Tess Madgen

Fast Facts

Sport: Basketball
Event: Women 5x5
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1990
Born: Ashford, SA

About Tess

Inspired by her older brother and eventual fellow professional basketballer Ben, Tess began her basketball career with South Australian club Eastern Mavericks. From Mount Barker, Tess earned selection in multiple junior Australian national championships.

The 6’0” guard was awarded a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport in 2008 to play with the Institute’s Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) squad in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons.

After two strong seasons in Canberra, she made the move south to join the Bendigo Spirit. Whilst in Victoria Tess earned team most valuable player honours in both her two seasons with the Spirit, after displaying a consistent three-point stroke and leadership for her side.

She enjoyed two stints overseas for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) side Phoenix Mercury in America and for Polish side Pszczółka AZS UMCS Lublin. Tess's sole year with the Mercury was bookended by four seasons with the WNBL side Melbourne Boomers, where she settled after spells with the AIS and Bendigo.

Once returned from Poland in 2017, she marked a return to Australian domestic basketball with the Townsville Fire. A strong initial season in northeast Queensland earned Tess selection in the Opals 2018 FIBA World Cup squad, a critical piece in an Australian outfit earning second place in the competition.

A subsequent season in Townsville preceded a homecoming to Melbourne, when she returned to the Boomers after a four-year absence in 2020. In the WNBL 2020 season Tess averaged 13.6 points per game, 5.4 rebounds per game and 6.2 assists per game, while shooting 41.1 per cent from three-point territory to land All-WNBL Second Team honours.

Tess first represented Australia in 2008 as part of a gold-winning junior team in the Oceania World Qualification series. She then made her Opals debut three years later, when she was named to a senior Australian side for the Oceania Olympic qualification series against New Zealand.

She made her Olympic debut at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (in 2021). Drawn in Group C, Australia lost their opening match to Belgium, then suffered a critical two-point loss in their second game against China, going on to win the last match comfortably against Puerto Rico.

Australia finished third in their Group resulting in a challenging quarter-final match against the USA, which they lost 55-79, ending their Olympic campaign in eighth place. America would go on to win the gold medal.

Playing in all four games, Tess received 42 minutes of playing time at the tournament and scored 10 points.