Kristi Lee Harrower was born March 4th, 1975 in Bendigo, Victoria. She started playing basketball at the age of seven, though many claimed she had a basketball in her hand from age three. This was not so unusual because her mother (Janice) and her father (Bernie) worked at the stadium in Bendigo where Kristi grew up. Her dad was a basketball coach and coached the Bendigo Braves while her older sister Kylee also played basketball.
Her initial basketball competition play was with the Rangers Club, and her first “A” Grade Women’s Competition was at fourteen years of age with the “Surfies” team with future stand-out player Nina Cass. At the Under 14 level Kristi was taken by her father down to Melbourne to play with the Melbourne Tigers Club. When the Tigers reached the Under 16 age group her father Bernie took over as the coach and the team had immediate success when it won the renowned Junior Classic. The team and Kristi’s dad Bernie had success right through to the Under 18 level and won many tournaments and championships.
Such was Kristi’s development she was selected to the Victorian Country Under 16 team as a fourteen year old in 1989 and the next year she played on the Victorian Country team that won the Under 16 National Championships. She went on to represent Victoria Country at Under 18 levels and Victoria at the Under 20 level.
In 1991 Kristi made her Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) debut with the Tigers. That same year she debuted for Australia when she was selected to play on the National Youth Team in the Olympic Youth Rally which was held in Spain.
She was awarded a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra in 1992. She was to spend the next two years playing at the AIS and playing in the WNBL.“The AIS was the best two years of my teenage life,” she recalls. “The thing I liked most was that you got to train every day with the best young players in Australia. You had everything at your doorstep.”
In 1992 she played for the Australian Youth Team in the Oceania Youth World Qualification Tournament, then against the South West All Stars and finished the year with a twelve match tour of Europe.
Kristi played on the Australian Youth Team against Japan B, Athletes in Action (USA), the Ukraine Women’s Team and then in the Malaysian Cup in 1993 before playing in the Youth World Championships in Korea. The Youth Team (Gems) won Australia’s first ever Gold Medal at Olympic or World Championships competition. At the start of 1993 Kristi was selected to her first Australian Women’s Teamwhen it played a series in Australia against China. She left the AIS after 1993.
Kristi established an amazing career in the WNBL that commenced in 1991. In her first year out of the AIS in 1994 Kristi joined the Adelaide Lightning in the WNBL which she describes as a hard year as she “was on her own” for the first time.
Nevertheless the Lightning won the WNBL crown that year. Despite that win with Adelaide Kristi moved back to her home team the Melbourne Tigers the next year (1995). She played with the Tigers through to the year 2000. In the 2008/09 season after playing for eight years in Europe and the WNBA she returned to the Bendigo Spirit to play in the WNBL.
Kristi’s amazing WNBL career has so far covered a period of 21 years (1991 to 2012) though she has had quite a number of years out of the League when she was injured or played in Europe. Her WNBL career does include being named to the All Star Team seven times (1997, 1998, 1998/99, 1999/00, 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2012/13). One could only wonder as to how many awards she would have won in the WNBL if she had been available to play in those other years. At the conclusion of the 2012/13 WNBL season Kristi had played 293 games in the WNBL and in that season led Bendigo to their first WNBL title. She continued to play in the WNBL in the 2013/14 season.
In 1995 Kristi played for the Australian Women’s Team (now called the Opals) against Russia. In 1997 she played for the Opals when they won the Oceania World Championships Qualification Tournament, as well as in the USQ Invitational and the Golden Cup in Brazil.
Kristi was at this time still fighting for a permanent position in the Opals. One of her great attributes has been her self-belief and never accepting second best. She was determined not only to make the team but to be a permanent Starting Five member.
Kristi played for the Opals in the 1998 Japan Basketball Festival. She was then selected to play for the Opals at the 1998 World Championships. After playing in the Grand Prix of Slovakia and in the Portugal Tournament the Opals competed in the World Championships in Germany where they won the Bronze Medal. That same year Kristi played for the Opals against the USA in the Goldmark Cup.
Kristi’s personal goal now was to be selected on the Opals team for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and to be a starter on the team.
At 162 cm Kristi is a small player by any standard let alone at the senior international level. However she has a very high basketball IQ, exceptional dribbling and passing skills, is a very tenacious defender, drives the ball to the basket fearlessly and possesses a long range three point “bomb”. Above all she is a leader!
Kristi’s plan to be the best led her to playing in the best club competition in the world the US Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). She joined the Phoenix Mercury in 1998 and nearly won a WNBA title when the club lost game three of the Finals to Houston. Michelle Brogan and Michele Timms also played on that Mercury team and future Opals coach Carrie Graf was the Assistant Coach. Kristi played at Phoenix in 1998 and 1999 before having a season out of the WNBA to concentrate on playing for the Opals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
In 1999 she played for the Opals against Cuba, in the US Olympic Cup and the USA Invitational.
Kristi was selected on the Opals Team for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
The build up to Sydney 2000 for the Opals was intense. It started for Kristi and the Opals against Russia, then in the Olympic Test Event, a series against Canada and a tour to Europe to play in France and Poland. Coming back to Australia the Opals played New Zealand, then in the C7 Challenge, in a game against the USA and finished their Olympic preparation with a game against Brazil.
Kristi was now the starting point-guard on the Opals and their court leader. She had a brilliant Sydney 2000 Olympic Tournament and the Opals went through to the Final undefeated. Unfortunately Kristi was injured in the Final against the USA and the Opals had to settle for a Silver Medal. It was a magnificent performance. “Injuries are uncontrollable and there was nothing I could do,” she laments.
Kristi says, “The Sydney Olympics were my favourite Olympics because it was my first Olympics, it was in my home country and I did everything possible to be there and to play well.”
