Luisa Fuentes

A mainstay of the Peruvian national team in the 1960s and 1970s, Luisa Fuentes began playing volleyball when she was in her early teens. Her talent was soon discovered, with Fuentes joining the club Divino Maestro in Lima. Her breakout year with the national team was in 1967, as she won gold at the South American Championships and silver at the Pan American Games. Peru dominated the South American Championships in the 1970s, winning all five tournaments that took place during the decade, with Fuentes being a part of the squad at each one. She also won three more silver medals at the Pan American Games, when Peru finished as the runners-up in 1971, 1975, and 1979.

In 1968 Fuentes was part of the Peruvian squad that competed at the Mexico City Olympics, narrowly missing out on a medal when the team came fourth. After missing out on qualifying for the 1972 München Olympics, Peru returned to the Games in 1976 in Montréal but finished a disappointing seventh out of the eight teams that competed.

After her playing career Fuentes worked at the national sports academy teaching children how to play the sport. She was later nominated by the International Volleyball Federation as one of the best players of the 20th century and was inducted into the Peruvian Sports Hall of Fame.