Top Team Ready To Make A Splash In Beijing - Basketball
The Age
Monday July 28, 2008
Our Australian heroes are going for gold as the greatest show on Earth is poised to begin.
IN BASKETBALL, Lauren Jackson has it all, with one little exception, and she plans to have that thing as well by the end of next month.The 27-year-old Australian is universally considered the best female basketball player on the planet. Her resume looks like it's on steroids. She's been voted the best player in competitions in the US, Europe, Asia and, of course, in Australia. She has graced covers of magazines, become a role model for young women both in and out of sport, and two years ago she had her proudest moment in international basketball when she led the Opals to a world championship victory in Brazil.Then there is that one thing missing. She has an Olympic silver medal from the Sydney Games, and another from Athens, but Jackson's "jewellery box" does not contain a gold medallion from the Olympics, something she hopes to rectify this time around in Beijing, her third Olympics.On the back of their world championship victory, and their successive silver medals, the Opals will be one of the favourites in Beijing, but Jackson and her team know the main obstacle will again be the US, which has won the past three Olympic gold medals, beating Australia 76-54 in 2000, then 74-63 in Greece. Perhaps it will be third time lucky for the Opals.The Australian men's team is not tipped for gold as the Opals are, but a medal is not beyond it if some luck, and results, happen to go the Boomers' way.As Jackson is the focus in the women's team, the standout Boomer is NBA star Andrew Bogut, our $76 million man. The No. 1 selection for Milwaukee in the 2005 NBA draft, Bogut recently signed a contract extension for that amount with the Bucks, but the proud Australian loves playing for his country and would like nothing more than to help the Boomers be successful in China. -- MICHAEL COWLEY
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