The Latvia women's national basketball team is the national

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

team representing

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. It is administrated by the

Latvian Basketball Association The Latvian Basketball Association ( Latvian: ''Latvijas Basketbola Savienība''), also known as LBS, is the national governing body of basketball in Latvia. It was founded in 1923 and was one of the FIBA Europe co-founders, but due to the Soviet ...

. It has participated in EuroBasket Women three times and once 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 multi ...

History

Golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...

of Latvia women's national basketball team was from 2007 to 2009, when head coach was Ainars Zvirgzdiņš. In

EuroBasket 2007 The 2007 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2007, was the 35th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2008 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to th ...

Latvia first time in history reached semi-final. In third place game they lost to

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. This result allowed to get in 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which had overpowered in next summer in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, and Latvia took part of

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

EuroBasket 2009 The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

was held in

. In this tournament Latvia reached quarterfinal, where they lost to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

in overtime with 64–69. They also lost to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in classification rounds. Latvia got seventh place in this tournament. After this tournament head coach Ainars Zvirgzdiņš and several players left national team. In

EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted the 1939 ch ...

head coach was Greek basketball coach George Dikeoulakos. In his management Latvia also reached quarterfinal, but latterly got eighth place. In

EuroBasket 2013 EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France defeated Lithuania in th ...

head coach was Aigars Nerips, Latvia lost all of three games. In

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 ...

Latvia lost in the first round. In

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

Mārtiņš Zībarts Mārtiņš Zībarts (born 15 February 1974) is a Latvian basketball coach, currently head coach of Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic ...

was assigned to manage the national team, Latvia got out of the low tide and reached quarterfinal, they got sixth place finally. In EuroBasket 2019,

was still in charge of the national team, Latvia was eliminated in qualification for quarterfinals.

Tournament record

Olympic Games

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

: 9th

World Cups

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

: 13th

EuroBasket

Team

Current roster

Roster for the

FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2019 The 2019 EuroBasket Women, European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called EuroBasket Women 2019, was the 37th edition of the continental tournament in women's basketball, sanctioned by the FIBA Europe. The tournament was co-held in Latvia ...

.FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2019 roster
/ref>

Notable players

* Gunta Baško-Melnbārde *

Anete Jēkabsone-Žogota Anete Jēkabsone-Žogota (born August 12, 1983) is a former Latvian basketball player. She ended her career in 2016. She is a daughter of former VEF Rīga star player Andris Jēkabsons. Jēkabsone-Žogota played for Dynamo Moscow. She joined ...

* Uljana Semjonova (played in Soviet Union team) *

Ieva Tāre Ieva Tāre (born March 15, 1974 in Riga) is a former Latvian women's basketball player who has represented SK Cēsis and Latvia women's national basketball team. Tāre was trained by the current Latvian national women's team coach Ainars Zvirg ...

Notable coaches

* George Dikeoulakos *

Armands Krauliņš Armands Krauliņš (August 16, 1939 - July 1, 2022) was a Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, ...

* Ainars Zvirgzdiņš * Aigars Nerips

References

External links

Official websiteFIBA profile
{{Authority control National, women's Basketball, women's Women's national basketball teams