Success 2013: Catharina "Nina" Hagen, a German singer and actress. She has performed throughout the world for over 40 years

Catharina "Nina" Hagen (born 11 March 1955) is a German singer and actress. She has performed throughout the world for over 40 years.
Nina Hagen was born in the former East Berlin, East Germany, the daughter of Hans Hagen (also known as Hans Oliva-Hagen), a scriptwriter, and Eva-Maria Hagen (née Buchholz), an actress and singer. Her paternal grandfather died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (her father was Jewish). Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and growing up she saw her father infrequently. At age four, she began to study ballet, and was considered an opera prodigy by the time she was nine.
When Hagen was 11, her mother married Wolf Biermann, an anti-establishment singer-songwriter. Biermann's political views later influenced young Hagen.
Hagen left school at age sixteen, and went to Poland, where she began her career. After that, she returned to Germany and joined the cover band Fritzens Dampferband (Fritz's Steamboat Band), together with Achim Mentzel and others. She added songs by Janis Joplin and Tina Turner to the "allowable" set lists during shows.
From 1972 to 1973, Hagen enrolled in the crash-course performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin. Upon graduation, she formed the band Automobil.
In East Germany, she performed with the band Automobil, becoming one of the country's best-known young stars. Her most famous song from the early part of her career was Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen (You forgot the colour film), " a subtle dig mocking the sterile, gray, Communist state," in 1974. Her musical career in the GDR was cut short, however, when she and her mother left the country in 1976, following the expulsion of her stepfather.
The circumstances surrounding the family's emigration were exceptional: Biermann was granted permission to perform a televised concert in Cologne, but denied permission to re-cross the border to his adopted home country. Hagen submitted an application to leave the country. In it, she claimed to be Biermann's biological daughter, and threatened to become the next Wolf Biermann if not allowed to rejoin her father.^{[clarification needed]} Just four days later her request was granted, and she settled in Hamburg, where she was signed to a CBS-affiliated record label. Her label advised her to acclimate herself to Western culture through travel, and she arrived in London during the height of the punk rock movement. Hagen was quickly taken up by a circle that included The Slits and Sex Pistols.
Back in Germany by mid-1977, Hagen formed the Nina Hagen Band in West Berlin's Kreuzberg district. In 1978 they released their self-titled debut album, which included the single "TV-Glotzer" (a cover of "White Punks on Dope" by The Tubes, though with entirely different German lyrics), and Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo, about West Berlin's then-notorious Berlin Zoologischer Garten station. The album also included a version of "Rangehn" ("Go For It"), a song she had previously recorded in East Germany, but with different music.
A European tour with a new band in 1980 was cancelled, and Hagen turned to the United States. A limited-edition 10-inch EP was released on vinyl that summer in the U.S. Two songs from her first album Nina Hagen Band were on the A side, and two songs from her second album Unbehagen were on the B-side. All four songs were sung in German, although two had English titles and the other two were covers of English-language songs with new German lyrics.
In late 1980, Hagen discovered she was pregnant, broke up with the father-to-be Ferdinand Karmelk, and moved to Los Angeles. Her daughter, Cosma Shiva Hagen, was born in Santa Monica on 17 May 1981. In 1982, Hagen released her first English-language album: NunSexMonkRock, a dissonant mix of punk, funk, reggae, and opera. She then went on a world tour with the No Problem Orchestra.
In 1983, she released the album Angstlos and a minor European tour. By this time, Hagen's public appearances were becoming stranger and frequently included discussions of God, UFOs, her social and political beliefs, animal rights and vivisection, and claims of alien sightings. The English version of Angstlos, Fearless, generated two major club hits in America, "Zarah" (a cover of the Zarah Leander (No. 45 USA) song "Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen") and the disco/punk/opera song, "New York New York" (No. 9 USA). During 1984 Hagen spent a lot of time in London and UK based MusicSzene magazine chief-editor Wilfried Rimensberger, in conjunction with Spree Film, produced a first TV feature on her and what was remaining from London's 70 Punk movement induced by artist and model Frankie Stein.
Her 1985 album In Ekstase fared less well, but did generate club hits with "Universal Radio" (No. 39 USA) and a cover of "Spirit In The Sky" and also featured a 1979 recording of her hardcore punk take on Paul Anka's My Way, which had been one of her signature live tunes in previous years. She performed songs from this album during the 1985 version of Rock in Rio. Wilfried Rimensberger and award-winning film director Lothar Spree produced a TV documentary for German Television ZDF. This was followed by a launch of Nina's UFO fashion underwear at anti-SAFT in Zurich, where again Rimensberger joined her up with New Romantic icon Steve Strange performing on stage. Simultaneously fashion photographer Hannes Schmid produced a Nina Hagen cover for German Cosmopolitan magazine. This also coincided with leading music publications like BRAVO and MusicSzene running cover stories that all put Hagen back on the forefront of something that in retrospective became a final highpoint of what the punk movement was all about. At the end of 1986, her contract with CBS was over and she released the Punk Wedding EP independently in 1987, a celebration of her marriage to a 17-year-old-punk nicknamed 'Iroquois'. It followed an independent 1986 one-off single with Lene Lovich, the anthemic Don't Kill The Animals. In 1989, Hagen released the album Nina Hagen which was backed up by another German tour.
In 1989 she had a relationship with Frank Chevallier from France, with whom she has a son, Otis Chevallier-Hagen.

