FIBA Basketball

2024 Class of FIBA Hall of Fame: Skaidrite Smildzina-Budovska

MIES (Switzerland) - Three-time FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup champion and five-time FIBA Women's EuroBasket winner, Skaidrite Smildzina-Budovska is being inducted to the FIBA Hall of Fame.

A Latvian legend of the game and a gold medal magnet, the towering center was a dominant force for a Soviet Union side that reigned supreme for much of her illustrious career. So much so that Smildzina-Budovska never tasted a single defeat at a major FIBA tournament.

Something of a trailblazer under the basket, her defensive presence, skilled moves and success at also being a distributor for outside shooters won her significant acclaim.

Smildzina-Budovska debuted at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in 1959 in Moscow. It was a quite staggering first competition for the Riga native, who announced her arrival on the global stage in spectacular fashion.

She was just 16-years-old when she scored more than half her team's points with a haul of 26 during the last day 51-38 victory against fierce rivals Bulgaria. A new star of the women's game had been born.

Success then came on the world stage in South America when she stood on top of the podium during 1964 in Peru, followed by her last FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup and medal in Czechoslovakia in 1967.

Peppered around those three titles were a superb collection of five FIBA Women's EuroBasket trophies between 1960 and 1968, with Smildzina-Budovska averaging double-digits at each edition.

Meanwhile at club level, her accomplishments were equally, if not even more impressive. She lifted the European Cup an eye-bulging 11 times with TTT Riga where she was the captain and the heartbeat of the team.

Recognition came later in her life when she was awarded the prestigious High Latvian State Three Stars Order award in 1998, while she is also an Honorary Member of Latvian Basketball Association.

Smildzina-Budovska is being enshrined in the Class of 2024 which includes two other female players in Miao Lijie (China) and Danira Nakic-Bilic (Croatia). The Class also includes Reggie Miller (USA), Kirk Samuel Penney (New Zealand), Romain Sato (Central African Republic) and Predrag Stojakovic (Serbia). There is also coaching recognition for renowned playcaller Daniel Lowell Peterson (USA)

The 2024 FIBA Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place in Singapore later this year, during September.

Name	Skaidrite SMILDZINA-BUDOVSKA
Category of Inductee	Player (Center)
Date of birth	March 2nd 1943
Place of birth	Riga, Latvia
Nationality	Latvian
Height	1.90m - 6ft 3in
Clubs	Riga 1st Children's Sports School (1953-1957) VEF (1957-1958) Daugava Riga (1957-1958) TTT Riga (1958-1972) [/unordered]
Club highlights	Latvian League champion (1958) Soviet Union Winter Tournament for Class A teams champion (1959) Twelve-time USSR League champion (1960-1969, 1971, 1972) Eleven-time European Cup for Champion Clubs winner (1960-1962, 1964-1969, 1971, 1972) [/unordered]
National Team highlights	Three-time FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup gold medallist (1959, 1964, 1967) Five-time FIBA Women's EuroBasket gold medallist (1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968) Two-time University Games gold medallist (1965, 1967) Three-time USSR Spartakiad champion (1963, 1967, 1971) [/unordered]
Individual highlights	Debuted with Daugava Riga at 15 years old (1958) Debuted with Soviet National Team at 16 years old (1959) TTT Riga Captain (1963-1969) World Cup All Star Five and Miss World Cup (1964) Played in four USSR Spartakiads (1959, 1963, 1967, 1971) USSR Master of Sports (1960) USSR international Master of Sports (1966) USSR Meritorious Master of Sports (1968) High Latvian State Three Stars Order award (1998) Honorary Member of Latvian Basketball Association. [/unordered]

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