Uljana Semionova, former basketball player’s leg amputated – Corriere.it

What was to become Vladimir Tkachenko among men, she, five years younger than Volodia, was among women: that is, a practically unstoppable player due to his height (2 meters and 13, but some say 2 meters and 15) and his weight (135 kilos). Let’s talk about Uljana Semionova (but on Wikipedia you will also find the most correct denomination of her name and surname: Ul’jana Larionovna Semnova), the giantess born in 1952 of Baltic origins – Latvian from Riga – who made the USSR great at the time.

Uliana had to have her leg amputated due to a degenerative illness that risked further compromising a precarious health. But there is also another problem, as the Spanish newspaper recalled Brand, dedicating an article to her with which he opened the day’s news: finances are not in good condition either. Semionova, despite having also been Minister of Sport of Latvia, as Mabel Bocchi reminds us, the divine of Italian women’s basketball who was Uliana’s great rival but also a great friend, lives on a modest pension. And the savings are really small because 95% of what she earned at the time of Daugawa Riga ended up in the state coffers of the USSR.

Now the daily worries are aggravated by what happened to her: they will have to make her a prosthesis, but at the same time he will have to fix his house. They have calculated that 9,000 euros are needed for these jobs alone, a very high figure for her. Fortunately, he is taking an interest in her story Jacky Chazalonlegend of French women’s basketball and his teammate in Clermont-Ferrand in the two years (1988 and 1989) spent at Valenciennes Orchies, the last act – after an experience in Spain at Getafe Tintoretto – of a career that began in 1967, with the ‘impossibility to expatriate before the completion of the 35 years of age.

Jacky is moving with the IOC, as well as with the French federation and FIBA: for now he has scraped together 7,000 euros, but it is estimated that at least 20,000 will be needed to deal with Uliana’s new situation; his appeal, therefore, is that the commitment to help the unfortunate basketball player become ever wider and more consistent. The career of Uliana Semionova, who entered the 1993 Hall of Fame of basketball, studded with triumphs and a single word: gold. With her, his teams could only win: in fact, only one defeat is remembered of that USSR. His bulletin board thus consists of 2 Olympic titles, 3 world titles, 10 European titles, as well as a victory at the Universiade. In addition, with Riga, he won 11 European Cups, 1 Ronchetti Cup and 15 successes in the Soviet championship.

Mabel Bocchi sadly learned the bad news. I haven’t heard from her in an eternity, exactly since the 1979/80 season, when we last faced each other in the European Cup. But she has always remained in my heart because, despite her size, she was good-natured and above all she was concerned, being aware of her size, not to hurt the opponent who had to guard her.

was Mabel to know of the ministerial assignment and in an interview with Corriere della Sera, followed by a recent service on Rai, he told some details of his friendship with Semionova: In an edition of the World Cup, in a moment in great shape for me, I begged her not to make me look bad, so that I could compete for the title of Mvp . And so it was: Uliana made sure that I was elected best player of the event. When she came to play against Geas Sesto San Giovanni, Bocchi took her under her wing: I took her to the hairdresser and had her manicured, he still remembers today. But the most curious aspect was the way the two related: She didn’t know English, I didn’t speak Russian. So the common language for understanding each other was Latin: Uliana had studied it on her own.