Temi Fagbenle

Tèmitọpẹ Títílọlá Oluwatòbilọba Fagbenle is a British-Nigerian female basketball player for Perfumerías Avenida of La Liga Feminina. She was chosen for the Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Temi Fagbenle

Fagbenle in 2019
No. 14 – Perfumerías Avenida
Position	Forward
League	La Liga Feminina
Personal information
Born	8 September 1992 Barnet, London
Nationality	Nigerian/British
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	197 lb (89 kg)
Career information
High school	Copthall School (London, England) Blair Academy (Blairstown, New Jersey)
College	Harvard (2012–2015) USC (2015–2016)
WNBA draft	2016 / Round: 3 / Pick: 35th overall
Selected by the Minnesota Lynx
Career history
2017	Minnesota Lynx
Career highlights and awards
WNBA champion (2017)

Personal life

Fagbenle was born on 8 September 1992 to a Nigerian family in Baltimore, Maryland, and has eleven siblings, including actor O. T. Fagbenle, film producer Luti Fagbenle, and video producer Oladapo 'Daps' Fagbenle.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Her family moved to London, United Kingdom when she was aged 2 and she began playing basketball at the Haringey Angels club. When she was fifteen she returned to the United States to study at Blair Academy in New Jersey.[5] She attended Harvard University before transferring to the University of Southern California for her final year of NCAA basketball.[6] As of 2012 she was 1.93 metres (6 ft 4 in) tall and weighs 79.5 kilograms (175 lb).[4]

Basketball career

Fagbenle dancing with a fan in 2017

During her time at Blair Academy Fagbenle was voted on to the McDonald’s All American High School team.[5] She has represented Great Britain at the under-16, 18 and 20 levels and competed at the 2011 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship held in Serbia.[6]

She was named in the British team for the women's basketball tournament at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London having been fast-tracked into the senior side from the under-20s.[8] The event is scheduled to take place between 28 July and 11 August with group stage matches being held at the Basketball Arena in the Olympic park and knock-out round matches at the North Greenwich Arena (also known as The O2 Arena).[9]

Her selection for the Olympics came after a 12-month period in which she was unable to play for the Harvard Crimson women's basketball team due to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) declaring her ineligible.[6] Fagbenle had taken the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exam whilst at school in the UK and NCAA rules say that an athlete must be enrolled in college within two years of sitting for the exam; Fagbenle took an additional year to graduate from high school because she repeated a year after moving to the United States.[10]

References

1. "Temi Fagbenle". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA.
2. Fagbenle, Temi (July 7, 2012). "Passions: Basketball star loves to tread the boards" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
3. "Temi Fagbenle has many ambitions, and one is to play for the Lynx". Star Tribune.
4. "Temi Fagbenle". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
5. Gallagher, Brendan (31 May 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Temi Fagbenle to take centre stage for British team after being fast-tracked from juniors". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
6. McCluskey, Jack (25 July 2012). "Temi Fagbenle on English holiday". ESPN Boston. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
7. Henson, Mike (4 February 2020). "Haringey, Harvard & Hollywood: The fabulous Temi Fagbenle and family". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
8. Telegraph Staff (22 June 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Temi Fagbenle in Team GB women's basketball squad". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
9. "Women's Basketball". Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
10. Nocera, Joe (27 January 2012). "Et Tu, Harvard?". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 July 2012.

External links

• Harvard Crimson bio
• USC Trojans bio

Perfumerías Avenida roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age SG 5 Cazorla, Maite 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) 23 – 18 June 1997 PG 6 Dominguez, Silvia 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in) 34 – 31 January 1987 F 15 Diallo, Umi 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 23 – 12 January 1998 PF 10 Gajić, Marica 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 25 – 27 April 1995 G/F 12 Hayes, Tiffany 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) 31 – 20 September 1989 F/C 21 Hof, Emese 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 24 – 29 May 1996 C 22 Milic, Nicolina 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 26 – 12 April 1994 G 4 Rodriguez, Leonor 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) 29 – 21 October 1991 G/F 44 Samuelson, Karlie 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 25 – 10 May 1995 SF 33 Samuelson, Katie Lou 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 23 – 13 June 1997 G 13 Vilaró, Andrea 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) 27 – 9 May 1993	Head coach Roberto Heredía Legend (C) Team captain Injured