US hoops star Delle Donne reveals she is gay

So excited to be representing our country with amazing women! #unlimitedtogether #USABasketball @nikebasketball 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/UVa11s7ETA

— Elena Delle Donne (@De11eDonne) July 24, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Elena Delle Donne wants to carry on some traditions, like US women winning Olympic basketball gold, while trying to change others, like learning an athlete is gay being noteworthy.

Delle Donne, a 26-year-old guard-forward for the Americans and last season's Women's NBA Most Valuable Player, came out as gay Wednesday in the new issue of Vogue magazine.

"It isn't a big story. One day it won't be a story at all," she said.

"My face doesn't change because I told you I'm going to marry a woman.

"Nor does it affect my image. If it affected a brand then I don't want to be part of that brand anyway."

She has been engaged to Amanda Clifton since June 2 and while generally quiet about her personal life was glad to have the story out there as she prepares for her first Olympics with the US dynasty.

"They were able to come in and see what a key role she plays in my life," Delle Donne said. "We were being honest and open. I'm definitely fine with it.

"'Oh my god she had a coming out story.' What's awesome is it's kind of normal. It doesn't need to be a story anymore.

"That's what is so great about this situation. One day these things won't exist and we won't have to talk about it. If you push it under the rug, they will stay forever. The world is changing for sure."

She doesn't want too much change on the court, though. The US women are on a 41-game Olympic win streak with five gold consecutive medals and seven of the past eight. She wants to lengthen that run.

"We have the wherewithal and the skill to get it done. It's about putting it out there every single time," Delle Donne said.

"The history is special. These women have inspired us to where we are. They have made sacrifices that were important to us."

The other WNBA newcomer to the US team is 25-year-old center Brittney Griner, who has been openly gay since her earliest days in the league.

"I'm a lesbian. With my spotlight, I'm able to show the right way of going about things in life," she said.

She also knows coming out, as Delle Donne did, is different for everyone.

"It's tough coming out. It's something you have to do in your own time," Griner said. "It's a process. I was younger, nervous, scared they wouldn't accept me, my friends, my parents. You feel isolated and it's a horrible feeling. That's the hardest part, the isolation."

- 'A target on our back' -

Now she is united with friends around a common goal. And when some non-players resisted wishing her luck because of the US legacy of success, Griner made it clear nothing is taken for granted.

"It's not that easy. Tell us 'Good luck.' We all walk around with a target on our back. These other teams aren't going to roll over and take it," Griner said.

"I don't want to let down the ones who came before."

Delle Donne knows exactly how that feels.

"The biggest thing is to be ourselves and have the veterans help us along, physically and mentally," she said. "It's something I want to carry on for the next generation."

So Delle Donne has allowed hereself to imagine what winning a gold medal would be like.

"It would be emotional. I would definitely have chills. A dream come true," she said. "I have wanted this all my life. To get a gold medal, it would just top it all off."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Lyme disease never far from thoughts of WNBA star Delle Donne

Chicago Sky head coach Pokey Chatman needs only a brief glance at Elena Delle Donne, one of the brightest stars in the WNBA, to know when the high-scoring forward will need a break.

"Pokey can look at me in the morning and tell how I'm doing," said Delle Donne, the league's top scorer. "And she'll know to give me more rest that day. We're on an eye-contact level at this point."

Delle Donne's fatigue and stiffness on certain days, unrelated with the rigors of a Women's National Basketball Association season, are linked to the lasting effects of Lyme disease.

A favorite to win the WNBA's MVP award this year, Delle Donne believes she contracted the disease, a bacterial infection often transmitted through the bite of an infected deer tick, in 2008.

She wasn't sure how she got the disease which wasn't detected in the early stages as its flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and muscle stiffness, were misdiagnosed.

Delle Donne eventually got the illness, which has no known cure in its later stages, diagnosed and under control but in 2010, she "had a really bad relapse" and has been troubled by it ever since. That's caused the Delaware native to miss a chunk of last season, including the All-Star game.

She has not missed any time this season as she averages a league-best 23 points, while adding nearly 9 rebounds and 2 blocks, all career highs.

"This season I've been playing well and staying pretty healthy so people just think the disease is gone," she told Reuters. "But it's something I battle every single day."

The 26-year-old, 6-foot-5 (1.96 meter) Delle Donne said she can spend four hours a day "just doing things trying to stay healthy." After hard games or a long flight, she said she often will use a computerized massage machine that aids recovery in the legs, hips and arms.

She has to eat well, staying away from foods that could cause inflammation, and take dietary supplements.

Chatman, the Sky coach, said when she sees the "glassy look" in Delle Donne's eyes, she knows it is time to sit her down.

"Sometimes people forget that just because Lyme hasn't reared its ugly head this year, she's fine. But it's still a day-to-day process with her," Chatman said. "Fortunately, Elena treats it with the respect it deserves and tries to get out in front of any potential problems."

Delle Donne sees Pennsylvania-based nurse practitioner Rita Rhoads every week during the off-season to make sure her blood tests are satisfactory. Once the season starts, the two keep in touch via e-mails, texts and phone calls.

"Elena is a very driven person," said Rhoads, who has treated Delle Donne for the past five years. "She does everything she needs to do to stay on top of it. "She's got that Type A personality. It's not just playing basketball. She follows directions."

BEST SEASON

A former rookie of the year, Delle Donne is having her best season since entering the WNBA in 2013 out of the University of Delaware.

The Sky finished the regular season in second place in the Eastern Conference, and face the Indiana Fever in the opening round of the playoffs.

Off the court, Della Donne is a spokeswoman for Lyme disease prevention and is a global ambassador for the Special Olympics. She recently won the WNBA's Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award for the second consecutive year.

Della Donne said she wants to educate the public about Lyme disease so no one has to go through the trauma she endured.

Two years after contracting the disease, she began to feel extreme fatigue, sleeping about 18 hours a day. She had not had Lyme symptoms in a long time and doctors were baffled as to the cause of her new problems.

"I never knew Lyme could go dormant and come back with a vengeance," she said. "I had no idea what was going on. I had doctors telling me I had mental illness. That's just so wrong."

Delle Donne said she never lets herself believe she has conquered the disease.

"I feel like I have really gotten a pretty good grip on it," she said. "But I've felt like that many times over the last five years and then had a horrible relapse. Unfortunately, you never know if it's coming back or not. You have to stay on top of it. Sometimes it feels like a second job. But I have to do it."

(Reporting by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Editing by Alan Crosby and Bernadette Baum)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com