72 Facts About Mia Hamm

Mia Hamm was the face of the Women's United Soccer Association, the first professional women's soccer league in the United States, where she played for the Washington Freedom from 2001 to 2003.

Mia Hamm played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team and helped the team win four NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship titles.

Mia Hamm led the team at three Olympic Games, including: 1996 in Atlanta, 2000 in Sydney, and 2004 in Athens.

Mia Hamm completed her international career having played in 42 matches and scored 14 goals at these 7 international tournaments.

Mia Hamm held the record for most international goals scored until 2013 and remains in third place behind former teammate Abby Wambach and Canadian striker Christine Sinclair as of 2017.

Mia Hamm was named US Soccer Female Athlete of the Year five years in a row and won three ESPY awards including Soccer Player of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year.

Mia Hamm was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, Texas Sports Hall of Fame, North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame, and was the first woman inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame.

Author of Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life, Mia Hamm has been featured in several films and television shows, including the HBO documentary, Dare to Dream: The Story of the US Women's Soccer Team.

Mia Hamm wore corrective shoes as a toddler after being born with a club foot.

Mia Hamm spent her childhood on various United States Air Force bases around the world with her family.

At age five, then living in Wichita Falls, Texas, Mia Hamm joined her first soccer team.

Mia Hamm's father coached Mia and her newly adopted brother, 8-year-old Garrett.

Mia Hamm played sports from a young age and excelled as a football player on the boys' team at junior high school.

Mia Hamm played at the 1987 US Olympic Festival, the youngest player to play for the United States women's national soccer team.

Mia Hamm spent a year at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia, and helped the Lake Braddock soccer team win the 1989 state championships.

From 1989 to 1993, Mia Hamm attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she helped the Tar Heels win four NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championships in five years.

Mia Hamm red-shirted the 1991 season to focus on preparation for the inaugural 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup in China.

Mia Hamm earned All-American honors, was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year for three consecutive years, and was named ACC Female Athlete of the Year in 1993 and 1994.

Mia Hamm graduated from North Carolina in 1994 with the ACC records for goals, assists, and total points.

Mia Hamm was a member of the United States women's national college team that won a silver medal, being defeated by China in the final, at the 1993 Summer Universiade in Buffalo, New York.

In 2001, Mia Hamm was a founding player in the first professional women's soccer league in the United States, the Women's United Soccer Association, and played for the Washington Freedom from 2001 to 2003.

Mia Hamm suffered a knee injury in November 2001 that kept her off the pitch for several months of early 2002.

Mia Hamm scored the Freedom's second goal in the 64th minute.

On May 14,2004, Mia Hamm announced her retirement effective after the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Mia Hamm retired at age 32 with a record 158 international goals.

Mia Hamm was the youngest person ever to play for the team.

Mia Hamm scored her first goal during her 17th appearance.

Mia Hamm competed in four FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments: the inaugural 1991 in China, 1995 in Sweden, 1999 and 2003 in the United States.

Mia Hamm led the team at three Olympic Games, including: 1996 in Atlanta, 2000 in Sydney, and 2004 in Athens.

In 1991, Mia Hamm was named to the roster for the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup in China under North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance.

Mia Hamm scored the second US goal of the match in the 55th minute.

Mia Hamm was a key part of the US team at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta; this was the first Olympic tournament to include women's soccer.

Mia Hamm played despite having foot and groin injuries, suffered during team training and the match against Sweden.

Mia Hamm scored five of the team's seven goals at the tournament, including two during the championship match against China.

On May 22,1999, Mia Hamm broke the all-time international goal record with her 108th goal in a game against Brazil in Orlando, Florida.

Mia Hamm later served an assist to Kristine Lilly before being substituted in the 57th minute.

The five American players to take penalty kicks, including Mia Hamm, converted; China missed one attempt so that the home team won.

Immediately following the final, Mia Hamm collapsed in the locker room from severe dehydration.

Mia Hamm was treated by medical staff with an intravenous drip and three liters of fluids.

Mia Hamm represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

One of Norway's 24 fouls resulted in a penalty kick for Mia Hamm which was saved by the Norwegian goalkeeper.

Mia Hamm held the world record until Abby Wambach scored her 159th goal on June 20,2013.

Mia Hamm helped lead the US national team to its second gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and was selected by her fellow Olympians to carry the American flag at the closing ceremony.

Mia Hamm's teammates swarmed Hamm after the final whistle to celebrate their second Olympic gold medal and her final win at the Olympics.

Mia Hamm was capable of playing in any offensive position.

Mia Hamm was first married to her college sweetheart Christiaan Corry, a United States Marine Corps helicopter pilot; they divorced in 2001 after being married six years.

Mia Hamm married then-Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra on November 22,2003, in Goleta, California, in a ceremony attended by a few hundred guests.

On March 27,2007, Mia Hamm gave birth to twin girls, Grace Isabella and Ava Caroline.

In 1999, Hamm founded the Mia Hamm Foundation following the death of her adopted brother Garrett in 1997 from complications of aplastic anemia, a rare blood disease he had endured for ten years.

Mia Hamm has been called the most marketable female athlete of her generation.

Mia Hamm was featured on a Wheaties box following the 1999 World Cup and endorsed the first Soccer Barbie by Mattel.

Mia Hamm co-starred with Michael Jordan in a popular television commercial for Gatorade in the spring of 1999 which featured the two athletes competing against each other in a variety of sports while the song Anything You Can Do is heard.

The commercial ends with Mia Hamm throwing Jordan to the ground in a judo match.

Mia Hamm was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated, Time, and People.

Mia Hamm has made appearances on numerous television shows, including: Late Night with David Letterman, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Today, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Good Morning America, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Mia Hamm's likeness was used in the logo of Women's Professional Soccer, the second women's professional soccer league in the United States.

Mia Hamm was mentioned on a season eight episode of the TV series Friends.

Mia Hamm is the author of the national bestseller Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life and juvenile fiction book Winners Never Quit.

In 2012, after Pia Sundhage's departure as head coach of the national team, Mia Hamm joined Danielle Slaton and Sunil Gulati as a member of the search committee for Sundhage's successor.

In October 2014, Mia Hamm was announced as a co-owner of the future Major League Soccer team, Los Angeles FC.

Mia Hamm joined Vice President Joe Biden and Second Lady Jill Biden as members of the United States delegation at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final in Vancouver, Canada.

Mia Hamm competed as a member of the United States national soccer team in four FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments: the inaugural 1991 in China, 1995 in Sweden, as well as 1999 and 2003 in the United States.

Mia Hamm competed at three Summer Olympic Games: 1996 in Atlanta, 2000 in Sydney, and 2004 in Athens.

Mia Hamm was named Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation in 1997 and 1999.

In December 2000, Mia Hamm was named one of the top three female soccer players of the twentieth century in the FIFA Female Player of the Century Award, finishing behind only Sun Wen and compatriot Michelle Akers.

In 2006 Mia Hamm was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, followed by the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on March 11,2008.

In 2007, during her first year of eligibility, Mia Hamm was selected for induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

In 2013, Mia Hamm became the first woman inducted into the World Football Hall of Fame, located in Pachuca, Mexico.

Mia Hamm was named to US Soccer's USWNT All-Time Best XI in December 2013.

In 2014, Mia Hamm was named one of ESPNW's Impact 25; she was the recipient of the Golden Foot Legends Award.

In 2021, Mia Hamm was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

In 2022, Los Angeles FC of Major League Soccer - of which Mia Hamm is part owner - won the MLS Cup, thus giving Mia Hamm an MLS championship to her credit.