Olivera Ćirković
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3 September 1969
Olivera Ćirković | |||||||||||||||
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Оливера Ћирковић | |||||||||||||||
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| Born | Olivera Vasić 3 September 1969 | ||||||||||||||
| Occupations | basketball player, writer, painter | ||||||||||||||
| Criminal charge | jewellery store robberies | ||||||||||||||
| Criminal penalty | 12 years in Greek prison | ||||||||||||||
| Criminal status | Released after 6 years | ||||||||||||||
| Children | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Basketball career | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1986–2000 | ||||||||||||||
| Position | Power forward / center | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Voždovac | |||||||||||||||
| Crvena zvezda | |||||||||||||||
| –1992 | Jedinstvo Tuzla | ||||||||||||||
| 1992–1998 | Pagrati | ||||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Celje | ||||||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Crvena zvezda | ||||||||||||||
Medals
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Olivera "Olja" Ćirković (Serbian Cyrillic: Оливера Ћирковић; née Vasić Serbian Cyrillic: Васић; born 3 September 1969), is a Serbian writer and painter, former convicted criminal and former professional basketball player and administrator. She was a member of international jewel thief network Pink Panthers.[1]
Playing career
Ćirković spent her career with Voždovac, Crvena zvezda, Jedinstvo Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Pagrati Athens[2] (Greece) and Celje[3] (Slovenia).
National team career
Ćirković was a member of the Yugoslavia women's national under-18 basketball team that won the bronze medal at the 1988 European Championship for Junior Woman together with Nina Bjedov, Danira Nakić, Eleonora Wild, Danijela Ilić and others.[4] Over two tournament games, she averaged 1.5 points per game.[5]
Post-playing career
After retirement from playing career, Ćirković worked as a sports director for Crvena zvezda.[6]
Criminal career
Ćirković is the infamous female member of the international jewel thief network Pink Panthers. She was the mastermind behind a team of criminals raiding jewellery stores in Greece. She was convicted and arrested twice for her personal involvement in those crimes. The first arrest was in 2006.[7] In March 2012 she got caught again and was arrested a second time.[8] On 12 July 2012, she managed to successfully escape from the central prison of Athens.[9] She escaped on foot to her native country Serbia before gathering her criminal team again to plan & execute the next robbery - again in Athens on 26 November 2012. On 29 November 2012, she was arrested and convicted to a total of 32 years of prison in Corydallos penitentiary. In a later trial, her lawyer managed to convince the court to dismiss some of the charges and due to a general amnesty in 2017, she finally spent only 5 years in prison.[10]
Personal life
Ćirković has one son who also plays basketball.