Who Is Megan Rapinoe?
Megan Rapinoe is a two-time World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist from the United States of America.
Megan Rapinoe: Who Is She?
Megan Rapinoe is one of the best soccer players in the world. She was awarded the Golden Boot for scoring the most goals at the World Cup in 2019 as well as the Golden Ball for being the tournament’s best player. She was also awarded FIFA’s Women’s World Player of the Year in the same year.
Rapinoe is an Olympic gold medallist in addition to her two World Cup victories. When she is successful on the field, she is known to strike a striking posture — spreading arms, head thrown back, and triumphant smile — and she has a unique style that typically incorporates eye-catching pink or purple hair. Rapinoe was one of the first soccer players to publicly declare her sexuality, and she has advocated for racial justice, fair pay, and LGBTQ+ rights. Her engagement to WNBA player Sue Bird was confirmed in October 2020. One Life, Rapinoe’s book, was released in 2020.
Childhood, Family, and School
Megan Anna Rapinoe was born 11 minutes after her fraternal twin sister on July 5, 1985 in Redding, California. Rapinoe grew raised in the conservative northern California town of Redding. Denise, her mother, works as a waitress. Jim, her father, was an independent contractor.
Rapinoe was the youngest of six children. Rachael, her twin sister, was also a standout soccer player in college. Despite the fact that Rachael did not compete at the top level of the sport with Rapinoe, the two remain friends.
Early Years in Soccer
Rapinoe and her twin sister started playing soccer at the age of five, following in their elder brother’s footsteps. Both of them turned out to be exceptional players. They originally joined a guys’ soccer team since there were no girls’ teams where they resided.
Rapinoe went to Foothill High School, where she competed in soccer, track, and basketball. Rapinoe hoped that her soccer abilities would get her a college scholarship, which she received from the University of Portland. She also participated for the United States Soccer Federation’s Under-17 youth team, deferring her college enrollment to join the Under-19 squad.
Rapinoe started her college career at the University of Portland in January 2005, when she helped the women’s soccer team win the NCAA Division I Championship. She was a member of the United States women’s national team in 2006. She also remained a member of the University of Portland team, despite missing 2006 and 2007 due to ACL injuries to her left knee.
Soccer on a national and international level
Rapinoe, a forward, returned to the United States women’s national team in 2009. She competed in her first World Cup in 2011. During one game, she stunned the world by delivering the ball on an incredible cross-field voyage to teammate Abby Wambach, who scored and tied the game just before the time ran out. Rapinoe was there when the United States women won gold at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, despite the fact that they lost in the World Cup final in 2011.
Rapinoe has been signed by many soccer teams in addition to playing for the national squad. In 2009, she joined the Chicago Red Stars, and in 2011, she played for the Philadelphia Independence, magicJack, and Sydney FC in Australia. In 2013, he performed for Olympique Lyonnais in France. Rapinoe rejoined the National Women’s Soccer League in 2014, playing with the OL Reign in Washington.
Rapinoe and the United States women’s team won the World Cup in 2015. In December 2015, she tore her ACL in her right knee, but she still made the Olympic squad in 2016. The US women, on the other hand, did not win a medal in those Games.
When the United States women’s team returned to the World Cup in 2019, Rapinoe was named co-captain. She made headlines at the event because a video was released months earlier in which she proclaimed, “I’m not going to the f——-g White House,” even if the team won and got an invitation. Then-President Donald Trump retaliated with insults on Twitter, but the added pressure had little effect on Rapinoe’s performance. In the following quarterfinal encounter, she scored two goals to lead the team to World Cup glory. Rapinoe kept her promise and avoided the White House after that.
The Olympic Games in 2020 have been postponed for a year owing to the Covid-19 epidemic. Rapinoe was a member of the Olympic squad when the Games were held in Japan in 2021.
Rapinoe has yet to announce when she will retire from soccer. In a 2021 interview, she said, “I want to play as long as possible.” “I don’t want to shorten it.”
Equal Pay for Equal Work
Male soccer players in the United States often earn more money than female players, despite the fact that the women’s national team has had greater success. Rapinoe and others have fought for equitable pay as a consequence. She and four other teammates filed a federal pay discrimination case against US Soccer in 2016.
Who Is Megan Rapinoe?
Rapinoe was one of 28 players who launched a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation in March 2019 alleging salary discrimination against the organization after their labor complaint was halted. In May 2020, a federal court rejected Rapinoe’s lawsuit; however, she and her colleagues are already preparing an appeal. United States Soccer and the women’s national team came to an agreement in December 2020 to enhance and equalize working conditions for both groups of players.
