Farewell to Lauren Jackson: The greatest Australian basketball player

By any and all measurements, with the tearful retirement of Lauren Jackson, Australia farewelled its greatest ever basketballer yesterday.

Not our greatest female player. Our greatest player. Period. Fin. Ende.

This shouldn’t even be an argument. That some think it is does not even warrant a dignified response.

Not Luc Longley, not Andrew Bogut, not Patty Mills (all NBA title winners), not even Andrew Gaze, who despite five Olympic Games and a stellar domestic career, even at his peak, was never ever remotely considered the best player in the world.

2016 Rio Olympics basketball schedule

But Lauren Elizabeth Jackson was not like anything this country had seen before, at least, not outside her immediate family anyway.

Jackson rose from a country NSW upbringing in her beloved Albury all the way to the pinnacle of her sport, a world champion and a three-time WNBA Most Valuable Player award winner.

From the 2000 Olympics onwards she strode across the basketball world like no other, a colossus that never once asked for anything, simply taking almost everything that she deemed hers, with an iron will that brooked no argument or dissent.

In this then, she was, and is, her mother’s daughter, for Maree Jackson (nee Bennie) was Lauren before Lauren, an absolute superstar at Louisiana State University in the 70s, and going on to play for Australia at Olympics and world championships.

To be sure, her dad Gary was a talented player in his own right, also donning the green and gold, but for those that knew best, Jackson’s ferocious intensity and indefatigable thirst to win was simply the manifestation of being Maree’s daughter, as opposed to the unknowing masses who thought of Maree as just Lauren’s mum.

Alas, there was one thing that eluded her, but it was the biggest thing; now a ghostly apparition that will forever remain just beyond her reach – Olympic gold.

Oh how much she would’ve given for that one extra step up on an Olympic medal dais – and how much she has really sacrificed in the long run.

For her ultimately futile battle against injuries over the past four years started just before the London Olympics.

She essentially played on one leg for much of the WNBA season that preceded and followed the Olympiad, dragging the Opals to a bronze medal that would no doubt have been so very bittersweet to someone who knew her Olympics clock was closer than ever to midnight.

Ultimately it would prove to be the final important chapter in her glittering Opals career, one that netted three consecutive Olympic silver medals, the aforementioned bronze, a home Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2006 and perhaps most preciously validating of all, a World Championship gold medal.

The Opals’ 2006 triumph over Russia – a team Jackson led from the front – is, more than a decade on, still Australia’s most successful basketball squad.

It would also remain the high-water mark for Jackson. Despite achingly wanting to defeat the might of the US in Beijing two years later, the Opals would fall short and without really knowing it, Jackson’s playing career had already started its downward turn.

Not that you would know it to watch and listen to her, raging against the dying of the light even as the end loomed near, refusing to yield and wanting to go out with a perfect send-off in Rio, a fifth Olympics and one last salvo against the country where she dominated the landscape of the WNBA.

Three MVPs, two championships, a Finals MVP, three scoring titles, a defensive player of the year award, seven all-star nods and an incredible five All-WNBA First Team nominations while playing for the Seattle Storm cemented her legacy as one of the greatest ever, not just for Australia, but anywhere.

If you were picking a team between 2001 and 2010, Jackson would be first pick, bar none.

But it wasn’t just the WNBA or the Opals that saw the best of Jackson.

The WNBL was her personal fiefdom too, another four MVP awards and five titles ensuring a reign that may well never be surpassed.

Wherever she went to ply her trade – Russia, South Korea, China, Spain – her teams invariably won.

Put simply, Jackson was a force of nature that could only have ever been cut down by injuries; a body that allowed her to dominate the world like few before or after would ultimately betray her, the toll all too much.

Something that Jackson herself was all too aware of.

Speaking to your correspondent before the London Games, Lauren admitted the effort of staying at the top was something that took a lot out of her, both physically – and just as importantly – mentally.

“If I didn’t love it, there’s just no way I could put myself through all this stuff.

“I think you’ll find with most professional athletes they have that connection to the sport; people who don’t have a passion might not be able to relate to that.

“It is a love-hate relationship, you have to sacrifice so much and to be your best, there’s so much you have to give and it’s not rosy. It’s not the most glamorous thing, it’s actually emotionally draining but I do, I love the game so much, it’s in my blood.”

She has inspired countless children, both at home and abroad, she has been an Olympic flag bearer, and she has been, quite simply, the greatest.

Farewell, Loz. Well played.