Mia hamm information biography
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Mia Hamm
American soccer player (born )
Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm (born March 17, ) is an American former professional soccer player, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup mästare. Hailed as a soccer icon,[2][3][4][5][6] she played as a forward for the United States national team from to Hamm was the face of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional women's soccer league in the United States, where she played for the Washington Freedom from to She played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels and helped the team win four NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship titles.
Hamm competed in fyra FIFA Women's World Cups: the inaugural tournament in China, in Sweden, and in the United States. She led the grupp at three Olympic Games — in Atlanta (the first time women's soccer was played), in Sydney, and in Athens. At these seven international tournaments she pl
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Mia Hamm ( ) was perhaps the world's greatest female soccer player of her era, scoring more goals in international competition than any other player, male or female. Hamm led three American teams to Olympic medals, and in the United States she helped bring women's soccer into the spotlight in the s, becoming the most recognizable face of the sport and encouraging a generation of American girls to play the game.
Mia Hamm Mariel Margaret Hamm was born on March 17, , in Selma, Dallas County, Alabama, to Bill and Stephanie Hamm. Her mother nicknamed her "Mia" after renowned ballerina Mia Slavenska, under whom she had studied. She was born with a partial club foot that required her to wear casts for two years until it was corrected. The family moved frequently due to her father's job as a U.S. Air Force pilot, and Mia fell in love with soccer when the family lived in Italy. The Hamms moved to Wichita Falls, Texas, in , where Mia began playing in soccer leagues and further developed her
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About Mia
After 17 years, two World Championships, two Olympic Gold Medals, and near unparalleled success as a marketing icon, Mia Hamm retired from professional soccer in as not only the best women’s soccer player in history but also as one of the most important and recognizable female figures in the history of sport.
Hailed by ESPN as the greatest female athlete of the past 40 years, Hamm was the youngest woman to ever appear in a match for the US Senior Squad at just 15 years old in , and during her illustrious career playing for the national team shattered a litany of American records, most notably those for international goals () and assists (). She starred on female sports’ biggest and most watched stages, guiding the United States to gold at the Olympic Games in Atlanta and at the now iconic World Cup on American soil, and in the process became one of the most marketable athletes, male or female, of her era. Indeed, her play at the ’96 Olympics in particular prompted Nike c