Wonny Geuer: “I thought I would never step on the court again and now I suffer and enjoy with my children”

The younger ones must not have understood very well why Willy, at the 2019 World Cup in China, wore the surname Geuer on his shirt. A tribute to the first great center of Spanish basketball and the matriarch from a family that continues to bring great joy to this sport.

Margarita Ivonne (hence the Wonny) Geuer was born in Seville on May 3, 1966. She was the third of three sisters and the first to be born in Spain. His parents had moved to Seville for work reasons. His father worked at Banco Alemán and his mother was the daughter of the consul of Seville. Her first steps (and her successes) were at the Colegio Irlandesas de Bami, with which she managed to be crowned Spanish children’s champion. But her time at this school was short-lived: they didn’t want signings, so they pressured her to attend school at the center, something she didn’t do… So she went to the Amigos Swimming Club.

At the age of 17 he moved to Madrid to play for Canoe, with which he won three Leagues in three years. Then he went to Lugo, to a recently promoted team but which he turned into league runners-up. It was the previous step to joining the ADO Plana program created with a view to the Barcelona Games, the first in which the women’s basketball team was going to participate as host. It was four years for and by basketball, with between eight and ten hours a day of training, tours around the United States… The players who entered this program (Blanca Ares, Carolina Mújica, Betty Cebrián…) formed a team, the BEX Banco Inversión, which participated in the League although its results did not count.

In its Olympic premiere, Spain finished fifth, but the germ of so much work was there and a year later, the women’s team achieved the first gold for Spanish basketball in Perugia 93, a success that, as Wonny (158 international matches) explained in an interview, was the turning point for women’s basketball, something like the silver of Los Angeles 84 for the men.

That gold also marked the end of his professional sports career. After the Barcelona Games he committed to Dorna Godella and, Although he won the European Cup with the Valencian team in 1993, he had already decided that his career was going to take a 180-degree turn.. She was 26 years old, she had a degree in Business Sciences and her intention was to start a family with her husband, Guillermo Hernangómez, whom she had met on a field (they both met in the National Team, when he was preparing a junior European Championship and she was preparing a junior European Championship). . A year later Willy was born, the next Juancho and the last to arrive was Andrea, who has just returned to Spain to play for Leganés. A family of athletes that has already accumulated six golds, although Wonny’s was the first.

“The four years of the ADO Plan made us become a family”

You are one of those who repeat in the Hall of Fame, how do you feel about this new recognition?

Very good, because it is a unique recognition. After receiving it as a team, for having obtained the Perugia medal, to be recognized individually… I am very grateful to the jury for thinking that I deserved to enter the Hall of Fame.

For those who don’t remember it, what was Wonny Geuer like on the court?

Maybe I don’t even remember (laughs). She was an intense player, tough both in front and behind and who always gave her all on the field.

How and when did you start playing basketball?

Pretty late. I did different sports: tennis, judo… I started with basketball because a friend of my sister’s was a coach in Seville, Francisco Álvarez, he saw the growth he had made and asked me if he wanted to play. That’s how it all started.

At 17 years old he went to Madrid to play for Canoe. What were the offers like at that time?

Back then, it was difficult to be allowed to leave your city. Coming to Madrid was complicated, but in the end my mother opted for her to fulfill my dream. Professionally, you received a scholarship, apart from the fact that they paid for all your expenses: studies, maintenance, treatments… Shortly after, women’s sports began to become professional and there were already players with professional contracts. A little more money started coming in.

How did the ADO Plan help women’s basketball?

It helped a lot, especially with the physical change. We worked hard with Bernardino Lombau for four years preparing the Olympics and that was when we were able to compare ourselves to the rest of the world, especially Europe, to be able to compete face to face.

What was day to day like?

We trained many hours. And we also had to combine studies with basketball. At that time, the oldest of us were at the University… maybe we trained at eight in the morning, before going to class. Between shooting, physical, training, tactical studies, videos… we could spend about eight hours a day.

And of course, so much time together brought them together. Blanca Ares told me that there are still things left to remember those years.

They were very intense years, especially for those of us who started from the beginning and ended at the Olympic Games. There were many hours together, many training sessions, a lot of dedication. The youngest ones lived together at the Blume Residence and also made a big party. Those four years made us a family. In basketball, also within teams, families are always created, which is something very important and gives you the strength to win.

What were those Barcelona Games like?

A unique experience. For any athlete it is a dream to compete in the Olympics and in this case, on top of that, we were able to fulfill it at home, in Barcelona. For many years it has been said that they were the best Games in history. I remember everything with great emotion, but especially the initial parade: entering the Olympic Stadium with 80,000 people applauding. It still makes my hair stand on end when I think about it. Sportingly, however, I remember it with a bit of sadness. Unfortunately, we lost the China match very narrowly and we couldn’t get into the top four.

From that quote he also says that the masculine crash, with the Angolazocould harm them.

At the public level, at the level of recognition outside of basketball, there was more talk about the boys than about our fifth place in our first Games.

In any case, in Barcelona ’92 there was the trace of what they would achieve the following year with the gold in Perugia ’93.

All the previous work was reflected in Perugia, but before that we had won gold at the Mediterranean Games in Athens, in 1991, and silver at the Shefield Universiade. In Barcelona we realized that we could compete against anyone except the United States. We arrived in Perugia in a good physical and mature moment and we were lucky to win that gold. I entered the National Team very young and in my first years we could barely compete, we were always 11th or 12th. Thanks to the fight and sacrifice, we went from being last to reaching the top. It was a pride, a satisfaction for a job well done.

Had you decided to retire after the Eurobasket or did the gold help?

I had already decided a little. My last season at Dorna Godella had been very intense, very hard. Luckily we won the Club World Cup, the European Cup and the League. Plus, it was right after the Barcelona Games. I had barely had a vacation for years, some summers a week alone, because I combined the youth team with the junior, the junior with the senior… That year in Valencia was hard but we won everything… and then the gold also came with the selection. Besides, I had wanted to be a mother and everything went cold.

Has there been any Spanish team like that Dorna Godella?

Salamanca and now Valencia have invested a lot in women’s basketball. It took a long time to get another European Cup in clubs, just as it took a long time to get another gold medal, but the work within women’s basketball at both the club and federation level has been very great.

Without the ADO Plan and those four years without time for anything, would you have retired later?

At that time, neither physical nor mental fatigue was taken care of as much. If they had taken more care of the load, maybe it would have continued. In fact, I had another year left on my contract. After having Willy and Juancho, who arrived very often, they called me to see if I wanted to come back, but at that moment family was more important to me.

Now they know her more for being the mother of the Hernangómez, is it annoying or is it a source of pride?

I am a player from the last century. I feel proud because there are still many who tell me that they have seen me play, they remember me even though at that time only a few games were televised and there were no social networks either; Reaching the public was more complicated than now. When I retired I thought I would never set foot on a basketball court again in my life and now with my children I am suffering again, but also enjoying this sport a lot. I feel super proud of all three.

Did you have a worse time on the bench or watching your children from the stands?

You suffer more as a mother. As a player you are focused on the court and you don’t see anything beyond, but as a mother you always suffer more. If one of my kids isn’t having any luck or misses a basket or gets hit… She definitely suffers a lot more as a mother.

Since 2019, his son Willy has worn the surname Geuer on his shirt. Did she know or was it a surprise?

It was a very pleasant surprise and I was very excited. When he sent me the call I saw the shirt with my name on it and I thought ‘what a team this is’, until I realized that it was the senior team and that my son had taken my last name. I will always be grateful because the truth is that in that sense we mothers have it worse, because they always carry the father’s last name. For that I thank you very much.