{"id":366901,"date":"2024-02-11T05:31:31","date_gmt":"2024-02-11T06:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=366901"},"modified":"2024-02-11T07:02:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-11T07:02:20","slug":"opals-headed-to-paris-as-veteran-star-makes-huge-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=366901","title":{"rendered":"Opals headed to Paris as veteran star makes huge call"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffs the Australian Opals<\/a> lock in their spot at Paris 2024<\/a>, they'll be without veteran star Lauren Jackson<\/a> in their quest for gold.<\/p>\n

The veteran has confirmed she will not be heading to the Olympics, announcing her retirement after the Opals 85-52 win over Germany in Brazil<\/p>\n

The 42-year-old made a special comeback for the 2022 World Cup, but declared her time at the top was officially over after the win on Sunday.<\/p>\n

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Jackson reflected positively on her time in Brazil, with the star referencing the 2006 World Cup campaign that the Opals went on to win.<\/p>\n

"I'm done … I love Brazil, Brazil has been very good to me," Jackson said post match.<\/p>\n

"How fitting that I get to finish my national career with Australia in Brazil. It's very special."<\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/p>\n

Arguably the greatest basketballer in Australian history, Jackson initially retired from 2016, but returned to the Opals lineup two years ago and made sporadic appearances at that tournament, before an Achilles injury looked to have ended her career.<\/p>\n

But with crucial Olympic qualifiers on the horizon, Jackson was back on deck again in Brazil to help the Aussies, who will now head to Paris later this year.<\/p>\n

"Our first half wasn't perfect, but we were locked in," head coach Sandy Brondello said.<\/p>\n

"We knew we'd be qualifying for Paris if we won tonight. Happy to get that behind us."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/FIBA\/status\/1756412741261066303<\/a><\/p>\n

Jackson dominated from the opening minute against Germany, scoring seven points in the first quarter to set the Opals up for a dominant performance.<\/p>\n

But it was the new generation that have proven they'll carry on Jackson's legacy into Paris 2024.<\/p>\n

19-year-old Isobel Borlase scored a massive 10 points on debut, with Bec Allen also scoring 10.<\/p>\n

The 42-year-old's career has been full of highlights, headlined by her four Olympic medals (three silvers and a bronze).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffs the Australian Opals lock in their spot at Paris 2024, they'll be without veteran star Lauren Jackson in their quest for gold. The veteran […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":339819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366901"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366901"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366903,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366901\/revisions\/366903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/339819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}