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Celebrating winning The Dawn Award over beers with its inspiration Dawn Fraser, basketball great Lauren Jackson has revealed she's undergone a knee replacement.
Lauren Jackson has been celebrated for her courage and bravery, with the basketball great revealing she competed in her fifth Olympics in Paris just a month before a knee replacement.
Jackson was honoured at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame awards in Melbourne, receiving The Dawn Award - named for swimming legend Dawn Fraser.
The award recognises an individual, team or organisation who "show courage and bravery and have changed sport for the better".
Jackson, 43, competed at her fifth and final Olympics in Paris and became the first Australian athlete to win a medal in five Games.
That was a huge triumph and worthy of The Dawn in itself - but she was also able to help the Opals to another bronze medal while seriously injured.
"I always said right from the beginning of me starting to play again that I was on borrowed time, and I knew that my knee at some point was going to go," Jackson told AAP.
"And it did, but I got through and I'm so proud that I proved to myself that I could, and to be a part of something super special."
Wearing black and white sneakers to match her formal gown rather than heels, Jackson said receiving an award named in honour of Fraser was "humbling".
"I'm really honoured as Dawn is someone I've looked up to for a long time," she said. "She's inspired the nation, but she's also my friend.
"Over the years we've always caught up and had a couple of beers together and she's someone that I'm very fond of.
"It's such a special honour to be receiving an award named after her."
Working with Basketball Australia for the past 20 years on its female programs, Jackson officially called time on her on-court career 24 years after her national team debut.
A three-time WNBA MVP who won two championships in the US, she also won seven WNBL titles and was a four-time MVP in the league.
Jackson first retired from the sport in 2016 due to a knee problem, and the mother of two also had her season ended early in 2023 by an achilles injury.
But she answered the call from the Opals and said having her young sons Harry and Lennon in the crowd in Paris made it the perfect send-off.
"I never anticipated that they'd see me play basketball again, so it was a dream come true to get back to this point and for them to come and be a part of it with me was really unreal," she said.
"It was different for me, because I was playing a very different role this time, it was definitely more a leadership role.
"But I was part of something so special and the kids got to really embrace all of it and they wore my medal home on the plane so hopefully it inspires them too."
