Avid soccer fans and LGBTQ+ activists must have at least heard once the name of Megan Rapinoe. And especially who Megan Rapinoe and her girlfriend, Sue Bird, are – the first same-sex couple to feature on the cover of ESPN Body Issue. Megan Anna Rapinoe is a soccer player who is the captain of both the US National Team and the OL Reign of the National Women’s Soccer League. She has been named the Best FIFA Women’s Player in 2019 and has won the Ballon d’Or Feminin. In the 2012 London Summer Olympics, she won gold for the team. She also won at FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015, 2019 and came at 2nd place in the 2011 game. In 2020, she was included in the Most Influential People of 2020 of Time Magazine.
Megan is best known for her style of playing and her active participation in various causes. The last-minute goal in the 2011 FIFA’a quarterfinal against Brazil won her the Best Plat of the Year Award. In 2019 FIFA, she won the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards. Megan is an advocate for LGBTQ+ causes such as the GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network) and Athlete Ally. Nike, Procter and Gamble, Hulu, Samsung etc., sponsor her. With fellow athletes Christen Press, Tobin Heath, and Meghan Klingenberg, she co-founded “Re-Inc” a lifestyle brand that boasts of being gender-neutral.
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Megan Rapinoe: Early Life and A Brief Study of her Career
Megan Rapinoe belongs to California. Her parents are Jim and Denise Rapinoe, and she has 5 siblings, one of them her own fraternal twin. Megan began playing Soccer after seeing her brother, Brian play it. She was mostly coached by her father until High School. She was on the honour roll in all of her semesters. Megan then plated for Elk Grove Pride in Women’s Premier Soccer League with her twin, Rachael, and Stephanie Cox. Then she went on to attend the University of Portland, Oregon. Her international career had begun when she was only 16, when she played for the US Under-16 Soccer Team in 2002, and thereafter for the Under-19 team.
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In her senior football career, she debuted in 2006. Then, in the 2009 Algarve Cup, it was her who scored the winning goal and won her team the Cup. She helped Amy Rodriguez score the game-winning goal in the Finals of the 2011 FIFA. In the 2012 Olympics at London, she scored the game-winning goal against Columbia in the 2nd group stage match. In the semi-final match against Canada, she scored 2 goals which were game-equalizing. And finally, the team won against Japan in Wembley and took home gold.
Then again, in 2013, at the Algarve Cup, Megan was named the Player of the Tournament. In 2015 the team won the FIFA Women’s World Cup again. In 2020 she won the Best in Sports Shorty Award.
Personal Life:
Megan once refused to stand during the National Anthem of the US during a game in 2016. This was to show that she supported those who protest against minority oppression and racial injustice. She has discussed how her older brother came under the influence of drugs. She talked about his incarceration, which included solitary confinement, and his involvement with white supremacists. Megan Rapinoe knew she was a lesbian when she was a freshman in college and came out publicly in 2012.
Megan and Sue for GQ (Credits: GQ)
In 2019, Megan and Trump got in a sort of scuffle. She had made an offhanded comment that she’s not fu*king going to the White House. Trump took it for an insult and tweeted that before talking, Megan should try and WIN first. That was no big deal for her. She scored both the gaols in the 2019 Quarterfinals against France – and the team won. It was also the most-watched quarterfinal. Later, her girlfriend, Sue bashed the ex-President in an essay.
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Megan Rapinoe: Who is Her Girlfriend?
During 2012, when she came out, Megan Rapinoe was in a relationship with Sarah Welsh. Sarah Welsh is an Australian Soccer Player. The couple began dating in 2009 and were together for about five years before parting ways in 2013. Sera Cahoon, a sub-pop recording artist, and Megan got together after that. They were also engaged to be married, but at the last minute, the wedding was put on hold, and soon thereafter, it was revealed that the two had parted ways. In 2017 it was revealed that Rapinoe had been dating Sue Bird, a basketball player, since late 2016.
Left: Sue, Right: Megan (Source: Getty)
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Sue Bird: Who is She?
Suzanne “Sue” Bird, the girlfriend of legendary soccer player Megan Rapinoe, is herself an excellent Basketball player. She plays for Seattle Storm and has won 4 championships for them. At 40 years of age, she is the oldest player in the WNBA. She also has Israeli citizenship. Sue has also played for 3 teams in Russia. Megan and Sue met each other at the Rio de Janerio Olympics and started dating soon thereafter. Both of them stay in Seattle, but they didn’t actually see each other until their shared interview in the 2016 Olympics.
Power Couple. Left: Sue. Right: Megan (Source: Polera Studios)
Sue and Megan are generally regarded as the “Couple Goals.” Between the two of them, they have 5 gold medals. And recently, both will be in their teams for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Megan has confided in an interviewer that they had been training together. The duo recently announced their engagement last October 2020. It was also announced to the world with a lovely Instagram post; as I said, Couple Goals.
Megan Rapinoe Proposing to Her Girlfriend
In an exclusive interview with a GQ, Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe recount their proposal.
Proposal of Megan Rapinoe to her Girlfriend (Source: Instagram)
They recall that they had been drinking, and it was midday, and both of them were in the water – in an infinity pool. Sue recalls that there was a look in Megan’s eyes and that she had a premonition of what was about to happen. In the interview, they were apparently gazing at each other like they were the only persons in the world and a meteor could hit, and it wouldn’t matter. And suddenly, Sue Bird snapped out of the trance and declared that Megan had been wearing a bucket hat, which she asked to remove. The photo made it to Instagram. Like I said: Couple GOALS!
