Courtesy: FIBA Former Westerwind Zane (Teilane) Tamane scored 13 points and added eight rebounds in Latvia's win over Angola.

MACOMB, Ill.- Former Western Illinois women’s basketball player Zane (Teilane) Tamane will compete in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing after the Latvian Women’s National Basketball team locked up a bid by advancing to the semifinals in the FIBA qualifying tournament in Madrid, Spain.

“It’s a great feeling to be an Olympian,” stated Tamane. “To have the opportunity to compete in the Olympic games is every athlete’s dream. It’s been a lot of hard work and I feel very blessed.”

The Olympic tournament will run from August 9-23. Spain, Czech Republic, and Belarus also qualified to play at Beijing during the qualifying play in Madrid.

Latvia qualified for the 2008 Games with an 84-26 victory over Angola. Tamane recorded 13 points and added eight rebounds in the victory. With the win, the women’s basketball team became the first Latvian team to play in the summer Olympics since Latvia regained independence in 1991.

“It’s a pretty big deal for our national team since we will be the first team to compete in the summer Olympics,” Tamane said. “After we won the pre-Olympic tournament, it was crazy in Latvia. All of the magazines and newspapers were writing about us and we even have plans to go visit our country’s president.”

The team, who qualified for the Olympic qualification tournament with a 4th place finish at the European Championship, is practicing two times a day for three days. They then get a day off before practicing for three days in a row again. They are playing young men’s teams along with some friendship games with other women’s national teams. The team plans on heading to Asia one month before the games in order to become accustomed to the time difference, the food, and the culture.

As a Westerwind from 2002-06, Tamane 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).

“To come all the way to the United States to play at Western was one of my life’s biggest challenges,” said Tamane. “Coach (Leslie) Crane helped me become a much better player and if I hadn’t come to Western then I probably wouldn’t be where I am now.”

Where Tamane is now is representing her home country on the world’s largest stage, competing against the best players that women’s basketball has to offer.

“It is an honor and a blessing, especially since we are such a small country of only 2.4 million people and about the size of West Virginia,” Temane stated. “It is a competition between the best athletes in the world and the feeling that I will be there with them is so incredible.”