Jasna Rather, Olympic medalist and Texas Wesleyan University head table tennis coach, will be inducted into the USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame Dec. 15.

Rather is in her sixth season as head coach at Texas Wesleyan. In her first season, she teamed with Keith Evans as co-head coach and led the Rams to a sweep of all seven National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) National Championships. In the following four seasons her Rams have taken 18 more titles, including six of seven last year, and continued their dominance in the coed team event, to eight straight titles.

Rather has had a distinguished career in table tennis. Since 2000, she has made four trips to the Olympic Games – two with the U.S. National Team and two with the former Yugoslavia Olympic Team. In 1988 she took home the bronze medal for Yugoslavia in Seoul, South Korea. Her other international titles include: two North American women’s doubles championships (2001, 2005), European Championships in women’s doubles (1992) and mixed doubles (1988), Pan-American women’s doubles (2003), Balkan Games women’s singles and doubles (1991), and Mediterranean women’s singles and doubles (1991).

Rather also played six seasons at Texas Wesleyan. After competing in five NCTTA National Championships, she claimed three women’s singles national titles. She is a seven-time U.S. Champion, winning women’s singles titles in 2003 and 2005; women’s doubles titles in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2010, and a mixed doubles title in 2003. Rather also won more than 20 Yugoslavian National Championships in women’s singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles, and team events.

Born in Yugoslavia, Jasna Rather became a United States citizen in 1999 and is now a dual citizen of the U.S. and Croatia. 

The Hall of Fame induction is scheduled for Dec. 15; the same day Rather is expecting her first child. Rather will be inducted at the 2011 U.S. Table Tennis Hall of Fame induction banquet at the U.S. National Championships in Virginia Beach, Va.

Rather joins head men’s golf coach Bobby Cornett as a current Hall of Famer on staff at Texas Wesleyan. Cornett is a member of the Texas Wesleyan Athletic Hall of Fame, Golf Coaches Association of American (GCAA) Hall of Fame, and will be inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in May of 2012.