Lauren Jackson, Australia’s greatest ever basketball player, has announced her retirement from the sport, citing injury concerns.
Jackson has struggled with knee injuries for the last year, and was released from the final year of her contract with the Canberra Capitals in December 2015.
At the time, she said she would know by March whether she would continue with her career.
Now, on the final day of March, the 34-year-old signed off with a simple, classy tweet, writing “Goodbye X”.
Goodbye X pic.twitter.com/pT4FyYEZJb
— Lauren Jackson (@laurenej15) March 30, 2016
“Lauren leaves behind a legacy that future generations of Opals as well as all young basketballers can look up to,” said Basketball Australia CEO, Anthony Moore.
“Her commitment to the Jayco Australian Opals and her work ethic should be honoured as well as her tireless efforts both on and off the court in the promotion of basketball.
“Throughout the USA, Europe, Asia and of course Australia, Lauren has left a lasting impression on everyone that saw her play and we are privileged to have witnessed her journey.”
Jackson’s career is the stuff of legend, and also highlights the massive gender pay-gap for professional athletes.
First representing the Aussie women’s basketball team, the Opals, at age 16, Jackson won a WNBL competition with the Australian Institute of Sport team in 1998, before signing with Canberra for the 1999 season. She would win four more WNBL titles with the Capitals between ’99 and 2006.
But bigger and better things beckoned, and Jackson headed to the USA, where she was the WNBA’s number one draft pick in 2001. Picked up by the Seattle Storm, Jackson played her entire WNBA career with the West Coast franchise.
During her tenure with the Storm, Jackson won two WNBA titles, was named league MVP three times, and won All-Star selection seven times (and, seriously, that’s just scratching the surface of her achievements in the States).
#ThankYouLJ pic.twitter.com/MJigmuZXZz
— Seattle Storm (@seattlestorm) March 30, 2016
Jackson continued to play in the WNBL during the WNBA off-season, and also had stints in Russia, Spain, Korea and China.
For the Opals, Jackson has three silver and one bronze Olympic medals, two bronze and a gold World Chamionship medals, and a Commonwealth Games gold.
At the 2012 Olympics in London, Jackson was Australia’s flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony.
“When I first saw Lauren and what she could do on the basketball court, I knew she was someone special,” said ex-Opals head coach and current Basketball Australia High Performance General Manager, Jan Stirling.
“Throughout all of her accomplishments she has remained humble and through a 19-year commitment to the Opals, she never missed a major event.”
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