Hortência Maria de Fátima Marcari (born September 23, 1959) is a 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 (appro ...

player who is often considered to be one of the greatest female basketball players in Brazil, along with Paula. Marcari is a member of the

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It is the only facility of its kind dedicated to all levels of women's bask ...

(inducted in 2002), the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

(inducted in 2005), and

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. Originally built in ...

(inducted in 2007). She is known in her country as Hortência, and her nickname is ''The Queen''.

Biography

Born in

Potirendaba Potirendaba is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. The city has 17,516 inhabitants (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE/2020) and an area of 342.4 km2. Potirendab ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, Hortência is of Italian background, her grandparents having moved to Brazil from that European nation. Hortência's father was a laborer. When Hortência was ten years old, her family moved to São Paulo, and Hortência became interested in sports. Her family disapproved of her choice to play sports, since her father had been disabled on the field and they wanted her to work bringing home part of the earnings her father used to. But they eventually gave up trying to keep her from her favorite activity. At the age of thirteen, in 1972, Hortência began to play street basketball at her

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

gym. One year later, she was spotted by Waldir Paga Perez, coach of

Brazil women's national basketball team The Brazil women's national basketball team represents Brazil in international women's basketball. Brazil won the 1994 FIBA World Championship for Women in Australia. Achievements Olympic Games FIBA World Championship FIBA AmeriCup * 1989 ...

. Hortência was playing for the national team at age fifteen. Hortência began to play as a professional with the '' São Caetano Esporte Clube'', becoming an instant celebrity in Brazil. 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 a

teen idol A teen idol is a celebrity with a large teenage fan base. Teen idols are generally young but are not necessarily teenagers themselves. An idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups. By region Asia Ea ...

to many female basketball fans in the cities where she played, particularly at Prudentina where, during an interview with

Jeremy Larner Jeremy Larner (born March 20, 1937) is an American author, poet, journalist, and speechwriter. He won an Oscar in 1972 for Best Original Screenplay, for writing '' The Candidate.'' Childhood Jeremy Larner was born in New York, and grew up in In ...

, she was stopped many times by

autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...

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 American juvenile championship in

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

. In 1979, she helped her team to a fourth place at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

held in

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. In 1983, Hortência and the national team improved their previous Pan American performance by winning a bronze medal at the

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

games, while in 1987 Hortência and the Brazilian Women's national team went one step further by winning a silver medal at the 1987

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Pan American Games. 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 Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. 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 The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

for the first time. Brazil settled for seventh place at the Barcelona Olympics. Finally in 1994, Hortência won the women's world basketball championship in Australia, making Brazil the only country other than the

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or the United States to win the title (Australia became the fourth in 2006). The semi-final game against the USA is considered one of the greatest in history, and Brazil shocked the world with the victory. After the silver medal in the next Olympic Games, Marcari retired from international competition. Apart from those competitions, she also played in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

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Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

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and South Korea. Despite the fact her team did not qualify for the 1984 Olympics in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, Hortência was featured on those games' official program, in an article named ''The Queen''. On 5 August 2016, she became the penultimate torch bearer for the 2016 Summer Olympics torch relay, being the link between

Gustavo Kuerten Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the list of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals f ...

who brought the torch into the Olympic Stadium, and the cauldron lighter, Vanderlei de Lima, during the Opening Ceremonies. Her son, João Victor, participated in

dressage Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...

competitions at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

References

External links

*
Confederação Brasileira de Basketball's page on Hortência
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcari, Hortencia 1959 births Living people Basketball players at the 1979 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1987 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1991 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Brazilian expatriate basketball people Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian women's basketball players FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Olympic basketball players for Brazil Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for Brazil Pan American Games bronze medalists for Brazil Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games gold medalists in basketball Pan American Games silver medalists in basketball Pan American Games bronze medalists in basketball Pan American Games silver medalists for Brazil Basketball players from São Paulo (state) Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Goodwill Games medalists in basketball Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Commanders of the Order of Ipiranga

Biography

See also

References

External links