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Suzanne Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is a professional women's basketball player. A high school star from Christ The King RHS, she went on to become a key part of two national champion University of Connecticut teams, the first player to be picked in the 2002 WNBA Draft and an Olympic gold medalist. She currently plays for the WNBA's Seattle Storm, with whom she won a championship in 2004. She is also a member of the 2008 gold medal winning United States Women's Olympic basketball team. Bird was born in Syosset, New York. Her father, Herschel Bird, is of Russian Jewish descent and her mother is Nancy Bird. She also has an older sister Jennifer. Sue is not related to NBA legend Larry Bird. WNBA Since the 2004 championship, the Storm has had disappointing losses in the first round of the Western Conference finals in three straight seasons. In 2005, the Storm opened with a win over the Houston Comets, but then lost consecutive games and were bounced out of the postseason. Bird averaged 12.1 points per game and led the WNBA in assists per game with 5.9 in 2005. The following season, 2006, the Storm again won their opening playoff game, 84-72, over the Los Angeles Sparks before dropping two straight and being eliminated. In 2007, Bird missed five games due to arthroscopic knee surgery, but the Storm made the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the West. In the first round the Storm was swept in two games by No. 1 seed Phoenix, led by Bird's good friend and former teammate Diana Taurasi. Sue Bird is one of seven women to receive an Olympic Gold Medal, an NCAA championship, and a WNBA Championship. The others are Ruth Riley, Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, and fellow Huskies Swin Cash, Kara Wolters, and Diana Taurasi.
In the 2004-2005 WNBA off-season, she played in Russia, with Storm teammate Kamila Vodichkova on the Dynamo Moscow. In the 2005-2006 WNBA off-season, she played on the same team, reaching the Russian championship and the Euroleague women’s playoffs. In the 2006-2007 WNBA off-season, she joined Jackson and fellow UConn star Diana Taurasi on the Russian team Spartak Moscow to win both the Russian Super League and the EuroLeague Women championships. In the summer of 2008, she was invited back to be on the 2008 Olympic Basketball Team. The team won the Gold medal in Beijing, China. Bird was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp in the fall of 2009.The team selected to play for the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Olympics is usually chosen from these participants. At the conclusion of the training camp, the team will travel to Ekaterinburg, Russia, where they compete in the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational. * 1998 — WBCA All-American. |







