Former Westerwinds player on Latvian Olympic team

Former Westerwinds basketball player Zane (Teilane)Tamane competed in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing for her home country as a member of the Latvian Women’s National Basketball team. 

This was the first Latvian team to compete in the summer Olympics since Latvia regained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.Zane (Teilane) Tamane

While Tamane and her teammates had a tough series, going 1-4, the experience at the Olympics was a thrill.

“I am so thankful to God that I have this opportunity to be here with the best athletes of the world,” Tamane e-mailed the Monmouth (Ill.) Daily Review Atlas, which covered her team’s progress. “It was not an easy road, but it was always my dream to be here, and here I am. It feels incredible!”

Tamane is also quick to give credit to her former Western coaches, as she told the Macomb Eagle:  “Being able to play at WIU definitely helped me to achieve a lot of things in my basektball career. Coach (Leslie) Crane and Coach (Todd) Schulze taught me a lot about basketball and myself. I became a much better player and person. I gained confidence and learned how to believe in myself.”

Tamane was the Westerwinds’ starting center from 2002-2006, and she finished her career as the all-time school leader in points (1,547), field goal percentage (.529), blocked shots (406) and rebounds (982), in addition to holding the record for consecutive free throws made (53).  She became the first women’s basketball player in WIU and Mid-Continent Conference (now The Summit League) history to be drafted into the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in 2006; played for the WNBA Washington Mystics; and, prior to the Olympics, played for Spain’s professional team Hondarribia-Irun. Post-Olympics, Tamane is planning to contine basketball with a professional club in Russia.

She started each of the five Olympic games, averaging nearly 16 minutes per game. In the must-win-to-advance game vs. Korea, Tamane recorded her best game with 11 rebounds, 11 points and two blocked shots in 17:13 minutes of play. Throughout the five Olympic games, Tamane led her team in offensive boards (13) and tied for the lead in steals (6).

Tamane shares the Olympic competition spirit with only two other Westerwinds: standout softball players Dot Richardson, now an orthopedic surgeon who played her freshman year at Western in 1980, and was a member of the gold-winning 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic teams; and Canadian Kara McGaw ‘90, who competed for Western Illinois from 1986-1989, and played in the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 as a member of the Canadian Olympic Softball Team.

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