Lauren Jackson
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday February 4, 2010
Speak to any of her WNBA rivals, her fans from Seattle to Canberra or any basketball connoisseur and all will extol the virtues of Lauren Jackson.At 196 centimetres, Jackson is not the tallest player in the women's game, yet she's considered head and shoulders above them all.She has collected team and individual honours on five continents but even this statuesque 28-year-old has to look up to someone - and it is controversial American performer Marilyn Manson.''Being a kid, I was always a very, very tall child, and his music was a bit of an outlet for me,'' Jackson told Sport&Style. "I was different, and he was different. He's very smart and I loved that he does what he wants to do. I wanted to be like that. I just felt special when I listened to his music and it's always on my iPod before games." Jackson admits Manson is an odd choice of hero but meeting him recently in Russia, where she was playing, the basketballer "was starstruck. I couldn't speak.''While coming face to face with her idol may have been daunting, Jackson regularly sees the other side of fame worship when starry-eyed youngsters ask for her autograph, craning their necks to catch a smile or word from her.Having herself been "in awe of different people growing up", Jackson always accommodates them.''To me what is great is that kids are involved in sport and they have icons to look up to,'' she says.''There are so many great athletes in Australia who have achieved great things in sport, so it's fantastic that children and young adolescents have those role models and know that if they want to, they can achieve whatever they desire.''Jackson has done exactly that, with one exception - winning an Olympic gold medal. She has three Olympic silvers, but thinks gold is more her colour, and she hopes to collect one in London in 2012.Ask her about those claims that "LJ is to women's basketball what MJ - Michael Jordan - was to the men's game", and you are greeted with a modest pause. "I don't know. It's all about people's perception of me and how I play," she says. ''When it comes down to it, I think my expectation of myself is what drives me and motivates me to want to be the best."Every so often she pinches herself. She gets to play basketball for a living, a job she loves and which has taken her "everywhere". But Jackson knows a sporting career has a short time frame, so she intends to make the most of hers while it lasts."I still have a few years ahead of me ... so that's pretty exciting," she says.
© 2010 Sydney Morning Herald