Celebrity Featured: Lauren Jackson
Artist: Peter Smeeth
About Lauren Jackson
Born in Albury, NSW on May 11 1981, Lauren Jackson took up the game of basketball at age 4. Her parents represented Australia at basketball and her amazing ability was recognized at a young age and and she moved to the Australian Institute of Sport as a teenager.
Playing for the Opals by age 16, Jackson led the Australian Institute of Sport team, made up of the country's best 16 to 18 year-old players, to a premiership in the Women's National Basketball League in 1998-1999 - an unprecedented achievement for a youth team.
Jackson led the Canberra Capitals to 4 titles and then in the Summer Olympics of 2000 she registered 20 points and 13 rebounds in a loss to the US in the gold medal game. The silver medal was Australian basketballs first in International competition.
In the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, The Opals went on to repeat as silver medalists, losing again to the United States in the Olympic final. In the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, the Opals defeated New Zealand's Tall Ferns in the final, and earned the gold medal. When Jackson declared for the WNBA draft in 2001, she was an automatic first selection to the Seattle Storm, where she has played since.
In 2003, despite the fact that the Seattle Storm did not make the playoffs, she was voted as the WNBA's Most Valuable Player that season. In October 2005, having returned to Australia to play in the 2005-06 WNBL season, Jackson aggravated a stress fracture injury in her leg and was not expected to play again in the WNBL season. She recovered more quickly than expected, returning to star for Canberra in the WNBL finals series, being named finals MVP in Canberra's 05-06 title, and to lead the Opals in the Commonwealth Games.