SYDNEY — Basketball star Lauren Jackson is coming out of retirement again in a bid to make the Australian team and compete at a fifth Olympics.
The 42-year-old three-time WNBA MVP was included in Australia’s 26-player squad on Wednesday, and is widely tipped to make the final 12 for the Opals at the Olympics.
Jackson retired for the second time in February after helping Australia qualify for the Paris Olympics with a win over Germany in Brazil, revealing she struggled to spend so much time away from her two young sons.
The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Wednesday reported Jackson had come to an agreement with the basketball federation to help cover the costs for her boys, aged 7 and 5, to travel with for training camps and the Olympics.
Jackson turns 43 on May 11 and the Paris Games start July 26. The Opals are grouped with Canada, Nigeria and host France. They missed out on the medal rounds at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Jackson, who won four consecutive Olympic medals starting with a silver at Sydney in 2000, is in a squad that includes 11 members of the team that took bronze at the World Cup in 2022.
“It’s always an exciting time to announce an Olympic squad and I congratulate all the athletes,” Opals coach Sandy Brondello…
