Iván José Olivares Alvárez (born 10 December 1961 in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (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 northern p ...

) is a

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 ...

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 (appro ...

player who competed in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. 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 national teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at t ...

and 1991

South American Basketball Championship The South American Basketball Championship, or FIBA South American Championship, was 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 ...

. Olivares played for

Springfield College Springfield College is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. The institution's mission, called the Humanism, Humanics philosophy, calls for educating students in spirit, mind, and body for leadership in service ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, earning

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the 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 environment ...

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,

Cocodrilos de Caracas Cocodrilos de Caracas () is a Venezuelan professional basketball club based in Caracas. Established in 1990, the club competes in the Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto (SPB), and has won the national championship six times. The Cocodrilos' home ...

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 cham ...

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 west and east. 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 , forward from DePaul Unive ...

. 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, 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 ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. His two sons (Alberto Olivares Bastardo) that lives in U.S and (José Freites Bastardo) that was one of the greatest promises in Venezuela to reach the NBA at the time, it is unknown why he did not follow in his father's footsteps.

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 de Carabobo players Olympic basketball players for 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 Basketball players from Caracas 20th-century Venezuelan sportsmen 21st-century Venezuelan people Búcaros de Bucaramanga players {{Venezuela-basketball-bio-stub