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Mia Hamm (born Mariel Margaret Hamm on March 17,
1972 in Selma, Alabama) is an United
States|American soccer player. Hamm has been able
to garner the respect of soccer experts and build
a large fan base in the United States, where she
played for 17 years as a member of the United
States women's national soccer team. She is widely
considered the best woman to have ever played the
game, having been named FIFA World Player of the
Year twice (2001 and 2002).

Hamm, one of four daughters of an United States
Air Force|Air Force pilot, was born in Alabama,
and lived in several different places before her
family settled in Wichita Falls, Texas. Her
parents later adopted two boys; the older,
Garrett, became her main source of encouragement
in her athletic interests. At age 12, she played
on her junior high school's American
football|football team, but eventually settled on
soccer. She later moved to Northern Virginia to
finish her high school career, living with
relatives until the rest of her family joined her
a year later. The youngest player ever to play for
the national team at age 15, Mia later attended
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
where she was nicknamed Jordan by her peers, in
reference to another UNC athlete, Michael Jordan.
She helped take the Tar Heels to four consecutive
NCAA women's championships. She was an
All-American and Atlantic Coast Conference player
of the year for the last three years of her
college tenure. 

In 1991, when the US women's national team won the
FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time with
Hamm and teammates including Michelle Akers,
Brandi Chastain, and Kristine Lilly, Hamm became
the youngest American woman to win a World Cup
championship at the age of 19. In 1993, she
graduated from college with the all time records
for Atlantic Coast Conference|her conference in
goals with 103, assists with 72, and total points
with 278.

She has garnered numerous awards and recognitions
during her career as a soccer player. Among those,
she was elected as the Soccer USA's female athlete
of the year five years in a row (1994-1998), she
was elected Most Valuable Player|MVP of the
women's cup in 1995, she was elected one of the 50
most beautiful people in the world by People
Magazine in 1997, she was elected number 14 among
soccer's most influential people by Soccer
Business International magazine, and won three
ESPY awards in a row, given to her by ESPN, one of
them for soccer player of the year and the other
two for Female Athlete of the Year.

In 1996, Hamm and the rest of the US women's
national team played for the gold medal in the
1996 Summer Olympics in front of 80,000 spectators
in Athens, Georgia, then an all-time record for
any women's sporting event. That day, Hamm and her
teammates were able to beat China women's national
football team|China to win the gold medal. 

In 1999, Nike, Inc.|Nike named the largest
building on their corporate campus after this
star, and that same year she, Chastain, Kate
Markgraf|Kate Sobrero, Lorrie Fair, Tiffeny
Milbrett and the rest of the women on the national
team became world champions again, by winning the
FIFA Women's World Cup. Chastain's
take-the-jersey-off celebration after the win
became an instant legendary sports moment. The
final match surpassed the Atlanta Olympic final as
the most-attended women's sports event, with over
90,000 filling the Rose Bowl (stadium)|Rose Bowl.

Also in '99, Hamm began the Mia Foundation,
dedicated to help with bone marrow research and to
help women sports programs progress. She was
inspired to create her foundation by her adoptive
brother and original athletic inspiration Garrett,
an Amerasian who died of a bone marrow disease
shortly after the 1996 Olympics.

She was first married in 1994 to her college
sweetheart Christiaan Corry, a United States
Marines|Marine pilot, but their marriage was
strained by long absences (his as a military
aviator, and hers in international soccer), and
they divorced in 2001. In 2002, she became engaged
to marry Nomar Garciaparra, a baseball star then
with the Boston Red Sox (now with the Chicago
Cubs).

On November 22, 2003, Hamm and Garciaparra were
married at Fontana, California in a private
ceremony. A few hundred guests attended. On May
14, 2004, she announced her retirement effective
after the 2004 Summer Olympics, expressing an
interest in starting a family with Garciaparra. To
the end of her career, she enjoyed meeting and
greeting her fans, especially young girls, and
signing autographs.

In March 2004, Hamm and former USA teammate
Michelle Akers were the only two women, and the
only two Americans, named to the FIFA 100, a list
of the 125 greatest living soccer players selected
by Pelé and commissioned by FIFA for that
organization's 100th anniversary.

In a friendly against Australia women's national
football team|Australia on July 21, 2004, Hamm
scored her 150th international goal; she has long
held the record in that category for any player,
male or female. This match also marked her 259th
cap (football)|international appearance; only her
teammate Kristine Lilly has played in more
internationals.

She helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at the
2004 Summer Olympics, and was also chosen by her
fellow US Olympians to carry the American flag at
the Athens Closing Ceremonies. After the Olympics,
Hamm and her teammates went on a "farewell tour"
of the United States, which finished on December
8, 2004 against Mexico women's national football
team|Mexico at the Home Depot Center in Carson,
California. In the game, which the US won 5-0,
Hamm assisted on two of the goals. During
halftime, she switched jerseys from one with
"Hamm" on the back to one with "Garciaparra". Hamm
is one of three longtime national team members who
announced their retirement from international play
at the end of the tour; the others are longtime
captain Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett (Fawcett did
not play due to back surgery after the Olympics).
Hamm retired with 158 international goals, more
than 50 ahead of any other player (male or
female), and 276 Cap (football)|caps, second only
to Lilly.

== External links ==
*http://www.miafoundation.org/ Mia Hamm Foundation
web site