To honor Equal Pay Day in March 2021, Rapinoe paid a visit to President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the White House. “You know, despite all of my victories, I’m still paid less than males who do the same work that I do,” she said during the occasion.
Other Forms of Social Action
Ahead of the Olympic Games in London, Rapinoe came out publicly in July 2012, after realizing she was homosexual while still in college. As a soccer player, she was one of the first to do so. Because she felt “it had become really strange and unauthentic for me to not be out,” she took the choice to become public. Rapinoe has been a staunch supporter of the rights of LGBTQ+ people ever since. According to an op-ed published in March 2021, in response to state legislation that would prevent trans children from participating in school sports, “I think that all children, including transgender individuals, should be permitted to engage in sports they like.”
During the National Anthem during NFL games, Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers started kneeling in protest of racial inequality in August of 2016. Approximately one week after Kaepernick’s original move, Rapinoe opted to do the same gesture during her games, making her the first well-known white athlete to do so in her career. “I’ve decided to kneel because I just cannot stand for the type of tyranny this nation is enabling against its own people,” she said in her statement. “As a queer American, I understand what it’s like to gaze at the flag and not feel like it’s protecting all of your freedoms,” she said.
After receiving hate mail in response to her acts, Rapinoe was removed off the team’s roster despite the fact that her international contract had not been revoked. Following the implementation of a regulation requiring all players to stand for the national anthem, she did not return to the field until April 2017. Although she did not sing while the directive was in place, she followed the instructions. Abolished in June 2020, the law was abolished. Despite the fact that Rapinoe’s career has flourished after the incident, Kaepernick has not appeared in an NFL game since 2017.
While Rapinoe’s family supported her choice to kneel during the national anthem, other members of her family did not. Rapinoe and her twin brother, who is also LGBT, were enraged by their father’s support for Trump in 2016, but they were reunited at a family event a few months later.
With the help of her elder brother, who got addicted to drugs and spent many years in jail, Rapinoe has spoken out about the need for reform in the way the law interacts with addicts and drug users in general. She has backed Elizabeth Warren for president, participated in an Instagram Live session with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to discuss the implications of the CARES Act, and endorsed the Democratic candidates running in Georgia’s Senate runoff elections in 2021, among other accomplishments.
It is not necessary, in Rapinoe’s opinion, to distinguish between athletics and activism. According to her in 2020, “I believe the concept that athletes should not be political is just illogical.” When it comes to politics, it doesn’t matter whether you participate or not. Additionally, she said later that year, “I feel a duty to do what I can with what I have to try to make the world a better place in any manner I am able.”
Observations on My Own Personality
The Australian footballer Sarah Walsh and the artist Sera Cahoone were among Rapinoe’s previous lovers. Rapinoe terminated her romance with Cahoone, despite the fact that they were engaged. She then began dating WNBA star Sue Bird, whom she had met during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. They eventually got engaged.
In the aftermath of Rapinoe’s choice to take a knee during the national anthem, Bird stood by her and encouraged her to return to the team roster. At the time, Rapinoe attributes Bird’s assistance in adhering to a diet and exercise routine that helped her get into better condition. “The transformation was genuine. Her influence on my professional life is immense.”
After a year of dating, the pair decided to be married in 2018. Rapinoe and Bird were placed in a WNBA bubble in Florida in 2020 during the Covid-19 outbreak to ensure that they would not be separated from one another. They plan to tie the knot in October 2020, according to Rapinoe.
Appointments in the media
As the first openly homosexual pair to feature on the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue, Rapinoe and Bird made history when they appeared on the cover of the magazine’s Body Issue in 2018. Rapinoe made history in 2019 by being the first openly lesbian model to appear in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue of the publication. During the same year, she was awarded Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year.
Women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe appeared in the documentary LFG, which was released in 2021 and chronicled the campaign for equal pay for female soccer players. Seeing America With Megan Rapinoe, a one-hour show, will be broadcast on PBS in the summer of 2020. Aside from that, Rapinoe was a host for the 2020 ESPY Awards and starred in the revival of The L Word.
Business
Nike, Samsung, and Vitamin Water have all supported Rapinoe in the past. Among the brands she endorses are Schmidt’s deodorant and Victoria’s Secret. Rapinoe SC is a sports clinic organization, and Rapinoe is also the co-founder of re-inc, a lifestyle brand.
