The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Iconic basketballer Lauren Jackson makes top ten list

Basketball player Lauren Jackson was the flag bearer for Australia at London 2012
Expert
31st March, 2016
3

An emotional Lauren Jackson pulled the pin on her stellar basketball career yesterday, the victim of a recurring knee injury that has cost her a fifth Olympic Games appearance.

It’s always sad when iconic sports stars don’t retire on their own terms.

Lauren made that crystal clear when she opened with, “I announce my retirement from the love of my life after 19 years”.

Anyone watching who didn’t choke a bit on those words has no soul.

Lauren did as she rode into the basketball sunset with three Olympic silvers, a bronze, a world championship gold, and a Commonwealth Games gold with the Opals, and the ongoing accolades from Australia, USA, Russia, Spain and Korea where she reigned supreme as one of the greatest basketballers the world has ever seen.

Jackson is one of my top ten Australian sporting legends whom I’ve been privileged to often see live in action.

10. Ken Rosewall
Rosewall will be remembered for losing four Wimbledon finals, but that wouldn’t accurately describe Muscles’ brilliance, and would undermine his incredible longevity which is second to none.

There were 20 years between his first and last Wimbledon finals, 19 years between his first and fourth Australian titles, 15 years between his two French, and a dozen years between his two US titles – and it wasn’t a level playing field.

Advertisement

‘Muscles’ was ineligible for 44 Slams while he was a pro in the 50s and 60s with the sport still amateur. It’s reasonable to assume he would have won at least 18 of those 44, taking his career record to 26 Slams. No-one will ever reach that target.

9. Betty Cuthbert
She was the darling of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics track, winning 100, 200, and relay gold with her blond hair flowing and mouth wide open. The ‘Golden Girl’ from the Rydalmere nursery in Sydney turned back the clock in Tokyo in 1964 to capture the inaugural 400 flat gold to become Australia’s top track gold medallist in Olympic history.

During her magnificent career, Cuthbert set world records over 100, 200 and 400 metres, as well as 100, 220 and 440 yards – another record.

8. Peter Thomson
In a period of seven years Thomson won the British Open in 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1958, and was runner-up in 1952, 1963 and 1957. No-one has come within cooee of matching that record in the oldest golf tournament in the world.

Just to prove he hadn’t lost his touch, Thomson won a fifth British Open in 1965. Among the 53 titles he won worldwide, two of them were partnering great mate Kel Nagle when the Canada Cup, now World Cup, was a prestige international tournament.

7. Lauren Jackson
Now 34, Jackson began her career at the Australian Institute of Sport in 1997 before joining the Canberra Capitals in 1999. It wasn’t long before the powerful WNBL in America wanted the 196-centimetre, 85-kilogram points-scoring machine who moved like a gazelle.

Lauren joined the Seattle Storm in 2001 figuring in two titles in 2004 and 2011 and in the process over 11 years stamped herself among the greats statistically with games and minutes played, field goals and three-pointers, as well as turnovers.

Advertisement

It was the same story when she spread her wings and talent to Russia, Spain and Korea – Lauren is a proven basketball gem.

6. Margaret Court
In 15 years at the top of the tennis world, Court won 24 Slam singles, 19 Slam doubles and 19 Slam mixed doubles – the 62 Slams total is still an all-time record for both women and men.

Included were a Grand Slam singles crown in 1970, and two Grand Slam mixed doubles in 1963 and 1965 – another record. Throughout her spectacular career, Margaret won 192 titles, 92 in the Open Era.

5. Heather McKay
McKay is rightfully rated one of the greatest all-round sportswomen in the world of all time, beaten only twice in nearly 20 years during her brilliant squash career by winning a record 16 successive British Opens from 1962 to 1977, and a record 14 successive Australian championships from 1960 to 1973.

As if that wasn’t conclusive enough, Heather was a Hockeyroo in 1967 and 1971, and won the Canadian Racquetball Championships five times, and the American once.

4. Rod Laver
He is the only two-time Grand Slam singles winner (1962) as an amateur, and as a pro (1969). American Donald Budge in 1938 is the only other male Grand Slammer.

The ‘Rockhampton Rocket’ won 11 Slam singles titles, but like Ken Rosewall it wasn’t an even playing field, being ineligible for 22 Slam singles while he was a pro and the sport amateur. It would be reasonable to assume he would have won at least ten of those 22 for a career Slam total of 21.

Advertisement

The left-hander won 200 titles, with 52 in the Open Era.

3. Dawn Fraser was denied history when she was banned from swimming by the Australian Swimming Union in 1964 after allegedly nicking the Emperor’s flag from his palace in Tokyo – Dawn was totally innocent, saying at the time she wouldn’t dare swim in the putrid moat.

Having won Olympic gold in the 100 freestyle in Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, and Tokyo 1964, there’s no doubt she would have won in Mexico City in 1968, and Munich in 1972 to set a record mighty tough to beat in the one event.

Despite being framed, Dawn will always be right up there as one of Australia’s greatest swimmers.

2. Herb Elliott
Elliott was never beaten over 1500 metres track or a mile throughout his incredible career. But as a teenager in Perth, he was a “wild one” – smoking, drinking, and always ready to party.

His life changed dramatically when he sat in the MCG stand at the 1956 Olympics and was fascinated by the powerful performance of Vladimir Kuts in winning the 5000 and 10,000 double gold. From that point on Herb Elliot was a mirror version of the dedicated Russian.

The crowning glory was Rome 1960 when he smashed his own world 1500 record with 3.35.6, winning by a still record 30 metres. To everyone’s amazement, Herb Elliott immediately retired aged 23, saying he had nothing else to prove.

Advertisement

But that Rome time would have won 1500 gold at the 1964, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1988, and 1992 Olympics – 32 years after his memorable victory.

1. Sir Donald Bradman
Bradman was simply known as ‘The Don’ who played his last Test at The Oval in 1948, bowled for the most famous duck in the history of cricket, requiring just four runs to have a career average of 100.

I once asked Sir Donald during an interview if he was aware of the four runs needed, and he quickly answered – “No, I wasn’t aware until afterwards, and then it was too late, I was out without scoring” – and I decided a follow-up question on the subject wasn’t a shrewd move.

But I always found Sir Donald very affable, and for someone who has achieved far more than any Test batsman in history that’s likely to remain so for eternity, he was a truly remarkable Australian and without peer as the nation’s top sportsman.

His average of 99.94 has been cemented in Australian folklore as the ABC’s post office box number in every state,

So that’s my top ten and it’s also been my privilege to interview them many times, and I can tell you all of them have four common denominators – supreme ability, humility, impeccable behaviour on and off the field of play, and have given the world so many breathtaking moments that have, and will continue, to become vivid memories.

close