It's her third Olympic show and the first after she became a gold medalist of the world championships two years ago.
Lauren Jackson, maybe the best female center in the basketball world, led Australia win the country's first world title in 2006 and now tries to take her first Olympic gold in Beijing.
With the 27-year-old help, the Australian won fourth consecutive game in the preliminary round and can enter the quarterfinals as number one in Group A if they beat Russia on Sunday.
Everything went well for Jackson's side except the first half Friday when the Aussies were challenged by Latvia.
But it was only a test for Australia, who trailed by seven points with 4:49 minutes left in the second quarter, before Jackson caught fire, posting 13 points in eight minutes to give Australia a 41-38 lead at the end of the first half.
Australia then roared to clinch a 96-73 victory. Jackson scored a tournament-high 30 points in the game and is tournament top scorer with 18.5 points on average.
Having barbecues at her house on the New South Wales south coast, Jackson loves to fish and spend time with friends. She is learning psychology in Lomonosov Moscow State University while playing basketball in the Seattle Storm of WNBA in the Uninted States and Spartak Moscow in Russia.
Jackson, who was named Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Most Valuable Player in 2003 and 2007 as a member of the Seattle Storm, grew up in a basketball culture.
Her father played for Australia in 1975 while her mother was a member of the national team between 1974 and 1982. In fact, her mother and the United States' two-time Olympic Games gold medallist in women's basketball and coach of the Seattle Storm, Anne Donovan, was her most influential person in her career.
She plays in the number 15 in honor of her mother who wore the same number when she played.
At the age of just two she made a statement that she would play for Australia and at the age of 12 she wrote a note to herself which said it was her dream to be in the Olympic Games. At 15 she left home to take up a scholarship at the AIS in Canberra and made her debut for Australia's senior team at the age of just 16, the youngest in history.
"I play this game because I love it," said Jackson. "I do it to please myself. Basketball is a love, you do it because you love it."
At the 2006 world championships in Brazil she ranked in the top five of 12 statistical categories, and led the tournament in scoring, finishing with an average of 21.3 points per game.
Her performance at the 2004 Olympics fixed her position as one of the premier players in the history of the sport. She enjoyed a brilliant statistic show: 22.9 points per game, total points 183, rebounds 80, defensive rebounds 50 and field goals 71.
Jackson and Australia will contend for first place with Russia in the last preliminary game in Group A on Sunday. It seems no team can stop their winning trend before they meet defending champions the United States in the final for gold.
(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)