USA Basketball
A three-time Olympian, she earned gold medals in 1984 and 1988. Her team did not go to the Olympics in 1980, due to the 1980 Olympic boycott.
Donovan also played on two USA Women's Pan American Teams. She played on the 1983 team, winning the gold in Venezuela, and on the 1987 team winning the gold in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Donovan was selected to represent the USA at the inaugural Goodwill games, held in Moscow in July 1986. North Carolina State's Kay Yow served as head coach. The team opened up with a 72–53 of Yugoslavia, and followed that with a 21 point win over Brazil 91–70, with Donovan leading the team scoring with 20 points. The third game was against Czechoslovakia and would be much closer. Donovan was one of the scoring leaders in this game, scoring 15 points to help the USA to a 78–70 victory. The USA faced Bulgaria in the semi-final match up, and again won, this time 67–58. This setup the final against the Soviet Union, led by 7-foot-2 Ivilana Semenova, considered the most dominant player in the world. The Soviet team, had a 152–2 record in major international competition over the prior three decades, including an 84–82 win over the USA in the 1983 World Championships. The Soviets held the early edge, leading 21–19 at one time, before the USA went on a scoring run to take a large lead they would never relinquish. The final score was 83–60 in favor of the USA, earning the gold medal for the USA squad. For the entire event, Donovan averaged eleven points, tied for third leading scorer with Katrina McClain Johnson.
Donovan continued to represent the USA with National team at the 1986 World Championship, held in Moscow, a month after the Goodwill games in Moscow. The USA team was even more dominant this time. The early games were won easily, and the semifinal against Canada, while the closest game for the USA so far, ended up an 82–59 victory. At the same time, the Soviet team was winning easily as well, and the final game pitted two teams each with 6–0 records. The Soviet team, having lost only once at home, wanted to show that the Goodwill games setback was a fluke. The USA team started by scoring the first eight points, and raced to a 45–23 lead, although the Soviets fought back and reduced the halftime margin to 13. The USA went on a 15—1 run in the second half to out the game away, and ended up winning the gold medal with a score of 108–88. Donovan was one of five double-digit scorers in the game with 16 points.
In January 2006, USA Basketball named Donovan head coach of the 2008 Beijing Olympics US women's team. She had been the assistant coach of the team four years earlier. Her USA team won the Gold medal, beating Australia.
Read more about this topic: Anne Donovan
Famous quotes containing the words usa and/or basketball:
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