Background

Megan Rapinoe was born Megan Anna Rapinoe on July 5, 1985 in Redding, California, United States. She is the daughter of Jim Rapinoe and Denise Rapinoe. Megan has 5 siblings, including her fraternal twin, Rachael Rapinoe.

Education

Megan Rapinoe attended Foothill High School, where she competed in track as a freshman and sophomore and basketball as a freshman, sophomore, and senior. She was on the honor roll every semester of high school. Megan played for the under-14 Northern California state Olympic Development Program team in 1999 as well as the regional ODP team in 2002. She played her youth career for the Elk Grove Pride (now Sacramento Pride) club team from 2002 to 2005.

After high school, Rapinoe attended the University of Portland on a full scholarship and played for the Portland Pilots. She ranks tenth in the school's history with an 88-point career, including 30 goals and 28 assists. She forwent her senior season at Portland to enter the Women's Professional Soccer Draft.

Career

In 2009, the Chicago (Illinois) Red Stars of the newly formed Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league drafted Megan Rapinoe. She was on the starting lineup in 17 of the 18 games in which she scored two goals and assisted on three others. In August 2009, Megan was named to the league's All-Star Team. She played in the 2009 WPS All-Star Game against Swedish Damallsvenskan champions Umeå IK. In 2010, she started in 19 of the 20 games in which she appeared for the Red Stars. She scored one goal.

Megan played in Chicago Red Stars until late 2010, when the team disbanded. In December 2010, Rapinoe signed with expansion team Philadelphia Independence. She participated in four games and scored one goal. While she was in Germany for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup she was traded to MagicJack (formerly Washington Freedom). Rapinoe scored two goals in her eight regular-season appearances, which helped the team finish third in the league standings and secure a spot in the playoffs. During the team's semi-final match against the Boston Breakers, Rapinoe scored in the 61st minute solidifying the team's 3-1 win and advancement to the championship final. Later, MagicJack was defeated 2-0 by the Philadelphia Independence in the final.

In October 2011, the WPS voted to terminate the MagicJack franchise. Rapinoe and many other players became free agents. The league suspended operations in early 2012.

Almost immediately, Rapinoe signed with Australian W-League team Sydney FC as a guest player for two games. In her second game against Melbourne Victory, she scored three points for Sydney. In the summer of 2012, Rapinoe signed with the Seattle Sounders Women. She was also on the 2012 United States Olympic women's soccer team that competed in London, England. At those Olympics, Rapinoe helped lead the team to a gold medal with several game-winning assists or goals. Megan played in between camps with the national team. Rapinoe made two appearances during the regular season with the team, serving two assists.

For the 2013 season, Rapinoe played soccer in France. She signed for six months with Olympique Lyonnais, the French side that had previously won six consecutive French league championships and two straight European titles. Megan played in six regular-season matches and scored two goals.

Rapinoe appeared at UEFA Women's Champions League during the first leg of the 2012-2013 quarterfinal against FC Malmö. She scored one goal during her 24 minutes on the pitch. It contributed to Lyon's 5-0 victory. Megan also scored a goal during Lyon's 6-1 win over FCF Juvisy in the second leg of the semi-finals.

Rapinoe returned to Lyon for the 2013-2014 season and scored three goals in her eight appearances for the club. She also made four appearances for Lyon and scored one goal during the team's 6-0 defeat of FC Twente during the Champions League. Lyon was eliminated in the Round of 16. In January 2014, it was announced that Rapinoe had ended her time with Lyon earlier than planned. She then joined the Seattle Reign FC (now OL Reign) of the National Women's Soccer League, which had been formed after the WSP broke up. During a match against the Chicago Red Stars, Rapinoe played a direct role in all of Seattle's four goals. She led the team to a 4-1 win. Megan played approximately half of the season (12 out of 22 regular-season games) and became the Reign's leading scorer with five goals.

After suffering a foot injury in the 2014 season, Rapinoe sat out several games. She made her second season appearance on July 3 against Western New York Flash. Megan scored four goals and made one assist during the regular season. It helped the Reign secure the league's regular-season title (NWSL Shield). During the team's playoff semi-final match against Washington Spirit, Rapinoe scored a goal and the Reign won 2-1. During the championship final, the Reign was defeated by Kansas City 2-1.

During the team's first match of the 2015 season against Western New York Flash, Rapinoe scored her first professional hat trick.

