WNBA star, Olympian Elena Delle Donne comes out

WNBA most valuable player and Team USA mainstay Elena Delle Donne revealed in an upcoming interview with Vogue magazine that she is gay.

Delle Donne and her longtime partner Amanda Clifton were engaged on June 2. She confirmed the news to reporters in Rio de Janiero ahead of the Olympic Games.

"It was just one of those articles where they came into my home, spent a couple days with me, and (fiancee) Amanda (Clifton) is a huge part of my life," Delle Donne said of the Vogue interview.

"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, and that's that."

Although Delle Donne and Clifton had been together for some time, this is the first time that the Chicago Sky star has publicly discussed her sexual orientation.

"I decided I’m not at all going to hide anything," Delle Donne said Wednesday. "The biggest thing is respecting Amanda’s privacy as well. She’s not on the stage, she doesn’t need to be interviewed, and I don’t want her to have to feel that way.

"As the future keeps moving on, I don’t plan on having our relationship out in the public and all this media on it, but obviously there’s excitement right now because people see it for the first time."

Delle Donne joins Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes and collegiate star Brittney Griner in a long line of WNBA stars who have come out as gay.