On June 13, 1993 the Women’s National Team tore down a hitherto insurmountable wall for Spanish basketball in Perugia. Manolo Coloma’s men beat France in the final (63-53) and won the first gold in the history of national basketball. “It has been a historic title”wrote Martín Tello, the special envoy of AS in that championship. A pioneering team because until that moment, no other Spanish team had managed to rise to the top in a high-level competition (European, World or Olympic Games). The work of the last few years had paid off …
In the mid-1980s, Operation Siglo XXI emerged, an initiative of the Spanish Basketball Federation and framed within the original ADO Plan, which aimed to achieve a qualitative leap in women’s basketball and the discovery of new talents. Francesc de Puig started working in Manresa with seven players among which were Marina Ferragut and Betty Cebrián, that years later they would hang the gold in Perugia and that they have been two of the players who have worn the Spanish shirt the most times (253 games for the first and 252, for the second).
The National Team already warned in its first Games (in Barcelona 92 it finished 5th) and confirmed its growth in the European Championship in Perugia, although it came to Italy by the hair. An unexpected victory for Israel against Germany, after Spain lost to Czechoslovakia in the Pre-European, qualified Manolo Coloma’s that, already in the championship, they beat Slovakia in the semifinals (Czechoslovakia had just dissolved and most of the stars played with Slovakia and not with Czechia) and France in the final. “It was the result of the work of many years and many people”Coloma, one of the architects of the first gold for Spanish basketball, recognized years ago. “It was an important boost for women’s basketball.”
Blanca Ares, Carolina Mújica, Mónica Messa, Laura Grande, Ana Belén Álvaro, Betty Cebrián, Marina Ferragut, Paloma Sánchez, Wonny Geuer (the mother of the Hernangómez), Pilar Valero, Pilar Alonso and Mar Xantal They were the champions in Perugia and the first to achieve something that would later also be achieved by Amaya Valdemoro, Laia Palau, Alba Torrens …
The National Team lost by three at halftime (27-30), but going through the changing rooms did him good. “In the second half, at the end, Spain was used in defense with the usual efficiency and nerve. At the time he woke up in attack, with the fierce Blanca Ares as a revulsive “, said Martín Tello. The Madrilenian finished that day with 24 points (she made 14 free throws) and finished in the Eurobasket’s ideal quintet ”. “When I saw that wonderful triple of Blanca come in, I knew that success was assured”Coloma said that day. The score went from 36-34 to 43-34 for Spain, which with five minutes to go was already winning by 12 points, a sufficient income to hang a historic gold in the sport of our country and be the first team to enter the Hall of Fame. It will do so on October 21 at the Cartuja Stadium (Seville).