Megan Rapinoe appeared at her second Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016. She also participated in three Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Women's World Cups, in 2011, 2015, and 2019. Her contributions helped the United States team to win in 2015 and 2019. In 2018, she became co-captain of the national team.

Rapinoe has signed endorsement deals with Nike and Samsung. She also appeared in advertisements for the clothing company Wildfang and began a partnership with medical device company, DJO Global.

In 2016, Megan Rapinoe starred with teammates in a docu-series Keeping Score broadcast by Fullscreen. She also appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Today Show, The Rachel Maddow Show, Meet the Press, Good Morning America and others.

Achievements

• Megan Rapinoe is the most popular contemporary soccer player. She is a two-time FIFA Women's World Cup Champion and an Olympic Gold Medalist.
  
  Megan received the Harry Glickman Professional Female Athlete of the Year award at the 60th annual Oregon Sports Awards held on February 12, 2012. In October of the same year, she was one of ten female soccer players shortlisted for the FIFA Women's World Player of the Year award. She was also named a finalist for Sports Illustrated's Most Inspiring Performers of 2012.
  
  Rapinoe was awarded the board of directors award by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center for bringing awareness to LGBT people in sports. In 2013, Megan was named Player of the Tournament at the 2013 Algarve Cup.
  
  In December 2014, Rapinoe was inducted into the Shasta County Sports Hall of Fame. In 2015, she was inducted into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame. In the same year, Megan was named NWSL Player of the Week for Week 1 of the 2015 NWSL season. In 2019, Rapinoe won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards at the Women's World Cup in France. She was also named The Best FIFA Women's Player.

Works

More photos

• book

  • One Life

    (Megan Rapinoe, Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women's...)

    2020

Politics

In 2019, Megan Rapinoe endorsed Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

Views

Megan Rapinoe participates in philanthropic activities for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. In 2013, she became an ambassador for Athlete Ally, a nonprofit organization that focuses on ending homophobia and transphobia in sports.

In September 2017, Rapinoe was part of a group of soccer players who signed up for the "Common Goal" campaign. She donates one percent of her wage in support of other soccer-related charities.

Quotations: "I feel like it's actually everybody's responsibility to use whatever platform they have to do good in the world, basically, and to try to make our society better, whether you're an accountant or an activist or an athlete or whatever it is. I think it's everybody's responsibility."

"We're gracious and we're humble, and we play the game a certain way, whether we win or lose."

"As I got more into gay rights, I got more into equal pay, and you just see that it's all connected. You can't really speak out on one thing and not another without it not being the full picture."

"I have chosen to kneel because I simply cannot stand for the kind of oppression this country is allowing against its own people."

"The more I've been able to learn about gay rights and equal pay and gender equity and racial inequality, the more that it all intersects. You can't really pick it apart. It's all intertwined."

"It's often hard to just throw money at a problem when you don't really know what the problem is."

"I'm totally obsessed with Tilda Swinton. She has this strange, beautiful sexiness about her. I love everything she does. And I love her hair. It was a little bit of an inspiration for mine."

"Honestly, I feel like we are a walking protest. The fact that we're women professional athletes says that in and of itself. We've been feeling the inequality; we've been struggling with pay equality or whatever it is, or sexism in sports."

"When we, as a nation, put our minds to something, when we truly choose to care about something, change always happens."

"Putting yourself out there is hard, but it's so worth it. I don't think anyone who has ever spoken out, or stood up or had a brave moment, has regretted it. It's empowering and confidence-building and inspiring. Not only to other people, but to yourself."

"Being a woman, we talk about equal pay all the time. We're not talking about if you're black or if you are Latina. I would like to get back to that and improving the relationship between the police community and the community of color. I don't know exactly all the right things to say, but I want to engage in that conversation."

"Our team, in general, is in a position where people look up to us, and kids look up to us. I embrace that, and I think I have a huge LGBT following. I think it's pretty cool, the opportunity that I have, especially in sports. There's really not that many out athletes. It's important to be out and to live my life that way."

"When I take a knee, I am facing the flag with my full body, staring straight into the heart of our country's ultimate symbol of freedom - because I believe it is my responsibility, just as it is yours, to ensure that freedom is afforded to everyone in this country."

"I think our existence in professional sports is almost a protest in and of itself in sometimes the very sexist society that we live in. For us, it's just kind of right in line with what we always do."

