Michele LaFountain
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Michele LaFountain (born 1969 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is the first Puerto Rican to become anchor of ESPN's Spanish version of "SportsCenter".
Michele was born into a middle class family and raised in San Juan where she obtained her primary and secondary education. She was athletic and played basketball at school and was also a competitive swimmer. She especially enjoyed watching baseball. Besides sports, Michele also enjoyed writing and reading. Her academic accomplishments earned her a scholarship into Harvard University and when she graduated from high school, she headed for Boston, Massachusetts.
At Harvard, Michele earned her Bachelor's Degree in "English and American Literature". She then enrolled and received her Master's Degree in "Mass Communications" from Boston University.
In 1997, Michele began her sports broadcasting career as a co-anchor for "ESPN's SportsCenter International" a position she held until 2000. That year, Michele joined the Spanish-language station "Telemundo" in New York and served as anchor for the nightly newscast "Noticiero 47" (News Center 47) and also as the host of "Deportes 47" (Sports 47), a weekly sports show. Michele was also the New York correspondent for "Titulares Telemundo" (Telemundo Headliners) a national sports show. She received three Emmy Award nominations for "On Camera Achievement in Sports".
On April 2003, Michele joined the "CBS Sports Team". She made her debut in that station covering the baseball series between the New York Mets and the Montreal Expos, celebrated in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Michele returned to "ESPN" and on December 17, 2003, she was named anchor together with Heriberto Murrieta, Fernando Palomo and Jorge Sanchez of the Spanish version of "ESPN SportsCenter". "ESPN SportsCenter" (Spanish version) is transmitted through "ESPN Deportes", a new Spanish language network launched by "ESPN".
Michele also hosts an interview program created by "ESPN" called "Primera Plana" (Headliners), which features exclusive chats with special sports stars of the moment. The show's first guest was David Beckham, the soccer star who plays for the Real Madrid Team.
