Taismary Agüero

Taismary Agüero Leiva Botteghi (born March 5 1977) is a Cuban-born Italian volleyball player.

Life

Born in the province of Sancti Spiritus, when 8 year old she began to play volleyball; two years later she entered in the Cerro Pelado Training Center in Havana. In 1993 she won the junior women's volleyball world championship then she joined the senior national team. She didn't participate in the 1994 FIVB Women's World Championship but she won the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta two years later. In 1998 together with Mireya Luis, Regla Bell, Ana Ivis Fernandez, and Mirka Francia she won the 1998 FIVB Women's World Championship in Japan. In 2000 she was a member of the Cuban Woman volleyball national team that won the gold medal at the Sydney. In the summer 2001 she left the Cuban National Team during a tournament in Switzerland and applied for political asylum in Italy . The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) allowed her to play in Italy despite the opposition of Cuban volley federation and so she joined Pallavolo Sirio Perugia, an Italian volleyball club, where she had just played before during the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 seasons. At the end of 2006 she became an Italian citizen after marrying Alessio Botteghi an Italian physiotherapist who, as of 2008, works for the Turkish National Women Volleyball team. In the summer of 2007 she joined the Italian national team.

Career

Agüero had played for two season for Sirio Perugia from 1998 to 2000 then she played again for Sirio from 2001 to 2005. From 2005 to 2007 she has played for Asystel Novara. In season 2007/2008 she plays for Türk Telekom club in Ankara. Now Agüero both in club and in national team played as right hitters, while with the Cuban national teams she was setter/hitter.

Titles

In the 1993 junior championship she was named MVP, Best Setter and best server. In 1995 and 1997 she won the panamerican games with Cuba, and, in 1996 and 2000, the Summer Olympics games. She was Italian national champion in 2002/2003 and 2004/2005.

Playing for Italy, she won the 2007 European Championship, where she was also declared Most Valuable Player.

Individual Awards

* "1999 FIVB World Cup "Most Valuable Player""
* "1999 FIVB World Cup "Best Server""
* "2007 FIVB World Grand Prix "Best Spiker""
* "2007 FIVB World Grand Prix "Best Scorer""
* "2007 European Championship "Most Valuable Player""

External links

* [http://www.taiaguero.com Official website]