Elena Delle Donne in ESPN's Body Issue
Delaware's Elena Delle Donne, a three-time WNBA All-Star and 2015 league MVP, is one of 19 athletes featured in the ESPN the Magazine Body Issue.
The issue, which hits newsstands on Friday, July 8, is the eighth annual body issue and features eight different covers. Delle Donne is one of the athletes featured on a cover.
The photos showcase her athletic body while the story and online video showcase her winning attitude and work ethic.
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“The Body Issue has evolved into a powerful storytelling platform,” says Neely Lohmann, senior deputy editor and the executive producer of The Magazine’s franchise issue. “Year after year, the athletes allow themselves to be completely vulnerable with our audience – not just in the photographs but with their interviews as well. This year we have athletes opening up in raw and moving ways about overcoming physical struggles: everything from asthma to HIV, amputation to transgender transitioning. It’s an honor to tell their stories.”
In the issue, Delle Donne talks about her struggles with Lyme disease. She also opens about being inspired by her sister, Lizzie, who is deaf, blind and has intellectual disabilities that prevent her from functioning at much more than the level of a 1- to 2-year-old.
"Anything I endure in a day will never be able to compete with what she has to endure each day of her life," Delle Donne told ESPN.
Delle Donne also talks about the day her high school streak of making 81 straight free throws came to an end.
"I remember when I missed, it was kind of like, 'Thank god this is over!'," Delle Donne told ESPN the Magazine. "Literally everybody in the gym was holding their breath every time I shot a free throw. I was just so relieved for it to finally be over."
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Also featured in the issue are NBA veteran Dwyane Wade, NFL nose tackle Vince Wilfork, Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl MVP Von Miller of the Denver Broncos, Chicago Cubs Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Jake Arrieta, Olympians Nathan Adrian and April Ross, U.S. women’s national soccer team forward Christen Press, global MMA star Conor McGregor, Team USA duathlete Chris Mosier, retired diver Greg Louganis, professional motocross racer Ryan Dungey, surfer Courtney Conlogue, paratriathlete Allysa Seely and U.S. Olympians Emma Coburn (steeplechase), Adeline Gray (wrestling), Nzingha Prescod (fencing) and Claressa Shields (boxing).
Elena Delle Donne through the years:
