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Tina Thompson-Pope 2007 Ms. Fitness Competitor msfitness.com |
Tina Marie Thompson (born February 10, 1975 in Los Angeles, California) is a professional basketball player in the WNBA for the Los Angeles Sparks. The first draft pick in WNBA history, Thompson was selected first by the Houston Comets. She helped lead the Comets to four WNBA Championships. She has won two Olympic Gold Medals and has made 9 WNBA All-Star Game appearances, the most recent being 2009. She is second in the most points scored in WNBA history, behind Lisa Leslie (5,865).
[edit] Early YearsTina grew up playing basketball with her brother TJ and his friends at Robertson Park in West Los Angeles, California. She recorded more than 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds in her high school career at Morningside High School in Inglewood, California, where she also played volleyball. She then went on to play basketball at the University of Southern California, where she graduated in 1997. She attended both high school and college with fellow WNBA player Lisa Leslie. [edit] WNBA careerThompson became a member of the Houston Comets dynasty that won four consecutive WNBA championships from 1997-2000. She was selected #1 overall in round 1 of the 1997 WNBA draft. Thompson is a nine-time All-Star, winning MVP honors at the 2000 All-Star Game. She led all Western Conference players in All-Star voting in 2001. Thompson has been named to the All-WNBA First Team three times (1997, 1998, 2004) and All-WNBA Second Team four times (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002). She gave birth to her first child, a son whose father is NBA player Damon Jones, in May 2005; she resumed playing with the Comets only two months later[1]. Thompson is the WNBA's second all-time leading scorer behind Lisa Leslie. Thompson scored 28 points in a loss to the New York Liberty on June 5, 2008, becoming the second player to reach the milestone of 5,000 points in the WNBA after Katie Smith. She has several game-day superstitions, including taking a shower after shootaround, taking a 45-minute nap, wearing lipstick to play every game and dressing in a specific order. [edit] International careerThompson was an alternate for the 2000 Olympic squad. Thompson is a current member of the U.S. women's basketball team and she earned a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games: Beijing 2008. She was named to the '98 and 2002 USA World Championship teams, but injuries kept her from both competitions. She would earn her gold medal in 2004 in Greece. Thompson has also participated in other professional leagues overseas. Following the 2001 WNBA season, Thompson played for Rovereto Basket in Rovereto, Italy and in 2003 she played for the Kumho Falcons of the Women’s Korea Basketball League (WKBL). [edit] Overseas
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Categories: 1975 births | Living people | African American basketball players | People from Los Angeles, California | Power forwards (basketball) | Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics | Basketball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics | Olympic gold medalists for the United States | Houston Comets players | USC Trojans women's basketball players | Olympic basketball players of the United States | Basketball players from California | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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