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Megan Rapinoe reacted to the United States Women's National Soccer League paying tribute to Becky Sauerbrunn's 16-year soccer career. Sauerbrunn was one of the most promising players on the US national team, helping them to an Olympic gold and several World Cup trophies.
Rapinoe, who co-captained the national team from 2018 to 2020, played with the OL Reign as a winger in the NWSL for most of her career. For her significant contribution, the club recognized the 39-year-old as the Reign Legend, joining 36 previous legends. Rapinoe was a formidable force at the international level as well, making history at the 2012 London Games.
She was the first player (male or female) to score a goal from the corner of the field. Scoring a team-high four assists and three goals, Megan Rapinoe helped her team to the gold. Now in her retirement, continuing with her philanthropic work and activism, she turned her focus to her former USWNT teammate, Becky Sauerbrunn.
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Sauerbrunn retired from her sport in December 2024, but she left a legacy. As per recent news, the USWNT honored the center back with a farewell ceremony in her hometown of St. Louis, MO. Even NWSL posted the update on its Instagram handle alongside Sauerbrunn's career highlights.
Megan Rapinoe shared the post on her Instagram story, captioning it with teary-eyed emojis.
The winger has been one of the star athletes of Nike, endorsing the brand in multiple campaigns.
Megan Rapinoe and her fiancée, Sue Bird, once talked about adjusting to life after retirement
Megan Rapinoe has dated basketball legend and five-time Olympic gold medalist Sue Bird since meeting for the first time at the 2016 Rio Olympics. They got engaged in 2020, and in the same year, they became the first LGBTQ+ couple to co-host the ESPYs.
Now enjoying retirement, the couple talked about the difficulty of living like normal people and getting their schedules right, compared to their prime years, when they had it easy.
"Just learning how to do our own schedule like normal people, it's really hard, we had it so easy as an athlete, everything was done for you. I think just adjusting to not having that north star, that kind of makes all the decisions sort of clear. Just adjusting to be a normal person," Rapinoe said.
Bird chimed in:
"I think, to Megan's point, just adjusting to not being an athlete anymore, and there's an identity piece to that you have to sift through. So something in the mental aspect of things."
Rapinoe has been a strong advocate for LGBTQIA+, supporting organizations like Athlete Ally and GLSEN. She also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former US President Joe Biden in 2022.