In the 1990s, Hagen lived in Paris with her daughter Cosma Shiva and son Otis. In 1991 she toured Europe in support of her new album Street. In 1992 Hagen became the host of a TV show on RTLplus. Also in the same year (1992) she collaborated with Adamski on the European smash and minor UK hit single "Get Your Body". The following year, she released Revolution Ballroom. In 1994, Hagen starred in the acclaimed San Francisco Goethe Institut's "The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber", playing the singer version of "Anita" alongside dancer Jennifer Pieren who portrayed the other "professions" of "Anita". Also, her voice was heard on the Freaky Fukin Weirdoz single "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick". 1995 brought the German-language album Freud Euch appeared, recorded in English as BeeHappy in 1996. Nina returned to San Francisco to star in another San Francisco Goethe Institut show, "Hannusen, Hitler's Jewish Clarvoyant." Hagen also collaborated with electronic music composer Christopher Franke, along with Rick Palombi (credited as Rick Jude) on "Alchemy of Love", the theme song for the film Tenchi Muyo! in Love. In May 1996, she married David Lynn, who is fifteen years younger, but divorced him in the beginning of 2000. In 1997 she collaborated with German hip hop musician Thomas D.
In 1998, Hagen became the host of a weekly science fiction show on the British Sci-Fi Channel, in addition to embarking on another tour of Germany. In 1999, she released the devotional album Om Namah Shivay, which was distributed exclusively online and included an unadulterated musical version of the Hare Krishna mantra (in real life she believes that the Hindu incarnation of God known as Krishna was 'the king of Jerusalem'. Krishna is sometimes referred to as "Christ"). She also provided vocals to "Witness" and "Bereit" on KMFDM's Adios.
Also in 1998, she recorded the official club anthem (Eisern Union !) for FC Union Berlin and four versions were issued on a CD single by G.I.B Music and Distribution GmbH.
In 1999, she played the role of Celia Peachum in The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, alongside Max Raabe. She also regularly performs songs by Kurt Weill, Hans Eisler and Paul Dessau set to Brecht's texts.

