At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, a record-breaking 292 female athletes took the fields, courts, track, and pool by storm, outnumbering men on the 555-member U.S. team and marking the largest number of women to represent a nation in the history of the games. Latina basketball player Rebecca Lobo was perhaps the best-known player on the 1996 Team USA. The women’s basketball team swept the Olympic tournament, claiming gold and serving as a springboard for a professional women’s league, the Women’s National Basketball Association.
Basketball card of Rebecca Lobo while playing for the 1996 USA Basketball Women's National Team
Object Details
- date made
- 1996
- depicted
- Rushin, Rebecca
- maker
- Upper Deck
- Description (Brief)
- Basketball card of Rebecca Lobo while playing for the 1996 USA Basketball Women's National Team. Lobo was a member of the University of Connecticut basketball team when they won the National Championships in 1995. After her Olympic appearance she became of member of the WNBA team New York Liberty and went on to play for the Houston Comets and Conneticut Suns.
- The 1996 Summer Olympic Games were held in Atlanta, Georgia and marked the first time since 1984 that the United States topped the medal count. These Games saw over 10,000 athletes, from 197 countries, competing in 26 sports, including the debuts of beach volleyball, mountain biking, softball and women’s soccer. This was also the first Games in which American women, who had taken full advantage of Title IX legislation, competed and excelled in Olympic competition. The women’s gymnastics, soccer, softball and basketball teams all won gold, propelling the US women athletes into the global spotlight and beginning their dominance in Olympic competition. Atlanta benefitted from the Games as Centennial Olympic Park led to the revitalization of the downtown area and the Olympic Village became residence housing for area universities.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- name of sport
- Basketball
- level of sport
- Amateur
- Olympics
- web subject
- Women
- African American
- See more items in
- Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
- Sports & Leisure
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- ID Number
- 2004.0164.05
- accession number
- 2004.0164
- catalog number
- 2004.0164.05
- Object Name
- card, basketball
- basketball card
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 3 1/2 in x 2 1/2 in; 8.89 cm x 6.35 cm
- Record ID
- nmah_1916158