Lauren Jackson, a retired Australian professional woman basketball player, has been an inspiration to many female athletes in the country because she overcame many obstacles and sacrifices to achieve her goals.
Net Worth:
Lauren Jackson is one of the richest Basketball Player. Estimated net worth is approximately $1.5 Million
Career of Lauren Jackson
For teams like the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra Capitals, Seattle Storm, Samsung Bichumi, Spartak Moscow Region, Canberra Capitals, Ros Casares Valencia, and Heilongjiang Shenda, she played forward and center (2012).
When she played in the WNBA, she was a leader in games played, three-pointers made, turnovers made, and field goals made.
She is a seven-time WNBA All-Star, the 2007 WNBA Rebounding Champion, and the 2007 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, among other things.
Jackson ripped out Lisa Leslie’s hair extension during the gold medal match at the 2000 Olympics. This caused a lot of people to be angry.
This is what ESPN said about her in 2018. They called her one of the “World’s top 20 most dominant athletes of the twenty-first century,” with LeBron James, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods in that group.
Her relationships and being a mother were even sacrificed so that she could win an Olympic medal for Australia.
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Lauren Jackson on the Basketball Court:
Basketball has always run in her family.
Thanks to her parents, Gary Jackson (father) and Maree Bennie (mother), both former members of the national basketball team.
She began learning basketball, along with other sports like athletics, tennis, and netball, in her backyard with her mother when she was four years old.
With Lauren’s help, the Australian Institute of Sports won the Women’s National Basketball League in 1998.
Former Canberra Capitals forward drafted by the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in 2001. She lived in capitals for four years in 2009 and then for two years in 2014.
She led Seattle to two WNBA titles in 2004 and 2010, earning MVP honors in the latter.
Jackson, who is 6’5″ tall, has also played for WBC SPARTAK Moscow, Ros Casares Valencia, Heilongjiang Shenda, and Samsung Bichumi.
Lauren, a 14-year-old from New South Wales, shone with the Australian U-20 team. Australia’s best basketball player. At 16, she joined the Opals, Australia’s women’s national basketball team.
She was named Australian Player of the Year three times while captaining the team to the 2006 World Championship and Commonwealth Games gold.
Her two previous Olympic final appearances had resulted in no gold.
In 2016, after an injury at the Opals training camp in Canberra, the award-winning basketball player announced her retirement.
After retiring, the basketball legend served as the head of the Australian Basketball Alliance’s women’s division and as the Commercial Operations Manager/Board of Directors for the WNBL Melbourne Bloomers.
Lauren’s contributions to the history of women’s basketball were undeniable, and she is expected to continue after retirement, but they came at a cost.
Lauren’s Struggle for Notoriety
Throughout her career, she suffered a slew of injuries and even sacrificed her relationships and motherhood in pursuit of Olympic gold. In a July 2012 interview with ESPN, she explained her sacrifices, saying,
“It’s really difficult being a female and a professional athlete because there are so many things to consider; and if I had had children at a younger age, I might have regretted it because I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’ve done.”In the interview, she also discussed the difficulties that a female athlete faces when settling down, saying,
“I’ve definitely loved. I’ve loved and have been so fortunate,” she says, “but it’s impossible to maintain anything as a professional athlete and a woman because you can’t settle down and have a family unless you’re willing to give up your career.”The flag bearer at the 2012 Summer Olympics tore her meniscus from the bone’s root, injuring her knee in China in 2013. Her injury ended her career, and she was forced to miss the 2016 Olympics, as she explained in her retirement speech.
Lauren later bid farewell to professional basketball via the Canberra Times in March 2016, leaving behind a legacy. She stated in her statement,
“Today, I am announcing my retirement from basketball, my life’s passion. It took me all over the world and gave me friendships that will last a lifetime, so thank you, everyone, for being there.”In October 2016, she made the big announcement that she was pregnant with her first child, shortly after retiring.
Lauren Jackson’s Pregnancy, Retiring, and Miscarriage
Through a Twitter post on Saturday, Jackson expressed her gratitude to her people and fans for the congratulatory tweets she received on October 1, 2016.
Previously, in a February 2016 interview with Fairfax Media, she expressed her desire to raise her own family, saying,
“I absolutely want to have a family… I’m not sure if I’d be able to play one-on-one with my kids in the backyard if I don’t do some work to get my knee strong, regardless of what happens with the Olympics.”In the same interview, she expressed her thoughts, saying,
“That’s something I enjoyed as a child and would like to be able to share with my children [in the future]. Whatever sport they choose, I want to be a part of it and be active.”Later that month, in February 2017, she gave birth to a son named Harry and celebrated her first Mother’s Day since her son’s birth on Twitter.
Though the former basketball player announced her pregnancy in 2016, she did not reveal the identity of the soon-to-be father, leaving it unclear whether she was attempting to keep her husband/boyfriend information private or was planning to raise the child on her own.
However, in a 2017 interview with the Herald Sun, she revealed that she was raising Harry as a single mother.
Lauren had a miscarriage in 2013 if you didn’t already know.
Lauren Jackson’s Past Dating Relationships, Gay Activist
“There was no boyfriend in the scene at the time,” she said in an August 2013 interview with theaustralian.com.au.
“I was ready to give up at one point,” he said. But there’s always hope. “I hope to meet Mr. Right.”
Lauren, a UN Women National Committee Champion, was linked to another athlete, Yao Ming, after hugging him at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
However, Jackson quickly denied the relationship.
Similarly, in 2007, she was rumored to be in a lesbian relationship with American basketball player Diana Taurasi, but the rumor was never confirmed.
Lauren Jackson, a Macquarie University graduate and supporter of gay marriage, is known for speaking out on issues concerning the gay community, and she even chastised WNBA star Sophia Young for making anti-gay remarks in 2013.
Quick Information
- Date of Birth=1981-05-11
- Age=40 Years 1 Month(s)
- Nationality=Australian
- Profession=Former Professional Basketball Player
- Birth Name=Lauren Elizabeth Jackson AO
- Zodiac Sign=Taurus
- Ethnicity/Race=Australian
- Father=Gary Jackson
- Mother=Maree Jackson
- Brother/s=Ross Jackson
- Son/s=Harry Gray
- Relationship Status=Married
- Husband/Spouse=Paul Byrne (m. 2014)
- Divorce/Split=Not Yet
- Wedding Date=2014
- Dating/Affair=No
- Net Worth=Not Disclosed
- Career=1997–2016
- College=Lake Ginninderra College
- Height/ How Tall?=6 feet 5 inches (1.96m)
- Weight=84.82 kg
- Feet (Shoe) Size=13 (US)
- Hair=Long
- Hair Color=Blonde
- Eye Color=Hazel
- Body Measurements=36-26-36 inches
- Lesbian=No
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