Luisa Fuentes | |
Fullname: | Luisa Fuentes Quijandria |
Nickname: | Lucha Fuentes |
Height: | 1.75 m |
Nationalyears: | 1967–1979 |
Teamnumber: | 9 |
Birth Date: | 19 August 1948 |
Birth Place: | Ica, Peru |
College: | National University of San Marcos (physical education) |
Luisa Estela Fuentes Quijandría (born 19 August 1948, in Ica), more commonly known as Lucha Fuentes, is a retired volleyball player from Peru who played with the Peruvian women's national volleyball team in the 1968 and 1976 Summer Olympics.[1]
Luisa Fuentes was born on 19 August 1948 in Ica. Her father, Félix Fuentes, was a soccer player for iqueña Estela Quijandría.[2] When she was 14 years old, she was discovered by Akira Kato, and began playing in Lima for the club Divino Maestro.[3]
Fuentes won the silver medal in the 1967 Pan American Games and won the gold medal in the 1967 South American Championship, and finished fourth in the 1967 FIVB World Championship. She was fourth in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico[4] [5] and a silver medalist in the 1969 South American Championship. She ranked fourteenth in the 1970 FIVB World Championship in Bulgaria.
Fuentes won the silver medal in the 1971 Pan American Games and gold in the 1971 South American Championship. She claimed the championship in the 1973 South American Championship, and finished eighth in the 1974 FIVB World Championship. She won the 1975 Pan American Games silver medal and gold in the 1975 South American Championship. She was seventh in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada and champion in the 1977 South American Championship.[6]
In the 1978 FIVB World Championship in the Soviet Union, Fuentes finished in tenth place. She won the silver medal in the 1979 Pan American Games, and finished her career with the gold medal in the 1979 South American Championship in Santa Fe, Argentina.[7]
Fuentes fought to popularize volleyball in Peru. In 2000, she was nominated by the International Volleyball Federation as the Best Player of the 20th century.[8] Fuentes received the Laureles Deportivos ("Sports Laureate") award and was selected numerous times as Sportsperson of the Year.[6]
Fuentes went on to become a teacher at the Sports Academy School of the Telefónica Foundation, where 300 girls and boys between 9 and 14 attended,[4] but she closed the school in 2015.[8]