Team USA is bound for the gold medal game in the 2024 Paris Olympics thanks in part to athletes Mallory Swanson, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman.
Throughout the Olympics, Swanson, 26, Smith, 23, and Rodman, 22, were lauded for their impressive teamwork and they now have the perfect nickname to celebrate it.
“We have a proposal for our trio nickname to be Triple Espresso,” Rodman said during the Thursday, August 8, episode of the Today show. “We’re just gonna put that out into the air and let people run with that because we like [the name] as well.”
After Today anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb attempted to take the moniker for a “test drive,” the three Olympians burst into laughter.
“We’ll see,” Rodman replied.
Throughout Team USA’s tenure in the women’s soccer tournament, fans called Swanson, Rodman and Smith “The Trident” and the “Holy Trinity” for their teamwork on the field. During the semifinal match earlier this week, Smith scored the winning goal with an asset from Swanson. The trio embraced after the ball went into the net.
“Honestly, I just saw a little opening in the net and knew that I had to put the ball there and do that for our team,” Smith recalled on Thursday. “I feel like I don’t remember a lot that happened, it all happened so fast, but Mal played an absolutely perfect pass, and I knew I just had to get on the end of it.”
Swanson, Rodman and Smith are three of the Team USA soccer stars who will face off against the Brazilian team on Saturday, August 10, for the gold medal.
The Paris Games are the trio’s debut Olympics and they are hungry to win a medal.
“There’s only one thing I want for my birthday,” Smith, who turns 24 on Saturday, said on Today. “That would be the best birthday ever, and we would have the best birthday party afterward.”
If the United States wins the anticipated game, it would be the squad’s first women’s soccer gold since 2012. Fans have considered Team USA to be an underdog in the Games, which is not fazing the athletes.
“Every tournament is completely different. The group we have right now, we’ve been able to continue to grow, to trust the process,” Swanson told Bustle last month. “There’s adversity that comes your way with every tournament. It’s just about how you overcome that as a group.”
