When Rachael Sporn made her debut with the Australian Team in 1989 she was the tallest player so every time the Opals played China it would be Rachael and Karen Dalton who would do their best to try and defend Haixai(Baby Huey). Rachael was 6ft 2" (187cms)and weighed 68kgs, Haixai was 6ft 9"(206cms) and weighed 120kgs. Rachael describes their differences and similarities. “The difference in our physiques was obvious but our love for the game was the same. She intrigued me greatly and I would have loved to sit down with her and have a great conversation but her English was so limited that we just kept it to 'hello' and 'great game' During the 2004 Beijing Olympics we met again Her smile told me that she remembered me which made me feel very special, and reminds me that sport is so wonderful in building life-long friendships and memories.”
Rachael Pamela Sporn was born on May 26th 1968 in Murrayville a small country town with a population of 300 in North West Victoria. Basketball was introduced to the area in the year she was born.One of the first women to start playing basketball in Murrayville wasRachael’s mother.
According to Rachael her mother was the biggest influence on her career in the early days as her passion and love for the game was very obvious and this filtered through to Rachael. Basketball was played over summer and Rachael tagged along to training and games. There was no junior competition to play in so at the age of nine Rachael started playing in the ‘B’ grade with adults.
“I was lucky to get five minutes at the end of the game in my first year. By the age of twelve I was a lot taller and playing in the ‘A’ grade with mum,” recalls Rachael. The Sporn duo won five premierships in five years together in their team “The Shadows.”
The games were played on outdoor asphalt courts so, “there was no diving on the ball in those days,” says Rachael.
Rachael was a natural athlete, with a willowy physique suited for sports with speed, agility and leaping.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be a track and field athlete and go to the Olympics as a sprinter. I grew up idolising Raelene Boyle,” says Rachael.
Graham Wyatt, who coached Rachael for her entire time in Murrayville, was also another big influence on her career. He ensured such a positive start to her basketball career as Rachael fondly recalls,“He was a very gentle soul who knew how to get the best out of me.”
When Rachael was seventeen and playing in an Association game in Bordertown, a West Adelaide Basketball Scout saw her play and alerted the West Adelaide coaches about her. When Rachael finished Year 12 she moved to Adelaide in 1986 to play basketball. She recalls, “I was a country kid suddenly playing in the Women’s National Basketball League!”
Rachael was a late starter in representative basketball and only played one year of State Basketball and that was in 1987 for the SA Metro U’20’s Women’s Team that won the National Championship. She was off to a good start!
Rachael’s Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) career was outstanding and ranks with the all time best. She played 377 games in the WNBL with West Adelaide Bearcats (1986-89), North Adelaide Rockets (1990-1991), West Adelaide Bearcats (1992) and Adelaide Lightning (1993-2004). She played on five WNBL Championships winning teams, North Adelaide (1990) and Adelaide Lightning (1994, 1995,1996 and 1998).
In her nineteen year career in the WNBL she was voted to the All Star Five team seven times, twice was named as the WNBL Most Valuable Player (MVP), is the all time leading scorer and rebounder in WNBL history and holds the WNBL record for rebounds in a single game (27). She put together an outstanding career for its longevity, loyalty and excellence.
Rachael’s international career began in 1989 when she played for the Australian Team in a series against the Japanese National Team in Japan. That same year she played for Australia in the Oceania Championships which were held in New Zealand, and with the National Team on its thirteen match tour of the USA.
After the European tour Rachael had shown the coaches that she could play international basketball at the highest level and she was selected for the Australian Team for the 1990 World Championships which were held in Malaysia. After playing in the Seoul Goodwill Tournament the Australian Team competed in the World Championships in Malaysia and gained a highly credible 6th place. That same year Rachael played for Australia in the Goodwill Games in Seattle.
In 1991 the USSR, China, Korea Series in Australia was Rachael’s next series of games for Australia. She followed this series with an arduous twelve match tour with Australia to the USA.
Selection on the Australian Team for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics wasRachael’s personal focus in 1992. In 1992 Rachael was a member of the Australian Team that played China, after which she was selected for her first Olympic Team. However Australia still had to qualify for the Olympic Finals in Barcelona. After a game in Italy on the way to Spain the Australian Team played in the 1992 Olympic Qualification Tournament in Vigo, Spain.