“Walking out in front of the crowd at the Opening Ceremony brought a tear to my eye because finally all the hard work had paid off,” she recalls.
After the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Kristi decided to broaden her career by playing in Europe and she joined fellow Opal Sandy Brondello at the Wuppertal Club in Germany. She recalls, “This was a very hard year because I went there injured, I was injured for the first six weeks and I got homesick a fair bit.” Wuppertal won the German League that year.
In 2001 she had to have a year away from the game with a potential career ending injury when she had a knee reconstruction. Through her hard work and dedication she was able to secure a contract in 2002 to Aix-En Provence in France where she was to play the next three years (2002-04). In her first year at the French Club the team won the Euro Cup and in the second year they played Euro League and Kristi topped the League in assists. In her third year she played little court time due to an injury to her plantar fascia.
The next year (2005) Kristi moved to the Valenciennes Club where she played her best basketball in Europe.She was at that Club for two seasons. One year the Club finished 3rd in the Euro League and Kristi was named to the Euro League All Star Team. In the following year the Club won the French League as well as the French Cup.
In 2007 she moved to the Ekaterinburg, Russia on a two year contract and joined Opal team-mates Penny Taylor and Suzy Batkovic. However she only completed one year of her contract before returning to Australia.
After Sydney 2000, as well as playing in Europe, Kristi resumed her career in the US WNBA. In 2001 she joined the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA and played there for five seasons until the end of the 2005 season. During that stint with the Lynx she tore her Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and missed ten months of basketball. In 2009 Kristi joined the LA Sparks and got to play with US superstars Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson and Candice Parker.
Kristi also resumed her Opals career after Sydney 2000 when she joined the team in 2002 to play Japan, then Lithuania, and in the Opals World Challenge. Kristi captained the Opals in the 2002 World Championships which were held in China. The Opals won the Bronze Medal to reconfirm their place in the top three teams in the world.
Kristi missed the 2003 season with Opals because of WNBA commitments but was back to play for the Opals in 2004 at the Opals World Challenge, in a series against China and then a tour to China before she was chosen for her second Olympic Games.
Prior to the 2004 Olympics Kristi played for the Opals in Spain and the Czech Republic and the FIBA Diamond Ball in Crete.
In the 2004 Athens Olympic Games the Opals brilliantly led by Kristi at the point-guard spot repeated their magnificent performance of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games when they won the Silver Medal. The Gold Medal had eluded them again but they were clearly the next best team in the world to the USA. For Kristi the 2004 Athens Olympics was also exciting and disappointing. “This was a hard Olympics for me,” Kristi says, “I had an injured plantar fascia all tournament and continued to play, but in the end it was too much.” After the Olympics the injury required surgery.
Kristi missed the 2005 season with the Opals because of WNBA commitments but returned to the Opals in 2006. She played for the Opals in a Pre-2006 World Championships Tournament in the Czech Republic and then in a game against USA.
The 2006 World Championships were a magnificent moment in Australia’s basketball history. The Opals played brilliantly and won the Gold Medal. Kristi was a major factor in the Gold Medal win as she led the team from the point-guard position, made big plays, scored critical baskets and harassed on defence. She was a real “pocket rocket” for the Opals.The Opals defeated Russia in the World Championships Final. They were World Champions!
Kristi did not play for the Opals in 2007 but was again on the team in 2008 in time for the Beijing Olympic Games. She was selected to the Opals Team for her third Olympics. Leading into Beijing, Kristi played for the Opals in three matches in Italy against Russia, then in a series against Brazil in Australia before playing in the FIBA Diamond Ball in Haining, China.
Beijing 2008 was special for Kristi as, “I felt all the way through the Olympics that these could be my last Olympics.”
The Opals were confident. In 2006 they had won the World Championship in Brazil, and they had the players and the confidence. Unfortunately the Americans had other ideas and once again the Opals had to settle for a Silver Medal.
Kristi did not play for the Opals in 2009.
She played for the Opals in 2010 in games against Japan and China, in the Hungarian Invitational, and in exhibition games in Spain and the USA. She was selected to play for the Opals in the 2010 World Championships in the Czech Republic. The Opals were to gain 5th place in the tournament.
After the 2010 World Championships she continued to play back in Australia with her beloved Bendigo in the WNBL and continued week after week to be a star in that League.
Kristi did not play for the Opals in 2011. However she was determined to make the 2012 Olympic team. In 2012 she played for the Opals in the Women’s International Tournament Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic and in a series against Russia in Varese, Italy. At the age of 37 Kristi was chosen as a member of the Opals for her fourth Olympic Games. Kristi played with the Opals in the Farewell Series against Brazil in Melbourne. In the lead into the London 2012 Games Kristi and the Opals played in the Sheffield Invitational Tournament in England and in the Lille International in France.
In the 2012 London Olympic Games the Opals got off to a slow start, played the USA in the semis and had to settle for the Bronze Medal when they defeated Russia. They had sought Gold, would have liked Silver (for the 4th Olympics in a row), however Bronze at the Olympics is a wonderful result and it was the 5th Olympics in a row where the Opals won a medal.
Kristi Harrower retired from international basketball at the conclusion of the 2012 London Olympics. She had played 296 games for Australia (217 as a senior and 79 as a junior), played at four Olympic Games and had won three Olympic Silver Medals and one Olympic Bronze Medal. She had won a Gold Medal at the 1993 World Youth Championships and played at four World Championships for Women and won a Gold Medal and two Bronze Medals.
In 2013 she continued to play in the WNBL with Bendigo, played her 300th WNBL game and was awarded Life Membership of the WNBL.
Kristi Harrower will be remembered as one of the greatsof Australian women’s basketball and as a player who through hard work, drive, self-belief, self sacrifice and team ethic became one of Australia’s best ever female point-guards.