Success 2013: Roberto Carlos, retired Brazilian footballer nicknamed el hombre bala ("the bullet man") due to his powerful free kicks, which have been measured at over 169 km/h. He was named one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration

Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), more commonly known simply as Roberto Carlos, is a retired Brazilian footballer and coach who currently manages Sivasspor in Süper Lig. Roberto Carlos started his career in Brazil as a forward but spent most of his career as a left back and has been described as the "most offensive-minded left back in the history of the game". He was nicknamed el hombre bala ("the bullet man") due to his powerful free kicks, which have He is also known for his running speed, long throw ins and 24-inch (61 cm) thighs.In 1997 he was runner-up in the FIFA World Player of the Year. Considered one of the best left backs in history, he was chosen on the FIFA World Cup Dream Team and in 2004 was named one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration.
been measured at over 105 miles per hour (169 km/h).
Roberto Carlos started playing for Brazil in 1992 and was a member of the Brazil national team in three World Cups, helping the team reach the final in 1998 and win the 2002 tournament. He was named in the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team in 1998 and 2002. At club level he joined Real Madrid in 1996 where he spent eleven hugely successful seasons, playing 584 matches in all competitions, scoring 71 goals. At Real he won four La Liga titles and the UEFA Champions League three times. In April 2013, he was named by Marca as a member of the "Best foreign eleven in Real Madrid's history".In August 2012, he announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 39.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, also known as TimBL, a British computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web

Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, FRSA, DFBCS (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is a British computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He made a proposal for an information management system in March 1989,and he implemented the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server via the Internet sometime around mid November.

Berners-Lee is the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which oversees the Web's continued development. He is also the founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, and is a senior researcher and holder of the Founders Chair at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). He is a director of the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI), and a member of the advisory board of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.
In 2004, Berners-Lee was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his pioneering work. In April 2009, he was elected a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He was honoured as the "Inventor of the World Wide Web" during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, in which he appeared in person, working with a vintage NeXT Computer at the London Olympic Stadium. He tweeted "This is for everyone", which was instantly spelled out in LCD lights attached to the chairs of the 80,000 people in the audience.

After graduation, Berners-Lee worked as an engineer at the telecommunications company Plessey in Poole. In 1978, he joined D.G. Nash in Dorset, where he helped create type-setting software for printers^.
Berners-Lee worked as an independent contractor at CERN from June to December 1980. While there, he proposed a project based on the concept of hypertext, to facilitate sharing and updating information among researchers. To demonstrate, he built a prototype system named ENQUIRE^.
After leaving CERN in late 1980, he went to work at John Poole's Image Computer Systems, Ltd, in Bournemouth, England. He ran the company's technical side for three years. The project he worked on was a "real-time remote procedure call" which gave him experience in computer networking. In 1984, he returned to CERN as a fellow.
In 1989, CERN was the largest Internet node in Europe, and Berners-Lee saw an opportunity to join hypertext with the Internet:

"I just had to take the hypertext idea and connect it to the Transmission Control Protocol and domain name system ideas and—ta-da!—the World Wide Web ... Creating the web was really an act of desperation, because the situation without it was very difficult when I was working at CERN later. Most of the technology involved in the web, like the hypertext, like the Internet, multifont text objects, had all been designed already. I just had to put them together. It was a step of generalising, going to a higher level of abstraction, thinking about all the documentation systems out there as being possibly part of a larger imaginary documentation system.”

Berners-Lee wrote his initial proposal in March 1989, and in 1990, with the help of Robert Cailliau (with whom he shared the 1995 ACM Software System Award), produced a revision which was accepted by his manager, Mike Sendall. He used similar ideas to those underlying the ENQUIRE system to create the World Wide Web, for which he designed and built the first Web browser. His software also functioned as an editor (called WorldWideWeb, running on the NeXTSTEP operating system), and the first Web server, CERN HTTPd (short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol daemon).

The first website built was at CERN within the border of France, and was first put online on 6 August 1991:

Info.cern.ch was the address of the world's first-ever web site and web server, running on a NeXT computer at CERN. The first web page address was http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html, which centred on information regarding the WWW project. Visitors could learn more about hypertext, technical details for creating their own webpage, and even an explanation on how to search the Web for information. There are no screenshots of this original page and, in any case, changes were made daily to the information available on the page as the WWW project developed. You may find a later copy (1992) on the World Wide Web Consortium website.

