FIBA Basketball

2020 Class of FIBA Hall of Fame: Isabelle Fijalkowski

MIES (Switzerland) - Isabelle Fijalkowski, the All-Time leading scorer of the French national team is being honored as an inductee of the FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

MIES (Switzerland) - Isabelle Fijalkowski, the all-time leading scorer of the French national team is being honored as an inductee of the FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

Fijalkowski and eight other players - Steve Nash (Canada), Mieczyslaw Lopatka (Poland), Agnes Nemeth (Hungary), Park Shin-ja (Korea), Modestas Paulauskas (Lithuania), Kenichi Sako (Japan), Alexander Volkov (Ukraine) and Jure Zdovc (Slovenia) - are being enshrined as part of the Class of 2020, as well as legendary coaches Ruben Magnano (Argentina), Svetislav Pesic (Serbia) and Tara Van Derveer (USA).

Racking up a staggering 2,562 points while representing her country, the center played in 204 games in a French jersey. She reached the title game of the FIBA Women's EuroBasket three times during her four Final Round appearances, the most memorable of which was in 2001 when she was crowned champion. Her influence was huge as she led France in both scoring and rebounding.

Fijalkowski climbed to the top step of the podium in 2011 as France won the FIBA Women's EuroBasket on home soil

Other highlights wearing her beloved national team vest came when the Clermont-Ferrand native stepped out for the 1994 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, along with the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

There was also plenty to celebrate at club level too, with Fijalkowski winning two EuroLeague Women titles, also taking MVP honors in her first with Bourges Basket in 1997. She sparkled with a trademark contribution of 24 points and 12 rebounds in the Final.

A year later and she was Stateside being crowned a WNBA Eastern Conference winner at the Cleveland Rockers. It wasn't the first time that she had crossed the Atlantic, having won the Big Eight Conference earlier in her burgeoning career while playing college basketball at the University of Colorado.

A stack of trophies were also landed by Fijalkowski in both France and Italy where she was named MVP of both domestic leagues.

Revered by fans and colleagues, it's no surprise that the individual accolades kept on coming and she was awarded the French Ministry of Youth and Sports silver medal in 2004, followed by being inducted into the French Basketball Academy in 2011.

Then, a crowning glory came for Fijalkowski when she had the Chevalier de l’Ordre du mérite national bestowed upon her in 2015.

Name	Isabelle FIJALKOWSKI
Category of Inductee	Player (Center)
Date of birth	May 23, 1972
Place of birth	Clermont-Ferrand, France
Nationality	French
Height	1.95 m – 6ft 5in
Clubs	AS Montferrand (1988 – 1991) Challes-les-Eaux (1991 – 1992) Stade Clermontois Auvergne Basket 63 (1992 – 1994) University of Colorado, Boulder NCAA (1994 – 1995) CJM Bourges Basket (1995 – 1997) Pool Comense (1997 – 2000) Cleveland Rockers (1997 – 1998) Union Sportive Valenciennes Olympic (2000 – 2002) [/unordered]
Club Highlights	Big Eight Conference champion - NCAA (1995) Four-time EuroLeague Women finalist (1996, 1998, 1999, 2001) Two-time EuroLeague Women champion (1997, 2002) Five-time French league champion (1992, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002) WNBA Eastern Conference champion (1998) Two-time Italian league champion (1998, 1999) Two-time French Cup champion (2001,2002) [/unordered]
National Team highlights	FIBA Women's EuroBasket gold medalist (2001) Two-time FIBA Women's EuroBasket silver medalist (1993, 1999) Played four times at the FIBA Women's EuroBasket(1993, 1995, 1999, 2001) Played in one Olympic Games (2000) Played in one FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup (1994) Top scorer of French national team with 2.562 points in 204 games (1990 - 2001) [/unordered]
Individual highlights	EuroLeague Women MVP (1996-1997) French league MVP (1996-1997) Italian league MVP (1998-1999) French Ministry of Youth and Sports silver medal (2004) Inducted into the French Basketball Academy (2011) Chevalier de l’Ordre du mérite national (2015) [/unordered]

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