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| Birth Name(s) : Mia Hamm |
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Full Mia Hamm Biography
Mia Hamm (born Mariel Margaret Hamm on March 17, 1972 in Selma, Alabama) is a former American soccer player. Playing for many years as a forward for the United States women's national soccer team, she scored more international goals in her career than any other player, male or female.
Hamm eventually became one of the most famous women athletes in the world, an iconic symbol of women's sports, and an inspiration and role model to a generation of sports-minded girls. She was named the women's FIFA World Player of the Year the first two times that award was given (in 2001 and 2002), and is listed as one of FIFA's 125 best living players (as chosen by Pelé). In 2007, her first year of eligibility, she was selected for induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Hamm declined induction into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 because she was pregnant at the time and the doctor advised her not to travel. Hamm told hall officials she would accept the honor in 2008.
She is the author of Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life (Harper Collins, 1999).
When she was little her older brother used her as a "secret weapon" in games such as capture the flag. She was very athletic and fast. All of the boys playing would be surprised at her ability to play so well. She started soccer at age 5, and at age 12 she played on her middle school's (Notre Dame Catholic School in Wichita Falls, Texas) football team, but when she was 14 years old, she settled on soccer. She later moved to northern Virginia to finish her high school career at Lake Braddock Secondary School, living with her uncle until the rest of her family joined her a year later. At age fifteen, Hamm became the youngest player ever to play for the United States national soccer team.
She 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 the Tar Heels to four NCAA women's championships in five years (she sat out the season of 1991 to concentrate on the Women's World Championship in China). She was an All-American and Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year for her last three years. She also won ACC Female Athlete of the Year in 1993 and 1994.
In 1991, when the women's national team won the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time, Hamm became the youngest American woman to win a World Cup championship at the age of nineteen.
On May 22, 1999 Hamm broke the all-time international goal record with her 108th goal in a game against Brazil in Orlando, Florida.
In 1999, Nike named the largest building on their corporate campus after Hamm, and that same year she, and the rest of the women on the national team became world champions again by winning the FIFA Women's World Cup. 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 1999, Hamm began the Mia Foundation, dedicated to help with bone marrow research and to help women's sports programs progress. She was inspired to create her foundation by her adoptive brother and original athletic inspiration, Garrett, an Amerasian who died of a bone marrow disease shortly after the 1996 Olympics. She had a friendly game the next day and all the members of her team wore a black armband in memory of her brother.
On May 14, 2004, she announced her retirement effective after the 2004 Summer Olympics, expressing an interest in starting a family with Garciaparra.
In March 2004, Hamm and former U.S.A. 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 game against Australia on July 21, 2004, Hamm scored her 151th 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.
She helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and was also chosen by her fellow U.S. Olympians to carry the American flag at the Athens Closing Ceremonies. After the Olympics, Hamm and her teammates went on a "farewell tour" of the United States, which finished on December 8, 2004 against Mexico at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. In the game, which the U.S. won 5-0, Hamm assisted on two of the goals. Hamm is one of three longtime national team members who announced their retirement from international play at the end of the tour; the others are longtime captain Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett (Fawcett did not play due to back surgery after the Olympics). Hamm retired with 158 international goals at age 32.
Hamm married Los Angeles Dodger third baseman Nomar Garciaparra on November 22, 2003 in Santa Barbara, California in a private ceremony. A few hundred guests attended. She gave birth to twin infants, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline, who were born on March 28, 2007. The girls were born five weeks early. Twins run in both Hamm and Garciaparra's families. |
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