Olympian won basketball golds as a player and a coach
Anne Donovan, who has died aged 56, won Olympic gold medals as both a basketball player and coach, and was the first woman to lead a team to the WNBA championship.
Donovan, who was 6ft 8in (2.03 metres) tall, was one of the most dominant players in women’s basketball history. At Old Dominion University in Virginia, she helped lead her team to a national championship.
As an Olympian, she played on gold medal-winning United States teams in 1984 and 1988. She won another Olympic gold medal as a head coach, guiding her team to a 92-65 victory over previously undefeated Australia in the championship game at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
In the professional ranks, Donovan had her greatest success coaching the Seattle Storm, winning the WNBA championship in 2004.
‘‘I am very happy that we finally have a woman coach win a WNBA championship, and obviously happy that it is me,’’ Donovan said in 2004.
‘‘Women need some credential to get the respect we deserve as coaches. This will give that credential. It shows there are great women coaches in the game. This will help us with the next barrier.’’
At the time, Donovan was one of five female head coaches – out of 13 – in the WNBA. Today, six of the 12 teams are coached by women.
Earlier in life, Donovan overcame other barriers, including the social burden of being exceptionally tall. (Her seven brothers and sisters ranged in height from 5ft 11in to 7ft 1in.) When she went out in public, she was often addressed as ‘‘Sir’’.
‘‘I saw four older sisters go through the trials of prom and dates and no dates, and stares and jokes,’’ Donovan told USA Today in 2008.
‘‘It helped me through it. There are difficult days . . . and then there are days when they put a gold medal around your neck.’’
She weighed only 75 kilograms when she reached her full height as a high school student in Paramus, New Jersey. She gained confidence through basketball, and more than 200 colleges vied to recruit her. She chose Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia.
Anne Theresa Donovan was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the youngest of eight children. Her father died when she was 5, and her mother, who later remarried, worked as a secretary.
At Paramus Catholic High School, opposing players were so overmatched that Donovan asked her coach to stop using a full-court press, saying, ‘‘You’re not the one looking into that poor girl’s eyes.’’
After graduating from Old Dominion in 1983, she was a member of the US national team and played professionally in Japan and Italy. She began coaching in 1989, was the head coach of five WNBA teams and one in the old American Basketball League. But she never matched the success she found with Seattle in 2004 or with her gold medal-winning 2008 Olympic squad.
She died as a result of a heart ailment. Survivors include four sisters and two brothers. – Washington Post