It provided an explanation of what the World Wide Web was, and how one could use a browser and set up a web server.
In 1994, Berners-Lee founded the W3C at MIT. It comprised various companies that were willing to create standards and recommendations to improve the quality of the Web. Berners-Lee made his idea available freely, with no patent and no royalties due. The World Wide Web Consortium decided that its standards should be based on royalty-free technology, so that they could easily be adopted by anyone.
In 2001, Berners-Lee became a patron of the East Dorset Heritage Trust, having previously lived in Colehill in Wimborne, East Dorset, England.
In December 2004, he accepted a chair in Computer Science at the School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, England, to work on the Semantic Web.
In a Times article in October 2009, Berners-Lee admitted that the initial pair of slashes ("//") in a web address were actually "unnecessary". He told the newspaper that he could easily have designed web addresses not to have the slashes. "There you go, it seemed like a good idea at the time," he said in his lighthearted apology.

In June 2009 then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Berners-Lee would work with the UK Government to help make data more open and accessible on the Web, building on the work of the Power of Information Task Force. Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt are the two key figures behind data.gov.uk, a UK Government project to open up almost all data acquired for official purposes for free re-use. Commenting on the opening up of Ordnance Survey data in April 2010 Berners-Lee said that: "The changes signal a wider cultural change in Government based on an assumption that information should be in the public domain unless there is a good reason not to—not the other way around." He went on to say "Greater openness, accountability and transparency in Government will give people greater choice and make it easier for individuals to get more directly involved in issues that matter to them."
In November 2009, Berners-Lee launched the World Wide Web Foundation in order to "Advance the Web to empower humanity by launching transformative programs that build local capacity to leverage the Web as a medium for positive change.
Berners-Lee is one of the pioneer voices in favour of Net Neutrality,and has expressed the view that ISPs should supply "connectivity with no strings attached," and should neither control nor monitor customers' browsing activities without their expressed consent.^[39][40] He advocates the idea that net neutrality is a kind of human network right: "Threats to the Internet, such as companies or governments that interfere with or snoop on Internet traffic, compromise basic human network rights."
Berners-Lee joined the board of advisors of start-up State.com, based in London.
As of May 2012, Berners-Lee is President of the Open Data Institute.
The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) was launched in October 2013 and Berners-Lee is leading the coalition of public and private organisations that includes Google, Facebook, Intel and Microsoft. The A4AI seeks to make Internet access more affordable so that access is broadened in the developing world, where only 31% of people are online. Berners-Lee will help to decrease internet access prices so that they fall below the UN Broadband Commission's worldwide target of 5% of monthly income.

Success 2013: Luis Suárez Miramontes, a Spanish former footballer and manager nicknamed El Arquitecto (The Architect). He became the first Spanish-born player to be voted Ballon d'Or (1960). In 1964 he helped Spain win the European Championship

Luis Suárez Miramontes (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlwis ˈswaɾeθ miɾaˈmontes]; born 2 May 1935), also known by the diminutive Luisito, is a Spanish former footballer and manager. He played as a midfielder for Deportivo de La Coruña, CD España Industrial, CF Barcelona, Internazionale, Sampdoria and Spain.

Suárez is regarded as one of Spain's greatest players; as a player he was noted for his elegant, graceful style of play.Nicknamed El Arquitecto (The Architect) he was noted for his perceptive passing and explosive shot and in 1960 he became the first Spanish-born player to be voted Ballon d'Or.

In 1964 he helped Spain win the European Championship. Suarez originally achieved proeminence as a creative inside forward for the great FC Barcelona team of the 1950s before he joined Inter where he reached his prime as deep lying playmaker for the legendary Grande Inter team of the 1960s. He retired as a player in 1973, after three seasons at Sampdoria.


Suárez subsequently began a career as a coach and has managed Internazionale on three separate occasions, the last two on a caretaker basis. Suárez has also coached both Spain U21s and the senior Spain team. He was in charge of the latter for 27 games and led them to the second round of the 1990 World Cup. He has also coached several Italian and Spanish club sides. He is currently a scout for Internazionale Milan Football Club (IMFC).

