EXCLUSIVE: Albury's champion basketballer Lauren Jackson writes for The Border Mail.

The countdown to the London Olympics is now upon us and as I write this column it’s just days not weeks away.

Before we headed off to London, I spent a week at home relaxing in a most beautiful part of this world with my family for a rest and break.

This was a real treat for me, as usually at this time of year I’m in Seattle playing for the Storm in the WNBA competition.

The recent Farewell Series in Victoria with the Opals taking on Brazil was part of a very deliberate plan this time for our Olympics preparation.

We have never had this type of build-up before.

Winning all three games was a good result with the most pleasing thing being that we improved each game and really started to find our combinations and chemistry as a team by the final game.

I think we have a good, balanced mix of players and we are confident going into the Olympics.

I got to room with Liz Cambage for the Farewell Series and it’s exciting to have emerging talent like her and others now coming through.

With Liz at 203 centimetres tall we now have some real height in the team and the Opals are now known as one of the tallest international teams.

It was also great to see our point guard Kristi Harrower play her 200th game for the Opals in front of her home crowd in Bendigo against Brazil and like myself, this will be Kristi’s fourth Olympic Games.

In Melbourne during the Farewell Series the Opals generated a lot of media coverage. On the occasions I was being interviewed most interest centred around the Opals gold medal chances, our great rivalry with the USA and what it would mean to win an Olympic gold medal.

Firstly, I just want to say that the three silver medals the Opals have won at the past three Olympics have been fantastic, hard-earned achievements and medals I certainly cherish.

A gold medal would be amazing and with the preparation we have had, be assured the Opals will leave nothing on the court, but it’s a one game at a time plan for us.

It’s certainly going to be real privilege and honour to captain the Opals in London.

As part of our preparations we have just finished playing three games against France, Great Britain and Angola in Sheffield.

We then took the Eurostar across the English Channel to France, where we have played Brazil, China and our hosts.

After defeating China and narrowly beating Brazil, we suffered the first loss of our Olympic build-up with a 64-58 defeat to France yesterday.

All these teams are in the Olympics, so these lead-up games were vital for our team preparation.

We now head into the Olympic Village today and we will be ready to go.

The competition draw in London has Australia in group B with our first game against the host nation Great Britain on Saturday.

We will certainly know it’s the Olympics as it’s sure to be a stadium filled with lots of cheering supporters for the Brits on their home soil.

Hope to hear you cheering for the Opals. Good luck to each of our Olympic athletes in all sports and their journey. Go Aussies!

Lauren