Team USA basketball star Elena Delle Donne has revealed she is gay and engaged to her longtime girlfriend as she gets ready to compete in her first Olympics.
The reigning WNBA MVP said her relationship with Amanda Clifton is "nothing crazy" to her Chicago Sky teammates because she is "always around."
Delle Donne told reporters in Rio that she discussed her relationship with Vogue magazine during an interview several months ago, ESPN reported.
"It was just one of those articles where they came into my home, spent a couple days with me and Amanda is a huge part of my life," the Wilmington, Delaware native, said Wednesday as her Olympic team made final preparations. "So to leave her out wouldn't have made any sense. It's not a coming out article or anything. I've been with her for a very long time now and people who are close to me know that." [[388401011, C]]
Delle Donne said she and Clifton got engaged on June 2.
"I don't plan on having our relationship out in the public and all this media on it," Delle Donne said, "but obviously there's excitement right now because people see it for the first time."
Fans will get to see the woman who put University of Delaware basketball on the map as the U.S. women's Olympic team faces Senegal on Sunday. The U.S. women had a light practice before speaking to the media Wednesday evening. [[389087412, C]]
Sports
In partnership with NBC Sports Philadelphia
"We'll have a chance to get a few days of consistent practice now," said the first-time Olympian. "It was great to get some shots up and get our legs under us."
Delle Donne and her teammates should be rocked to sleep each night in Rio thanks to staying on a posh cruise ship along with the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team.
