Mónica Messa López (born 7 October 1966) is a former Spanish

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, captain of the Spanish team at 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 ...

. She won the gold medal at the 1993 European Championship.

Club career

Born and raised in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, she started playing basketball with school club Colegio Alameda de Osuna, and then she played at Real Canoe NC from her junior years to her debut in the

Liga Femenina de Baloncesto The Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, also known as Liga Femenina Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of sports league, league competition for women's basketball in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of the men's Liga ACB and is run by ...

, where she won 3 consecutive titles from 1984 to 1986. As one of the most promising young players of her time, she got transferred to the Caja Toledo - BEX Banco Exterior project, with other young Spanish prospects in order to prepare for the

National team

She made her debut with

Spain women's national basketball team The Spain women's national basketball team () represents Spain in international women's basketball competition and are regulated by the Spanish Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Spain. Spain has one of the most succes ...

at the age of 19. She played with the senior team for 10 years, from 1985 to 1995, with a total of 185 caps and 4.3 PPG. She participated in the

1992 Barcelona 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 ...

, and four

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

: * 7th

1982 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship for Women The 1982 FIBA European Championship for Cadettes was the fourth edition of the European basketball championship for U16 women's teams, today known as FIBA U16 Women's European Championship. 12 teams featured in the competition, held in Forssa and ...

(''youth'') * 8th 1983 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship for Women (''youth'') * 4th 1984 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship for Women (''youth'') * 7th

1985 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women The 1985 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women took place in the United States from 13 to 21 August 1985. It was co-organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and USA Basketball. Ten national teams competed for the champi ...

(''youth'') * 10th

1985 Eurobasket The 1985 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1985, was the 24th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It took place from 5 to 16 June 1985 in West Germany. The Soviet Union defeated Czec ...

* 6th 1987 Eurobasket * 5th

1993 Eurobasket The 1993 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1993, was the 28th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It was held in Germany between 22 June and 4 July 1993. Sixteen national teams entere ...

* 9th

1995 Eurobasket The 1995 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1995, was the 29th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1996 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to e ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Messa, Monica 1966 births Living people Spanish women's basketball players Olympic basketball players for Spain Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Shooting guards 20th-century Spanish sportswomen