Universiade The 1977 Summer Universiade, also known as the IX Summer Universiade or World University Games, took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. Sports * * * * * * * * * * Medal table References * Athletics *World Student Games (Universiade - Men)- GB ...

. She retired from the national team at age 30. She was awarded the

Order of the Badge of Honor The Order of the Badge of Honour (russian: орден «Знак Почёта», orden "Znak Pochyota") was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding ...

in 1976 and the

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...

in 1980. In recent years, she was overwhelmingly chosen the 20th century's best female point guard by the readers of the ''

Sport-Express ''Sport-Express'' (russian: Спорт-Экспресс) is a Russian daily sports newspaper founded by Vladimir Kuchmiy. Printed in 31 cities of Russia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the United States, it is the biggest-selling sports ...

'', an Eastern European daily newspaper. Currently, she is a candidate for induction into the

FIBA Hall of Fame The FIBA Hall of Fame, or FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame, honors players, coaches, teams, referees, and administrators who have greatly contributed to international competitive basketball. It was established by FIBA, in 1991. It includes the " Samar ...

Personal life

Ovechkina is the mother of professional ice hockey winger

Alexander Ovechkin Alexander Mikhailovich Ovechkin ( rus, Александр Михайлович Овечкин, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐˈvʲetɕkʲɪn; born 17 September 1985) is a Russian professional ice hockey left winger and captain of the Washington Capitals ...

, who plays in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) for the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

. He was selected 1st overall in the

2004 NHL Entry Draft The 2004 NHL Entry Draft was the 42nd NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 and 27, 2004 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is especially notable because it was the last NHL event to take place before the beginning of the lockout, ...

. He won the

Hart Trophy The Hart Memorial Trophy, originally known as the Hart Trophy, is an annual award for the most valuable player in the National Hockey League (NHL), voted by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. The original trophy was donat ...

as the league's most valuable player in 2008, 2009 and 2013. Alexander won a

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

with the Capitals in 2018. He currently has the second most goals in NHL history (809). Alex wears #8 in honor of Tatyana, who wore #8 during her basketball career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ovechkina, Tatyana 1950 births Living people Russian women's basketball players Dynamo sports society athletes Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Mordvin people Basketball players from Moscow Olympic basketball players of the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in basketball Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Soviet women's basketball players