Early career

Suárez was born in La Coruña, Galicia. He lived on Avenida de Hércules in the neighborhood of Monte Alto.
He began his professional career with Deportivo de La Coruña in 1949 and worked his way through the junior sides before making his La Liga debut with Deportivo on 6 December 1953 in a 6–1 defeat to FC Barcelona. Among his team mates at Deportivo were Pahiño and Arsenio Iglesias. He played 17 games and scored 3 goals for Deportivo during the remaining season. In 1954 he transferred to CF Barcelona and but spent most of the 1954–55 season playing for CD España Industrial in the Segunda División.

FC Barcelona

Between 1955 and 1961 Suárez was a regular in a FC Barcelona team that also included Ladislao Kubala, Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis, Ramallets and Evaristo. With Helenio Herrera as coach, the club and Suárez won a La Liga/Copa del Generalísimo double in 1959 and a La Liga/Fairs Cup double in 1960. Suárez was also voted European Footballer of the Year in 1960. One of his last games for FC Barcelona was the final of the European Cup in 1961 which they lost 3–2 to S.L. Benfica.

Internazionale

In 1961 Suárez became the world's most expensive footballer when FC Barcelona sold him to Internazionale for 250 million Italian liras (£142,000). The move saw him follow his mentor Helenio Herrera.
Suárez became a regular in the Great Inter team that won three Serie A titles, two consecutive European Cups and two Intercontinental Cups. Between 1961 and 1970 he made 328 appearances for Inter and scored 55 goals.

Spain

Suárez also played 32 games for Spain and scored 14 goals. He made his debut on 6 December 1957 in a 6–1 victory over the Netherlands and represented Spain at both the 1962 and 1966 World Cups. However his greatest achievement with Spain came in 1964 when, together with Josep Maria Fusté, Amancio Amaro, José Ángel Iribar and Jesús María Pereda, he helped them win the European Championship. He played his final game for Spain in 1972.

• Luis Suarez Miramontes, playmaker extraordinaire, turns 78

Born in La Coruna on 2 May 1935, Luisito wrote history as part of the Grande Inter team in the sixties

MILAN – If Inter were a film, he would be the Oscar-winning director. Luis Suarez Miramontes, simply Luisito to many, played for the Nerazzurri during the marvellous Grande Inter years, from 1961 to 1970. He joined from Barcelona having already won the Ballon d'Or, his transfer from Spain to Italy based on an original idea by Helenio Herrera and adapted by Angelo Moratti. Barcelona are said to have completed their stadium, the Camp Nou, with the money from his sale.
At Inter he won three league titles, two European Cups and two Intercontinental Cups. His inch-perfect passing from the deep-lying playmaker role remains legendary. He has stayed in Italy ever since: after ending his playing days at Sampdoria, he began a coaching career and has helped Inter out on a number of occasions.
These are his numbers in black and blue: 257 Serie A appearances and 42 goals, 49 European games and 8 goals, 22 Coppa Italia appearances with 4 goals. In total 328 matches and 54 goals.

Legends of La Liga: Luis Suarez Miramontes

Luis Suarez Miramontes born May 2nd 1935 started his career in 1949 with Deportivo De La Coruna. Working his way through the youth system he made his La Liga debut in 1953 when the side lost 6-1 to Barcelona. He went on to to score three times in 17 games that season doing enough on the pitch to earn a contract from Barcelona.
Suarez quickly earned a reputation as a creative midfielder coming up with 10 plus goals from midfield in almost every season at the club. in 1959 Suarez was key to the team scoring 20 goals in a double winning season (La Liga and Copa Del Rey).
 A year later Suarez led Barca to another title scoring 14 times, his efforts were respected on a worldwide level as the midfielder became the first Spanish born player to win the Ballon D’or.

