Winner of five gold medals with the United States, she lived in Rosario in the 1990s, adores Messi and wears shoes with the image of Eva Perón.
the legendary Diana Taurasiof the Phoenix Mercurybecame this Thursday the first player in the history of the WNBA in earn 10,000 points in the regular season.
Taurasi, a three-time WNBA champion and a five-time Olympic gold medalist with the United States, he needed 18 points to reach that milestone and he excelled with a great game of 42 points in the triumph of his team against the Atlanta Dream by 91-71.
The Mercury player, who in 2017 she became the all-time leading scorer in the WNBAreached 10,000 points with a triple.
Diana Taurusi, the great protagonist of the night. Behind her, an Argentine shirt. Photo: AP Photo/Matt York.
According to ESPN data, Taurasi, 41, is the oldest player with a game of at least 40 points in the WNBA.
In the NBA, the only player with more than 40 points in a game and over 40 years of age was Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards in 2003.
The daughter of an Italian and former soccer player and a mother from Santa Fe, the year she lived in Rosario, in the mid-90s, marked her life. “Rosario will always be the house. There’s the family. People walking, the bakery, the grocery store, the butcher shop, there in the United States you don’t see those things,” Taurasi recounted a few years ago, in an interview with Clarion.
“I remember when I was little. Saturday morning, they gave you a few pesos and told me ‘go buy some bills’. I would go with my sister, walking, we would buy bills, some bottles of soda, wine, pum pum, we would take them home. There was my aunt who made the gnocchi… All those things are on my mind, ”she evoked about Rosario, in addition to declaring her sympathy for Central, like all her maternal family.
In that talk that was given during a Pre-Olympic tournament held in Bahía Blanca, Diana recalled her first time at the Gigante de Arroyito, nothing less than in that mythical match in which the Scoundrel came back from 0-4 against Atlético Mineiro for the 1995 Conmebol Cup, when I was 13 years old: “There were my father, my sister and me. Everyone in that party. A mess! The truth, I loved it. People built bridges over the river to cross it.”
The smile of Diana Taurasi, figure of Phoenix Mercury, after scoring the basket that gave her the 10,000 point. Photo: AP Photo/Matt York.
Her fanaticism for Central does not prevent her from being a devotee of Lionel Messi. In fact, her son is called Leo in honor of the Argentine star and Messi had named his dog. “It would be nice to find him to say “thank you”, from one athlete to another, to see how he works, how professional he is. The pressure he has is not felt by anyone in the world. All eyes are looking at him. What if he sings the Anthem , whether or not he speaks to the press, if he scratches his ear. He is in a very difficult position”, Diana described in 2019, long before Leo reversed his history with the National Team and without imagining that this year he would have him playing in your own country.
During that Pre-Olympic, a certain Manu Ginóbili dedicated a message to the people of Bahia, recommending that they go see Diana so as not to miss “the best player in history.”
“When we talk about soccer, we talk about Maradona… And the truth is when we talk about basketball, you talk about Manu Ginóbili. What he did in the world of basketball is incredible. When you think about it, a boy from Bahía Blanca changed how to play basketball in the NBA. He changed the movements, how to play with five out now. That was Manu,” said Diana.
A life of struggle and commitment
In 2012, FIBA fined her for not respecting the dress code that it considered sexist. In 2017, she married her former Phoenix partner, Australian Penny Taylor, who gave birth to her son. In a culture that walks slowly towards integration and diversity, her attitude towards her life earned her recognition in the United States.
Diana Taurasi married Australian Penny Taylor in 2017. Photo: Twitter
“Many times people do not say anything because they do not want to lose the position they have. We see that in business, in corporations, in banks, in politics. It is the truth, but that was not going to stop me from saying what was fair. He never stopped me,” Diana told Clarín.
And he added: “I want my son to be able to say what he thinks tomorrow. It cost me a lot. But if you think something is right and the next people will help him, the next generation, it has to be said Because otherwise it will affect you, your kids and their kids.”
Diana Taurasi with her personalized shoes. In one of them the image of Eva Perón stands out on the heel. (Photo: Twitter Phoenix Mercury) See also
2023-08-04 13:03:58
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