Opals legend Lauren Jackson has confirmed she will not compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics after Australia beat Germany 85-52 to qualify for the Games.
The 42-year-old officially announced her retirement from international basketball following Saturday’s win in Belém, Brazil, nearly 18 months after she made a stunning comeback at the 2022 World Cup.
“I’ve had enough… I love Brazil, Brazil has been very good to me,” said Jackson, who was part of the Opals’ 2006 World Cup-winning team in Brazil. “How fitting that I can end my international career in Brazil for Australia. It’s special.”
Arguably Australia’s greatest ever basketball player, Jackson was a member of the only Australian Opals team to win the World Cup in 2006.
She has won four Olympic medals, including silver at three consecutive Olympics starting in 2000 in Sydney.
Jackson initially retired from the Opals in 2016 before working his way back to fitness and joining Sandy Brondero on the bench for the 2022 home World Cup.
In the bronze medal game, she swept Canada with 30 points and ended up making a cameo appearance in the game.
Jackson was adamant at the time that she would not feature for the Opals again, but after recovering from an Achilles injury she was named in the 20-man squad for the crucial Brazil qualifiers.
Her final scene in green and gold is usually a heroic one. Jackson came into the game in the first quarter against Germany and made an immediate impact, dishing out a blistering assist to Ezi Magbegor and then draining a 3-pointer.
She scored seven points off the bench in the opening game to help the Opals seize control.
The Opals will now move on without their ‘GOAT’, who clinched their ticket to the Paris Olympics with a 54-24 first half win and 24-10 and 30-30 wins in the first two quarters. 14 beat Germany.
“Very pleased with the performance,” Opals coach Sandy Brondello said. “We still have a lot of work to do, but this was a very important test for us and we stepped up. It was a huge effort from all the teams, but now we are 100% focused on the Olympics.”
In contrast to Friday’s tense five-point battle against hosts Brazil, all 12 Opals were on the scoreboard against Germany, with captain Tess Madgen scoring 15 points, That included 13 points in the first half when her team didn’t miss a beat.
Veteran Bec Allen also added 10 points and 19-year-old Isobel Borlase also had an impressive performance on her debut in green and gold.
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Leonie Fiebich starred in world No. 25 Germany’s opening win over Serbia, again leading Germany with 11 points despite scoring just 27 percent of the time.
The German team suffered a fatal blow before the game when its two best players, the Sabally sisters, were absent due to injuries.
Two-time WNBA All-Star Satou Sabally suffered a separated left shoulder against Serbia, and New York Liberty Brondelo power forward Nyala Sabally was also sidelined with a knee injury.
“For me, the most important thing after the Sabally sisters are out is not to get complacent, because that can happen,” Brondero said. “Our first half wasn’t perfect but we sealed the win. We know if we win tonight we’ll qualify for Paris. It’s nice to put that behind us.”
An exhausted Germany missed its first nine shots and finished with a 26% shooting percentage, giving Australia an 8-0 lead.
With 2 minutes and 28 seconds left in the second quarter, Boracé came on as a substitute and completed her first playing time in an international competition. She hit a corner three-pointer at the beginning and quickly scored 7 points. Perfect coordination with Madgen, who hit three three-pointers in the first half. miss.
The third-placed Aussies’ stellar defense was held back slightly in the third quarter, 21-21, before both teams’ offenses were thrown into disarray in the fourth quarter, but by then the Aussies had their work cut out for them. .
Australia’s final game of Olympic qualifying will be against world number 10 Serbia on Monday.