Australia had to finish in the top four teams at the Olympic Qualification Tournament. The top three teams in each group of eight played off for the four positions. The Australians finished equal third in their Group with Brazil both with a five wins two losses record but as Brazil had defeated the Aussies(in overtime) in the group matches, Brazil went through to the finals in Barcelona and the Australians were out of the Olympics!
”My dreams of playing my first Olympics were shattered,” Rachael recalls.
In 1993 Rachael played for the Australian Team in Australia in a series against the Ukraine and in a match against the USA.
The international basketball year of 1993 was completed when she toured with Australia on a nine match tour to China.
Rachael was named the 1993 Basketball Australia International Player of the Year.
The 1994 World Women’s Championships were to be held in Sydney and Rachael and the Australian Team (now called the Opals) had a chance to “ease some of the pain” from the failure in 1992 Olympic Qualification Tournament.
Rachael played for the Opals in 1994 in a three match series against Japan, a five match series against Russia, three matches against Bulgaria, and in the Pre-OZ94 Games (Brazil, France, Canada, USA) leading into the World Championships. Rachael was selected as a member of the Opals Team for the World Championships.
In the 1994 World Championships the Opals played very well but fell agonizingly close to that elusive medal when they finished the tournament in 4th position. So near and yet so far!
At the end of 1994 Rachael toured to China with the Opals.In 1995 the Opals with Rachael as a team member won the Oceania 1996 Olympic Qualification Tournament, playedagainst China and toured for six games in Europe.
The 1996 Atlanta Olympics loomed as the Opalsstrongest chance yet to win their first medal at Olympics or World Championships. Rachael was selected on the Australian Team for the Atlanta Olympics. After playing in the World Basketball Challenge against the USA, Cuba and the Ukraine, the Opals played in two pre-Olympic Tournaments (in Canada and the USA) on their way to Atlanta.
Rachael and the Opals achieved their aim of winning an Olympic Medal whenthey defeated the Ukraine in the Bronze Medal game and after a dramatic overtime win against Russia in the Quarter-Finals.
“Due to the heartache of 1992, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games were incredibly special and our Bronze Medal an immensely proud achievement,” concludes Rachael.
She also recalls,“The awesome experience of playing in front of 35,000 people in the Georgia Dome when we played the USA in the semi-final was something very special.”
In 1997 Rachael played for the Opals against Japan, Russia, then in the Oceania 1998 World Championship Qualification Tournament, in the USQ Tournament against the USA in the USA, and against Brazil in Brazil.
The 1998 World Championships were where Rachael and the team had to confirm that the medal in Atlanta was “no fluke”. In preparation the Opals, with Rachael as a team member, played in the Japan Women’s Basketball Festival, the Grand Prix of Slovakia and the Portugal Tournament prior to the 1998 World Championships in Germany.
The Opals proved again they were a world class team when they won the Bronze Medal in the World Championships. After the World Championships the Opals and Rachael finished their 1998 campaigns with the Maher Cup against China, and the Goldmark Cup against the USA.
In 1998 Rachael was drafted in to the world’s best league, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the USA. She went on to play 71 games in that League. She played with the Detroit Shock in 1998, 1999 and 2001 seasons.
In 1999 Rachael played for the Opals against Cuba and Brazil in Australia and captained the team in the three game series against Brazil.
In 1999 Rachael suffered what could have been a career ending injury when playing with Cleveland in the WNBA. Rachael explains, “I shredded my ACL, damaged my lateral meniscus and medial ligament and had the worst impaction fracture of the femoral condyle that my surgeon had seen. Thankfully I had a brilliant surgeon and amazing support during rehabilitation and was back in training in seven months and played for the Opals against Russia in Adelaide nine months after surgery.”
Rachael’s personal sights were now clearly focused on playing for the Opals in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The year 2000 was a busy one for her. She captained the Opals against Russia and in the Olympic Test Event, and against Canada in Australia and then for six matches in France and Poland. She also captained the team against New Zealand when the team returned from Europe. The final build-up for the Olympics included the C7 International Challenge, another game against New Zealand, and games against the USA and Brazil.