He left the club in 1961 with one of his last games for the club being a 3-2 loss in the European Cup final against Benfica. After that year Suarez was done with Spanish football moving to Inter Milan the next year with a record of 61 goals in 122 games for the Catalan side.
Suarez went on to be key for Spain winning the European Championships in 1964 a true achievement for the nation.
The Spaniard finished his career in in 1973, Suarez is regarded as one of Spain’s greatest players. Nicknamed El Arquitecto (The Architect).

Sir Geoff Hurst, unicul fotbalist care a izbutit un hat-trick într-o finală de Campionat Mondial

Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst este un fost international englez care a intrat in istoria jocului dupa World Cup 1966, cand a reusit sa marcheze 3 goluri in finala, performanta nefiind egalata inca. Anglia a invins atunci RFG, pe celebrul stadion Wembley. Hurst imbraca pentru a opta oara tricoul nationalei Albionului, debutul sau petrecandu-se cu doar cinci luni mai devreme.

Erwin Waldner, internaţional german

Internaţional german de fotbal care a jucat ca atacant. Campion cu Stuttgart în 1954 şi câştigător a două Cupe ale Germaniei, în '54 şi '58. A mai jucat în campionatele elveţian şi italian. Pentru naţionala Germaniei a jucat 13 partide, marcând 2 goluri. Autograf solicitat prin email.

Arvydas Sabonis, a Lithuanian retired professional basketball player and businessman. One of the best European players of his era, he won the Euroscar Award six times, and the Mr. Europa Award twice, spent seven seasons in the NBA

Arvydas Romas Sabonis (born December 19, 1964) is a Lithuanian retired professional basketball player and businessman. Recognized as one of the best European players of his era, he won the Euroscar Award six times, and the Mr. Europa Award twice. He played in a variety of leagues, and spent seven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States. Sabonis played the center position and also won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea for the Soviet Union, and later earned bronze medals at the 1992 and 1996 games while playing for Lithuania. He retired from professional basketball in 2005.
Sabonis is considered one of the best big man passers as well as one of the best overall centers in the history of the game. Bill Walton once called Sabonis a 7'3" Larry Bird due to his unique court vision, shooting range, rugged in-game mentality, and versatility.
On August 20, 2010, Sabonis was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in recognition of his great play in international competition. On April 4, 2011, Sabonis was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and he was inducted on August 12, 2011. At that time, he was the tallest player to ever enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; one year later, he would be surpassed by 7'4" Ralph Sampson. On October 24, 2011, Sabonis was voted to be the next president of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation. He resigned from the position on October 2, 2013, but came back on October 10, 2013.

