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Women's Basketball: Facts and Records

Women's basketball: Olympic champions, EuroBasket and World Cup history, legends and records.

21 The Soviet women's team won 21 of the 22 EuroBaskets it played between 1950 and 1991.

1953 The first women's World Championship, in 1953, was played outdoors at Chile's national stadium in Santiago. The USA beat the hosts 49-36 in the final.

18 Latvian women's club TTT Riga won the European Champions Cup 18 times, including 12 in a row from 1964 to 1975. TTT stood for the Riga tram and trolleybus company.

1975 In 1975 Japan's women won silver at the World Championship in Colombia, losing the final to the Soviet Union.

1976 Women's basketball joined the Olympics in Montreal in 1976, and the Soviet Union won the first gold.

1984 Pat Summitt won Olympic silver as a US player in 1976 and gold as coach in 1984, the first US Olympian to win basketball medals in both roles.

5 Teresa Edwards was the first basketball player to play at five Olympics, from 1984 to 2000, winning four golds and a bronze.

1984 South Korea's women won Olympic silver in Los Angeles in 1984, still their only Olympic medal.

56 In 1986 in Moscow the US women beat the Soviet Union 108-88, ending the Soviets' 56-game winning streak at World Championships.

58 Uļjana Semjonova, 2.13 m tall, wore size 58 shoes. In 1993 she became the first non-American woman inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame.

1994 In 1994 Brazil's women became world champions, beating China 96-87 in the final. It ended 41 years in which only the USA and the Soviet Union had won the title.

8 The USA women won eight Olympic golds in a row from 1996 to 2024. The 2024 final against France ended 67-66.

6 Diana Taurasi won six Olympic golds with the USA, from 2004 to 2024, more than any other basketball player.

2006 Australia's women won their first world title in Brazil in 2006, beating Russia 91-74 in the final. Penny Taylor was MVP.

2 Serbia's women won EuroBasket in 2015 and 2021, beating France in both finals.

5 In 2021 Japan's women won their fifth straight Asia Cup, beating China 78-73 in the final.

67-65 In 2025 Belgium's women retained the EuroBasket title, again beating Spain in the final, this time 67-65. Emma Meesseman was MVP both times.

5 In 2025 Nigeria's women became the first team to win five AfroBaskets in a row, beating Mali 78-64 in the final.

43 Lauren Jackson came out of retirement and won Olympic bronze with Australia in Paris at 43. It was her fifth Olympic medal.

581 Australia's Lauren Jackson scored 581 Olympic points, the most by any woman.

5 Sue Bird won five World Cup medals, four gold and one bronze, a record.

15 Uļjana Semjonova joined TTT Riga at 13 and won the European Champions Cup with the club 15 times.

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