Going into the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Rachael and the Opals were confident. They knew they had a great team and playing at home gave them the extra factor they felt they needed. Rachael was now the Vice-Captain of the team.
For all the Opals team members the Sydney Olympics were a special event. Rachael recalls. “At the Sydney 2000 Olympics the most awesome experience for me was the Opening Ceremony. Walking out to the most amazing reception by our wonderful Australian fans and then seeing Cathy Freeman light the Olympic Cauldron when only a few minutes earlier she had been marching with us into the Olympic stadium.......it was spine tingling.”
It was also spine tingling when the Opals stepped onto the medal dais to be awarded their Silver Medals after being defeated by the USA in the Final of the Olympic Tournament. They would have liked a Gold Medal but Silver was magnificent!
Rachael was now 32 years of age. Despite her late start in basketball she had crammed a lot into her basketball career. She continued in the WNBA in 2001 with the Detroit Shock and still managed to tour Europe (France and Spain) with the Opals as Captain of the team. She also captained the Opals to win the Oceania 2002 World Championships Qualification Tournament.
Rachael did not play basketball in 2002 as she gave birth to her daughter Teja a week before the World Championships.
In 2003 Rachael played for the Opals on a European tour to Greece, Belgium and France, and then in the Oceania 2004 Olympic Qualification Tournament which they won.
The next year (2004)another Olympics loomed for Rachael. She was 36 years of age. She had played for thirteen years in the WNBL, three seasons in the WNBA, had Olympic Silver and Bronze Medals, and two World Championships Bronze Medals. Would she make it to another Olympics?
She had the experience and leadership that would be a great asset to the Opals.
Rachael had always been a superb athlete. At 6’2” in height and only 68kgs in weight she was continually called on to play against and defend much bigger opponents. Her superb fitness, athleticism and toughness were always put to the test but she continued to win. Her athleticism and speed up and down the court and her high release jump-shot made her difficult to defend. She was also a leader! If anyone could play at another Olympics and at 36 years of age it would be Rachel Sporn.
She captained the Opals for two games in the four game series of the Opals World Challenge in 2004 and then captained the team on a six match tour to China.
Athens 2004 loomed and Rachael was chosen on the Australian Olympic Team.In the pre-Olympic build-up the Opals played in Spain, in the Czech Republic and in the FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament in Crete.
Once again the Olympic Tournament was to be a battle between Australia and the USA for the Gold Medal and again it was the USA who won out and the Opals who won another Silver Medal. It was a disappointment for Rachael and the team but also immense pride as the Opals had again proven to the world that they were one of the two best teams in their sport.
2004 was the year that Rachael decided to retire from basketball. At 36 years of age she had achieved everything she could achieve except for winning the Olympic Gold Medal, but she would have to leave that to the Opals who were to follow.She had won two Silver Medals and one Bronze Medal at Olympic Games and a Bronze Medal at a World Championships. Rachael played over 300 games for her country in an illustrious international career.
Rachael looks back, “I was lucky enough to be in an era where we achieved much Olympic success. Thus standing on the podium in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens are my most memorable moments. It was incredibly emotional and rewarding to step up on the podium with eleven other team mates who had all achieved something amazing together.”
Kristi Harrower one of Rachael’s Olympic team-mates says, “The player I loved playing with the most was Rachel Sporn.....such a great leader and positive person.”
After retirement Rachael, who has two children, continued to enjoy a very active lifestyle. Rachael says, “I want to pass onto my children what I have learnt in basketball. Basketball defined me as a sportsperson and taught me what it means to be part of an extremely successful, professional and classy outfit like the Opals. The values and attitudes that you display as an Opal are with you for life.”
She continues, “Sport has been an integral part of my life. It has shaped me as a person and has given me so much confidence and independence that I have always felt I can tackle anything that is put in front of me. Thanks to sport I have the most enduring and beautiful friendships that you could ever wish for.”
Rachael continued in basketball as a television commentator in the WNBL and was a commentator at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. She has been on the Basketball Australia Honours Commission and the WNBL Project Working Group. She also played in two Australian Masters Games and comments, “I finally won a Gold Medal!”
Rachael Sporn was inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame in 1996 and into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame in 2007.