Maria Alexandrovna Stepanova (; born 23 February 1979) is a Russian professional and Olympic

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. In the United States, she played for the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...

in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA). At a height of 203 cm, she has been the sixth-tallest player in the league (along with

Zheng Haixia Zheng Haixia (; born March 7, 1967) is a Chinese retired professional women's basketball player for the China women's national basketball team and the Women's National Basketball Association. International career In 1983, Haixia made her debut ...

and Lindsay Taylor).

Margo Dydek Małgorzata Teresa Dydek-Twigg, also known as Margo Dydek (28 April 1974 – 27 May 2011), was a Polish professional basketball player. Standing tall, she was famous for being the tallest professional female basketball player in the world. She ...

, 7 ft 2 in (218 cm), Bernadett Határ, 6 ft 10.5 in (210 cm), Han Xu, 6 ft 11 in (211 cm),

Brittney Griner Brittney Yvette Griner (; born October 18, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. women's natio ...

and

Liz Cambage Elizabeth Folake "Liz" Cambage ( ; born 18 August 1991) is a British-born Australian professional basketball player for the Sichuan Yuanda of the Women's Chinese Basketball Association. She won the Women's National Basketball League in 2011 and ...

, both 6 ft 9 in (206 cm), are taller than her. Heidi Gillingham, also 6 ft 10 in, and Allyssa DeHaan, 6 ft 9 in as well, never played in the WNBA. She wears size 15 (US) / 48 (EU) shoes. Though in the Russian national team, she has been overtaken by Ekaterina Lisina in being the tallest member. Stepanova was born in the village of Shpakovskoye (now the town of Mikhaylovsk, in Stavropol Krai of the former

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and grew up in Tosno,

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

Honours and awards

* Honoured Master of Sports of Russia *

Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a Russian medal. It was established on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree No.442. Its award criteria were modified on 6 January 1999 by Presidential Decree 19 and again on 7 September 201 ...

, 1st class (2 August 2009) - for outstanding contribution to the development of physical culture and sports, high achievements in sports at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 *3× FIBA Europe Women's Player of the Year (2005, 2006, 2008)

External links

WNBA Player Profile
1979 births Living people Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Centers (basketball) Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players for Russia Olympic bronze medalists for Russia Olympic medalists in basketball People from Stavropol Krai Phoenix Mercury draft picks Phoenix Mercury players Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class Russian expatriate basketball people in the United States Russian women's basketball players Sportspeople from Stavropol Krai {{Russia-basketball-bio-stub