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]

Basketball career

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.

Works

  • Ćirković, Olivera (2016). Pink Panter – Moja zatvorska ispovest. ISBN 978-86-521-2175-5.[11][12]
  • Ćirković, Olivera (2018). Ja, Pink Panter: Ispovest.[13]
  • Ćirković, Olivera (2019). Ja, Pink Panter 2 – Arhondisa
  • Ćirković, Olivera (2021). Ja, Pink Panter 3 - Povratak

References

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