Sabonis made his professional debut in 1981 with one of the oldest basketball teams in Lithuania, BC Žalgiris, in his hometown of Kaunas. He won three consecutive Soviet League titles and reached the 1986 Euroleague finals with the team.
Sabonis was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 77th pick of the 1985 NBA Draft. However, the selection was voided because Sabonis was under 21 at the time of the draft. The following spring, he suffered a devastating Achilles' tendon injury. Nevertheless, he was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 24th pick of the 1986 NBA Draft.
Sabonis was not allowed to play in the NBA by Soviet authorities until 1989. However, he did go to Portland to rehabilitate his injury with Blazers trainers. He also practiced with the team.
In the 1988 Summer Olympics, Sabonis led the Soviet Union to a gold medal with a win against a United States team that featured future NBA All-Stars David Robinson, Mitch Richmond and Danny Manning in the semi-finals. The team later beat Yugoslavia in the finals.
The 1985–1988 stretch of a heavy playing schedule and lack of rest took a significant toll on Sabonis' future health and durability. Various leg injuries weren't given much time to heal due to the Cold War climate that surrounded international competition as well as BC Žalgiris – CSKA Moscow games. In a 2011 interview, Sabonis expressed an opinion that overuse by the coaches of the Soviet national program was a major contributing factor to his first Achilles' tendon injury back in 1986. Another key moment for his future health took place in 1988 when Sabonis had a surgical Achilles procedure performed in Portland but was rushed back on the floor with the USSR Olympic team before a full recovery. The decision to include a limping Sabonis on the USSR roster for the 1988 Olympic games was protested at the time by Portland medical staff and was later heavily criticized. Eventually Sabonis would develop chronic knee, ankle and groin issues that substantially limited his mobility and explosiveness by the mid-1990s.
In 1992, after playing with CB Valladolid for three seasons, Sabonis joined Real Madrid and won two Spanish League titles and a Euroleague title in 1995. During the 1994–95 regular season with Real Madrid, he averaged 22.8 points, 13.2 rebounds, 2.6 blocked shots, and 2.4 assists per game.
After the 1994–95 European season, Sabonis and Portland contacted one another about a move to the NBA. Before signing Sabonis, Portland's then-general manager Bob Whitsitt asked the Blazers team physician to look at Sabonis' X-rays. Illustrating the impact of Sabonis' numerous injuries, Whitsitt recalled in a 2011 interview that when the doctor reported the results, "He said that Arvydas could qualify for a handicapped parking spot based on the X-ray alone." Nevertheless, the Blazers signed Sabonis. He had a successful rookie campaign, averaging 14.5 points on 55% shooting and 8.1 rebounds while playing less than 24 minutes per game.  Sabonis was selected to the All-Rookie First Team and was runner-up in both Rookie of the Year a   In the first playoff series of his NBA career, Portland lost to Utah in five games.
Sabonis averaged 16.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 1997–98, all career-highs.
During Sabonis' first leg in Portland the Blazers always made the playoffs (part of a 21-year streak); between 1998 and 1999 the Oregon franchise changed large parts of its roster in order to compete for the title (after six consecutive first round losses), with center Sabonis the only player remaining in the starting five. Kenny Anderson and Isiah Rider were traded for Damon Stoudemire and Steve Smith. In both those years the Blazers reached the Western Conference Finals; in 1999 they were swept by the eventual champions, the San Antonio Spurs, while the next year the team (starting Sabonis, Smith, Stoudemire, Wallace and recently added Scottie Pippen) lost to the Los Angeles Lakers (at the beginning of the Shaq-Kobe three-peat) in 7 games.
He won the Euroscar Award twice while playing with the Blazers. He also became a fan favorite.
The question that surrounds Sabonis' NBA career revolves around how good he could have been had he played in the NBA during his prime. Sabonis was nearly 31 when he joined the Blazers, by which time he had already won multiple gold medals, suffered through numerous injuries and had lost much of his mobility and athleticism. In Bill Simmons' "Book of Basketball", Arvydas Sabonis the international player is idealized while Arvydas Sabonis the Blazer is described as "lumbering up and down the court in what looked to be concrete Nikes" and ranking "just behind Artis Gilmore on the Moving Like a Mummy Scale." In ESPN's David Thorpe's view, Sabonis would be the best passing big in NBA history and possibly top 4 center overall, had he played his entire career there.In Clyde Drexler's view, if Sabonis had been able to spend his prime in Portland next to the plethora of other Trail Blazers' All Stars (Drexler, Terry Porter, Buck Williams and "Cliff" Robinson), Trail Blazers would "have had four, five or six titles. Guaranteed. He was that good. He could pass, shoot three pointers, had a great post game, and dominated the paint."
After the 2000–2001 NBA season, Sabonis refused to sign an extension with Trail Blazers and retired from the NBA. In his own words, he "was tired mentally and physically." Instead, he returned to Europe where he signed a one-year deal at nominal salary with Žalgiris, expecting to join the team for most important games down the stretch. However, he ended up missing that season in its entirety resting and recovering from injuries. Sabonis rejoined Trail Blazers for one final season in 2002–2003.
Sabonis came back to Žalgiris to play his final season in 2003–2004. He led the team to the Top 16 stage of the Euroleague that year and was named the Regular Season MVP and the Top 16 MVP. He also became the team's president.Sabonis would officially retire in 2005.
Sabonis was awarded a silver medal at the 2013 EuroBasket tournament as the LKF president.