Queen mother
Shooting for a fourth gold, ageless Lisa Leslie belongs among the game's royalty
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BEIJING - Lisa Leslie has one goal in Beijng that is hers alone.
"Here's my visual," she says. "I want a picture of me with four gold medals around my neck and my daughter in my arms."
She's getting close. Team USA is now a game away from the finals and if it is victorious in Saturday's championship game, Lisa Leslie will become the first four-time gold medalist in basketball history, male or female.
She began her Olympic career as the leading scorer on the great 1996 team, capping off the Games with 29 points in Team USA's 111-87 gold medal conquest of Brazil. She was again the leading scorer on gold medal teams in both 2000 and 2004, and now, at 36, she is the grand dame security blanket on a very talented team that features dynamic youngsters such as Diana Taurasi and Sylvia Fowles. With those two around, there is no need for Leslie to exert herself. But make no mistake: If there's a crisis, coach Ann Donovan knows whom she'll turn to.
"She had a baby a year ago, and she's been playing as well as ever," notes Donovan.
Lauren Jackson, the 27-year-old Australian, is her equal now, but in terms of historical significance, no one can seriously dispute that Leslie is the greatest pivot player in women's basketball history. In fact, it's something of a mystery why her name isn't more prominently mentioned when the subject of Greatest Woman Player Ever is raised. You'll hear about Ann Meyers, Cheryl Miller, Sheryl Swoopes, etc., but who has actually accomplished more in this game? The answer would be no one.
The one thing she didn't do was win an NCAA title during her four years at Southern Cal. Perhaps the fault falls elsewhere, because Leslie was both the national Freshman of the Year, and, three years later, the Player of the Year. The rest of her résumé is glittering.
She is the greatest international player America has produced, having represented the US nearly 225 times while winning the three gold medals, plus world championships in 1998 and 2002. It is generally acknowledged that her absence from the 2006 World Championships quintet because of family considerations cost the US a chance for gold.
And there is no doubt she has been the Queen of the WNBA. Are you ready?
MVPs - 3
Finals MVP - 2
First-team all-league - 7
Second-team all-league - 3
Defensive Player of the Year - 1
"Her place in history is never going to be supplanted," says Donovan. "She's got the torch, and I hate to see her pass it to anybody else."
Leslie isn't comfortable with such talk. "I don't think about things like that," she insists. "I just try to go out there and be as good as I can be and play every game as hard as I can, as if it were going to be the last game. I want to be a role model and keep in the back of my mind that some young girl out there is watching everything I do."
She is 6 feet 5 inches, slender, and the word "elegant" is not too strong a description of her, so it's no surprise she has been more than just a "role" model. In fact, she's been the real thing for some time, having worked for the likes of Armani,
Leslie has also done some acting and broadcasting, but at no time have any of these peripheral activities interfered with her work on the court, where she long ago established herself as the best low-post player the game has known.
Part of her unscripted role on this team is to mentor a pair of gifted young ladies who are America's future in this game - Candace Parker and Fowles.
Parker is the new WNBA poster girl, a photogenic 6-5 forward out of Tennessee. Fowles is Leslie's clear successor as Pivot Queen. Like Leslie and Parker, she is 6-5. Unlike Leslie and Parker, she is exceptionally strong. Not wide-body strong, but strong-strong. She's a big girl and she intimidates people with her powerful body.
"They each have different parts of my game," Leslie explains. "Candace is a 3 or a 4. Sylvia is a pure 5. I'm working with her on things, and it's been fun, because she's eager to learn. She'll do something in a game, and she'll come back to the bench and I'll say, 'See?' "
Leslie acknowledges she had doubts about this particular Olympic team because, unlike previous years, it did not have the opportunity to have a long run-up to the Games together. "It's amazing," she says. "We've only been together for a short period of time, but we have really come together as much as any team I've been on. I can see people are just about winning."
That, of course, means everything to Leslie. "The one thing I've told them is that when you get to the Worlds or the Olympics, no one remembers who led the team in anything," she says. "It doesn't matter. But what you will remember is how you felt when you lost. OK, I've only lost once [World Championships, 1994], but I remember everything about that game."
If she's faking it about how much she likes being an Olympian, she's sure got her lines down. "It is a great feeling to be an Olympian and represent my country," she says. "This is my fourth time, and I'm really excited. What makes it special this time is that I've got my husband and baby with me."
That's right, the picture. Four golds and a baby. There's only one basketball player on this earth who can even dream of such a thing, and her name is Lisa Leslie.
