Megan Rapinoe’s tongue-in-cheek maxim – ‘you can’t win without gay players’ – continues to hold true, for the U.S. women’s national soccer team at least.
An Olympic champion at London 2012 and a two-time FIFA World Cup winner, Rapinoe was in the Parc des Princes stands Saturday to watch the Paris 2024 final.
Sat alongside her fiancée Sue Bird and former international teammates Ali Krieger and Tobin Heath, she helped roar on Emma Hayes’ side to a 1-0 victory over Brazil.
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— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) August 10, 2024
Mallory Swanson’s 57th-minute goal settled the match and the tournament, giving the U.S. their first Olympic title since Rapinoe and friends collected gold medals at Wembley Stadium 12 years ago, and their fifth overall.
This time, Tierna Davidson was the only out gay player celebrating at the final whistle but that was enough to back up Rapinoe’s now infamous quip — “that’s science, right there!” — made at the same stadium after a World Cup quarter-final win in Pride Month in 2019.
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In the build-up to Saturday’s game, the USWNT legend had enjoyed a day out at the Louvre, posting photos of the Mona Lisa and the Crown of Louis XV on her Instagram story.
After victory was sealed, she was quick to praise goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, whose stunning stop from Adriana’s header in the 10 minutes of added-on time ensured a clean sheet.
“That’s it. That’s the story,” wrote Rapinoe alongside a screenshot of Naeher mid-air, stretching out her right hand to make the save.
Immediately after that story post, she shared another. This one was all about Marta, substituted on by Brazil just after the hour mark for her final Olympics outing. The six-time FIFA World Player of the Year has, like Rapinoe, won over 200 international caps.
“Respect,” she wrote simply, alongside a goat emoji. The image of Marta showed her making a heart symbol with her hands.
The love for the 38-year-old striker and appreciation of all she has achieved was the other major narrative of this tournament.
But there would be no fairytale ending for her and Brazil, who included four more out LGBTQ players in their starting line-up – Adriana, goalkeeper Lorena, and defenders Lauren and Tarciane.
In her own pre-match Insta post, a determined Davidson used the caption: “The grand finale. One more. LFG.” Rapinoe had written “Gold Medal Final Day. LFG” on one of her story posts.
LFG. And so it went. They’ve got it down to a science.