"It's really obvious that we have very serious inequality in this country across many different spectrums. Yes, we can talk about the form of protest or the way it's done or this or that. But it's still not really the conversation that I think we desperately need to have more of in this country."

"I think, bottom line, I have to be good enough to make the team. I have to bring something in and beat somebody else out, especially with a smaller roster for the Olympics."

"I don't think there's any perfect way to protest."

"I think it's absolutely absurd that we're playing on turf, and it's really a slap in the face to women's football by FIFA and just a show of disrespect."

"My mom, whether it's right or wrong, she had dreams for me to have a certain life. It takes time to get used to that. But they've been really supportive, and they love me for exactly who I am."

"I was made exactly the way I was meant to be made in who I am and my personality and the way I was born."

"I just think gay men are looked at much less favorably than gay women. If you look at the overall stereotype, lesbians are sexy, and gay men are disgusting. Girl and girl is fine, and guy and guy seems to just be something completely different."

"Be honest about how you approach failure. Don't just be critical of yourself, because that can be self-serving. Approach it honestly, assess your performance, and assess the areas where you have fallen short. Correct them and move on. Don't dwell on it. Don't hold on to it."

"For us, the conversation is always about getting paid what we feel like we're worth and getting paid as the sport grows and as we help grow the sport."

"Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties."

Personality

Megan Rapinoe is a lesbian. She publicly came out in the July 2012 edition of Out magazine.

Rapinoe is described by fans as genuine, exciting, determined, hardworking and enthusiastic.

Physical Characteristics: Megan Rapinoe is 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) tall and weighs 121 lbs (55 kg). She has short blonde hair and brown eyes.

Interests

• playing the guitar, playing the piano, singing, traveling

• Politicians

  Elizabeth Warren

• Writers

  Roxane Gay, Tayari Jones, Kacen Callender

• Sport & Clubs

  soccer

• Athletes

  Lori Lindsey

• Music & Bands

  Adele, Missy Higgins, Jack White, Florence Welch

Connections

Rapinoe had been in a relationship with Australian soccer player Sarah Walsh from 2009 to 2013. Later, she dated Sub Pop recording artist Sera Cahoone. The couple announced their engagement in August 2015, but in January 2017, Rapinoe stated that their wedding plans were on hold.

On July 20, 2017, Rapinoe confirmed that she had been dating basketball player Sue Bird since late 2016. They announced their engagement on October 30, 2020.

Father:

Jim Rapinoe

Mother:

Denise Rapinoe

ex-partner:

Sarah Walsh

(born January 11, 1983)

Sarah Walsh is a retired Australian soccer player who most recently captained Western Sydney Wanderers FC in Australia's W-League. She is a former member of the Australia women's national soccer team.

ex-partner:

Sera Cahoone

(born August 4, 1975)

Sera Cahoone is an American singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington. Cahoone's music combines elements of classic country-western and modern indie rock and lo-fi music. She is also well known for her work as a drummer, especially with the bands Carissa's Wierd and Band of Horses.

Sister:

Rachael Rapinoe

(born July 5, 1985)

Rachael Rapinoe is an American former soccer player who played as a midfielder and forward. She played for Stjarnan Women in Iceland and the United States women's national under-23 soccer team.

Partner:

Sue Bird

(born October 16, 1980)

Sue Bird is an Israeli-American professional basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

References

• Megan Rapinoe Megan Rapinoe traces her rise to stardom, from her childhood in a soccer-crazy Northern California family to her outstanding college career at the University of Portland, to her co-captaincy of the dominant United States women's team.
  2020
• Megan Rapinoe: Soccer Superstar This action-packed biography gives readers an inside look at the career of soccer superstar Megan Rapinoe. Filled with exciting photos, compelling text, and informative sidebars, this book is sure to be a hit with young soccer fans.
  2019
• Megan Rapinoe An introduction to the life and career of soccer player and activist Megan Rapinoe.
  2019
• Megan Rapinoe: World Cup Champion As a child, Megan Rapinoe watched her brother play soccer. It wasn't long before she was kicking the ball around. Her playing career has gained much success, and the left winger is now known as a leader on and off the field. In 2019, she played for the United States team that won the World Cup. Discover Rapinoe's journey to becoming a world star in this thrilling biography in the Stars of Sports series.
  2020
• Megan Rapinoe's Official Website
• Megan Rapinoe's Instagram
• Megan Rapinoe's Twitter
• Megan Rapinoe's Facebook