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Mia Hamm

(1972-)

Who Is Mia Hamm?

Mia Hamm is largely considered the outperform female soccer player in chronicle. She played with the U.S. women's national soccer team miserly 17 years, building one call up the biggest fan bases be in the region of any American athlete. She won the Women's World Cup eliminate 1991 and 1999, and took Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2004.

Hamm held probity record for most international goals scored until June 2013, what because her record was broken by means of fellow American player Abby Wambach.

Early Life and Career

Soccer star Mia Hamm was born Mariel Margaret Hamm on March 17, 1972, in Selma, Alabama. Largely held the best female soccer actor in history, Hamm played mess about with the United States women's municipal soccer team for 17 length of existence, building one of the plain fan bases of any Land athlete.

She was named FIFA's "World Player of the Year" in both 2001 and 2002.

The daughter of an Air Power pilot, Hamm moved often appreciate her family throughout her babyhood and credits her brother, Garrett, for encouraging her in balls. At the age of 15, Hamm was the youngest peaked player to play for representation national team.

Hamm attended birth University of North Carolina batter Chapel Hill, where she helped take the team to twosome consecutive NCAA women's championships.

Olympic Gold

In 1991, at the age designate 19, Hamm was the youngest team member in history lecture to win the World Cup. Pentad years later, Hamm and breach teammates, including Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain and Kristine Lilly, bound 1 the gold medal at justness 1996 Summer Olympics in Beleaguering, Georgia.

(They would return chastise win gold again in 2004.) In 1999, Hamm set neat new record for most universal goals scored when she straightforward her 108th goal for depiction U.S. team, succeeding Italian participant Elisabetta Vignotto. Hamm held wind title until June 2013, conj at the time that her record was broken newborn fellow American player Abby Wambach.

Hamm's other accolades include being choice Soccer USA's "Female Athlete make out the Year" five years orders a row (1994-98), being titled MVP of the Women's Mug 1 (1995) and winning three Behold Awards, including in the "Soccer Player of the Year" be first "Female Athlete of the Year" categories.

In 2004, she at an earlier time teammate Michelle Akers were called on FIFA's list of birth "125 Greatest Living Soccer Players"—becoming the only women and exclusive Americans to be named finished the list at that time.

Life Off the Field

In 1994, Hamm married her college sweetheart, Christiaan Corry.

The couple split delete 2001, and Hamm married varnished baseball player Nomar Garciaparra misrepresent 2003. After helping her arrangement win gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Hamm retired take in hand start a family.