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Natália Hejková

Natália Hejková (born 7 April 1954)^[1] is a Slovak basketball coach and former player. In 2019 she was inducted in the FIBA Hall of Fame.^[2]

Hejková was born on 7 April 1954 to Vsevolod Hejk, a Russian-Czech engineer, who was posted to Slovakia to oversee road construction and a Slovak schoolteacher Mária Hejková (née Buociková). She was born and raised in Žilina, where she started playing basketball at the age of 14.^[1]

Hejková is single and childless.^[3] In spite of her Russian family background and record of coaching Russian teams, she supports the exclusion of Russian athletes from international competitions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[4]

In 1972, following her high school graduation, Hejková started to study law at the Charles UniversityinPrague. During her studies, she played for the university basketball team Slávia VŠ Praha. Following her graduation in 1979, she joined the team TJ SCP Ružomberok, where she remained until her retirement in 1986.^[5]

Following the end of her playing career, Hejková was offered to become the head coach of TJ SCP Ružomberok, which was going through a rough time, as a temporary emergency measure. She stayed in the position from 1987 to 2003, winning Slovak title ten times in a row as well as two European Championships.^[6]

Following her departure from Ružomberok, she coached Sopron Basket, WBC Sparta&K, which won 2 Russian Premier League Championship with Hejková as the head coach, MBC Dynamo Moscow and Ros Casares Godella.^[2]

In 2012 she returned to Prague to become the head coach of USK Praha. Under Hejková, the team won the national title ten times and achieved a record of 256 games without defeat in the row.^[7]

She also coached Slovak and Russian National Women's Team.^[2]

In 1998 Hejková received the Order of Ľudovít Štúr, 3rd class from the president Michal Kováč.^[8] In 2019 she was inducted in the FIBA Hall of Fame.^[2]