Mia Hamm
Mia Hamm (born Mariel Margret Hamm on March 17, 1972 in Selma, Alabama) is an American female soccer player. Hamm has been able to garner the respect of soccer experts and build a large fan base in the United States, where she plays in the United States women's national soccer team.
Hamm was born in Alabama and grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas, but now considers Chapel Hill, North Carolina her hometown. The youngest player ever to play for the national team at age 15, Mia later attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was nicknamed Jordan by her peers, in reference to another UNC athlete, Michael Jordan. She helped take the Tar Heels to four consecutive NCAA women's championships. She was an All-American and Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year for the last three years of her college tenure.
In 1991, when the US women's national team won the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time with Hamm and teammates including Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain, and Kristine Lilly, Hamm became the youngest American woman to win a World Cup championship at the age of 19. In 1993, she graduated from college with the all time records for her conference in goals with 103, assists wth 72, and total points with 278.
She has garnered numerous awards and recognitions during her career as a soccer player. Among those, she was elected as the Soccer USA's female athlete of the year five years in a row (1994-1998), she was elected MVP of the women's cup in 1995, she was elected one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world by People Magazine in 1997, she was elected number 14 among soccer's most influential people by Soccer Business International magazine, and won three ESPY awards in a row, given to her by ESPN, one of them for soccer player of the year and the other two for Female Athlete of the Year.
In 1996, Hamm and the rest of the US women's national team played for the gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics in front of 80,000 spectators in Athens, Georgia, then an all-time record for any women's sporting event. That day, Hamm and her teammates were able to conquer China to win the gold medal.
In 1999, Nike named the largest building on their corporate campus after this star, and that same year she, Chastain, Kate Sobrero, Lorrie Fair, Tiffeny Milbrett and the rest of the women on the national team became world champions again, by winning the FIFA Women's World Cup. Chastain's take-the-jersey-off celebration after the win became an instant legendary sports moment. The final match surpassed the Atlanta Olympic final as the most-attended women's sports event, with over 90,000 filling the Rose Bowl.
Also in '99, Hamm began the Mia Foundation, dedicated to help with bone narrow research and to help women sports programs progress. She was inspired to create her foundation by her adoptive brother, a half Puerto Rican who died of a bone marrow disease.
She first married in 1994 to a Navy pilot, Christian Corry, but the marriage was strained by long absences (his as a naval aviator, and hers in international soccer), and they divorced in 2001. In 2002, she became engaged to marry Nomar Garciaparra, a baseball star then with the Boston Red Sox (now with the Chicago Cubs). Also in 2002, she was named by the FIFA as the Female Player of The Year alongside Ronaldo, who won Male Player of The Year honors.
On November 22, 2003, Hamm and Garciaparra were married at Fontana, California in a private ceremony. A few hundred guests attended.
As of 2004, Hamm, who loves to meet and greet fans and sign autographs for them, is still a member of the USA women's national soccer team. On May 14, she announced her retirement effective at the end of the 2004 Summer Olympics, expressing an interest in starting a family with Garciaparra.
In March 2004, Hamm and former USA teammate Michelle Akers were the only two women, and the only two Americans, named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living soccer players selected by Pelé and commissioned by FIFA for that organization's 100th anniversary.
In a friendly against Australia on July 21, 2004, Hamm scored her 150th international goal; she has long held the record in that category for any player, male or female. This match also marked her 259th international appearance; only her teammate Kristine Lilly has played in more internationals.
After the USA won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, she had 266 caps and 153 goals. She was also chosen by her fellow US Olympians to carry the American flag at the Athens Closing Ceremonies. Hamm will officially retire after the US women go on a "farewell tour" of the country in the fall of 2004.
