Ouliana Semenova: her name probably doesn’t mean much to those born after the 1960s. Without her, however, French sport and basketball would be a few European Cups richer. They would not have waited for Limoges or Marseille in the early 1990s to triumph.
The “young ladies of Clermont” who formed the flagship team of French basketball would have won a few continental trophies in the 1970s well before them. Only at that time, an extraordinary player in every sense of the word laid down the law and stood in their way: the Latvian Ouliana Semenova. Or rather the Soviet Uliana Semenova because, in those not so distant times, Latvia was part of the USSR.
This player was extraordinary, one of the greatest players of all time. Firstly by the size: 2m10 officially for the Latvian federation, 2m13 most often accepted, even if a height of up to 2m20 has sometimes been mentioned… We will never know, and this is undoubtedly part of the myth Semenova, who also wore… 58.
Undefeated with the USSR from 1968 to 1986
Then by his track record, gargantuan, unique, undoubtedly forever unequaled: two Olympic gold medals with the USSR in 1976 and 1980, three World Championships (1971, 1975, 1983), 10 consecutive European Championships between 1968 and 1985. To which must be added 11 European Cups for champion clubs, the ancestor of the Euroleague, with Riga, as well as 15 USSR championships. With her, the USSR remained undefeated until the end, on all grounds, between 1968 and the end of her international career in 1986.
It must be said that with Ouliana Semenova on her team, basketball seemed easy. She gave 30 to 40 cm to all the other players. All you had to do was give him the ball and it was in. On rebounds, she was impregnable. On the other side, you didn’t have to go in front: nothing happened.
The young ladies of Clermont have experienced this. In the 1970s, the Auvergnates of the CUC (Clermont Université Club) of Jacky Chazalon or Élisabeth Riffiod, Boris Diaw’s mother, reigned over French basketball. We are talking about a time when their matches and their European finals are broadcast at a prime time that is not yet called prime time, and live on one of the country’s three channels in black and white. At a time when basketball did not enjoy the same prestige as today, where the NBA was unknown, they rivaled the footballers of Saint-Étienne in popularity.
She performed in France
The Clermontoises played five European finals in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1977. Each time, their opponents were the same: Riga and Ouliana Semenova, who gave them no chance. The gentle giant, too strong, is then hated in France for her ultradomination. She didn’t deserve it. Those who met her found her adorable.
His size was unfortunately not natural. Uliana Semenova suffered from acromegaly, a growth abnormality. She suffered from it, physically. She measured 1m90 at 13 years old and already 2m07 at 16 years old.
She ended her career in Spain for one last tango then in Valenciennes-Orchies to become the first Soviet to play outside the borders in 1989. Illness caught up with her before she left basketball. Diabetes and other joint infections spoiled the end of his journey.
Leg amputee in 2022
But this is nothing compared to what awaited him in the last years of his life. Impotent due to her size, she underwent a leg amputation in 2022. Unable to walk, she ended her life as a champion destitute.
She found her salvation in an unthinkable gesture of friendship. The young ladies from Clermont, who became his friends, opened a fund to allow him to furnish his apartment in Riga.
The first non-American player to enter the American Hall of Fame, where the best players in history are inducted, Ouliana Semenova died on January 8, at the age of 73.
