Abby Wambach
Abby Wambach
Mary Abigail "Abby" Wambachis an American retired soccer player, coach, two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA Women's World Cup champion. A six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, Wambach has been a regular on the U.S. women's national soccer team since 2003 earning her first cap in 2001. As a forward, she currently stands as the highest all-time goal scorer for the national team and holds the world record for international goals for both female and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth2 June 1980
CityRochester, NY
CountryUnited States of America
When I was really young, the women's national team wasn't on a grand media stage, so my role models were male basketball and male American football players.
I can't speak for other people, but for me, I feel like gone are the days that you need to come out of a closet. I never felt like I was in a closet. I never did. I always felt comfortable with who I am and the decisions I made.
As soon as I started to realize that I could make a living playing professional soccer, I went to that place where I could torture myself because I knew it would make me better for the championship game.
Your heart can only take you so far - sometimes the physical body tells you otherwise.
I have never once dribbled the whole field and scored a goal by myself.
worn in gold medal game against Brazil 2-1.
People do this to live a healthy lifestyle and that's exactly the type of life I want to promote,
We're a great team. We can play this game, and we've got a lot of naturally talented athletes who are ready to work to be better.
Any little touch a defender can make on me when I'm in the air literally moves me. On the ground, I can use my muscle, but in the air, it's harder to fight that off.
At the most elite level, your nutrition becomes a lifestyle: it's not something you have to do when you're preparing for Olympic games or World Cup games - you just do it. You're more inclined to eat healthier because it's better for your muscles.
For any athlete growing up, the Olympics is the one thing you watch with your family, and it's the one thing you dream about. Seeing your country's flag go up as you get a gold medal is the best thing you can achieve.
I'm honestly not the kind of person who wants to step up to a podium, test the microphone and be like, 'Hey, I'm homosexual and this is who I am, hear me roar.' That's not who I am.
One thing I love to do when I'm working out is take my watch off, take my heart strap off, and just run - not for time, not for exertion, but just to get the blood flowing.
People don't understand that the feel of the surface is so important for a footballer. The ball travels on the surface; our feet move on the surface - all of that goes into how the game is actually played.