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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who is often considered to be one of the greatest female basketball players in Brazil, along with Paula, and regarded by specialists as one of the world's greatest female basketball players of all time. 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 ba ...

(inducted in 2002), the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (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. It includes the " Samar ...

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

Biography

Born in Potirendaba,

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, 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 Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

at her

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...

gym. One year later, she was spotted by Waldir Paga Perez, coach of Brazil women's national basketball team. 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. An idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups. By region Asia East Asia possess ...

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

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 ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. In 1979, she helped her team to a fourth place at the Pan American Games 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 ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

games, while in 1987 Hortência and the Brazilian Women's national team went one step further by winning a silver medal at the 1987 Indianapolis 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 ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. 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 or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

for the first time. Brazil settled for seventh place at the

Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. Finally in 1994, Hortência won the women's

world basketball championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

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

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

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, 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 world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times (1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...

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 competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

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 of 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 medalists in basketball Pan American Games silver medalists for Brazil Sportspeople 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

Biography

See also

References

External links