Tina Charles is as close as there is to a sure bet to win Olympic gold in Saturday’s women’s basketball final. Yet the Liberty center and Jamaica, Queens, native might be an even better person than she is player.
Charles starts for arguably the most dominant squad in Rio de Janeiro, with Team USA having won 48 straight games. But for her, serving others is more important than being a star. That’s why she has donated half her WNBA salary the past two years to her Hopey’s Heart Foundation, raising awareness of Sudden Cardiac Arrest and providing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to AAU teams.
While her charity helps save young athletes, her play helps inspire them. Even though Team USA’s average winning margin over its past 24 games is 36 points, Charles isn’t taking gold for granted.
“We have to control everything we can: [Defense], free throws, getting to the free-throw line, attacking, rebounding. All that plays into getting where what we want to be; and that’s up on that podium,’’ Charles told The Post via phone from Rio. “We haven’t peaked as yet. We haven’t played our best basketball for four quarters. Diana [Taurasi] always reminds us every game there’s still more we can do as a team and as individuals. We take pride in that. … Knowing this could be my last go-round with Tamika [Catchings], Diana, too, I’m not taking anything for granted. I’m giving it my all.”
Charles, 27, is the first active Liberty player to play for Team USA in the Olympics. Facing Spain, a team the Americans drilled by 40 in pool play, she likely will be the first to claim gold.
“It’s one of those franchise landmark moments when you have a current active player who’s an integral part of arguably one of the most dominant teams in U.S. Olympic history,’’ Liberty president Isiah Thomas told The Post, gushing as much over Charles’ character as her game. “When you love and have passion for what you’re doing, it’s not a job: it’s who you are. With Tina, it’s just who she is. Basketball or not, regardless, those are the things she’d be doing. Basketball just gives her a bigger platform to do it on. … We’re fortunate to have a player and person like her in our organization.”
Charles always has searched for people to help. At Christ the King, she fed the homeless with her mother Angella Murry’s church on Thanksgivings. While at Connecticut, she interned at since-closed Bergin Correctional Institution, helping inmates prepare to transition into society. And upon reaching the WNBA, she donated $32,000 to fund a school in Mali.
She always has been determined to serve, but when her aunt Maureen “Hopey” Vaz died from multiple organ failure on March 9, 2013, she focused that service. Charles personally called AED manufacturers, negotiated for devices she says cost $1,200-to-$1,500 each and registered as a non-profit.
“It’s really important be a servant to others, because after [losing Hopey] to save people from cardiac arrest, it’s really a blessing to be used by God to show my faith through the foundation. To save lives through AEDs is really good,” Charles said. “I’m taking it as this is what I wanted. I worked to put myself in this position.”
And she’s using that position to help.
“Her values off the court speak to everything that we try to do organizationally,’’ Thomas said.
Charles, who won gold four years ago in London, agreed with the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan, a member of the U.S. men’s team, that it’s even more special than a WNBA title.
“I can personally side with DeAndre Jordan on that,’’ Charles said. “It’s very special. You have to be very dedicated to your craft to be on this team. … It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”