Megan Rapinoe went full soccer mom on the sidelines of Team USA’s gold medal-winning soccer match against Brazil at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Photos taken at the match captured Rapinoe, 39, cheering on the US women’s soccer team from the stands, alongside her fellow USWNT alums Tobin Heath and Ali Krieger, at the Parc des Princes on Saturday, August 10. Sporting her signature pink pixie haircut and matching hot pink sunglasses, Rapinoe snapped photos both on her phone and on a disposable camera from the stands of the final soccer match between the two women’s teams.
Team USA had fans watching their victory at home, as Olympian Abby Wambach watched them score the winning goal per footage shared by Glennon Doyle via X as the US women’s soccer team secured their victory over Brazil, 1-0. This marked the USWNT’s first Olympic gold medal since 2012 when Wambach and Rapinoe were on Team USA.
Rapinoe has competed with Team USA in three Olympic Games, taking home the gold medal for her first Olympics in London in 2012. She returned to Rio four years later, where Team USA placed 5th in women’s soccer, though they secured the bronze in Tokyo’s 2020 Games, which was Rapinoe’s final Olympics as a competitor.
In July last year, the soccer legend announced her retirement from playing professionally following the end of the 2023 NWSL season, which concluded with the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Rapinoe spoke to People on Thursday, August 8, about attending the Olympics as a spectator rather than an athlete. “I’m living my best life,” Rapinoe, joined by partner (and WNBA legend) Sue Bird, told the outlet. “No life has ever been lived better in this short span. I’m just walking around during the day and taking in the Parisian sights and then going to all these amazing events.”
She continued, “It’s obviously fun if I’m competing and winning and doing all the things, but this is an incredible experience and Paris is just one of the best cities in the world for a reason so I’m really enjoying just taking it all in.”
Bird, who has competed in five Olympic Games herself for basketball, added, “It’s great. You really do get to see so much more.” She noted that Olympic athletes are “totally dependent on the schedule, the practice schedule, [the] game schedule,” so often don’t get to do any sightseeing.
Leading up to the finals, Rapinoe shared that the “most special thing” she witnessed was Trinity Rodman’s overtime goal that sent the U.S. women’s team to the semifinals. “I was going nuts,” she gushed. “Me and Mia [Hamm] were sitting next to each other, and we were in the FIFA section, I don’t even know if you’re supposed to cheer. You’re supposed to be appropriate in there and we’re like, ‘We’re never getting invited back to this section, but let’s go.'”
