Rapinoe has just returned from the Tokyo Olympics while former goalkeeper Solo was kicked off the team in 2016 just after returning from the Rio Olympics.
Two of U.S. soccer’s most decorated players Hope Solo and Megan Rapinoe have become high-profile figures on and off the pitch. Winger Rapinoe has just returned from the Tokyo Olympics where the team took home bronze while former goalkeeper Solo was kicked off the team in 2016 just after returning from the Rio Olympics. The two athletes have not played professionally since then but prior to Solo’s departure had been teammates since 2006. Rapinoe is well known for her activism, protests against racial inequality and advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights while Solo is noted for spearheading the women team’s campaign for equal pay. The two both featured in a docu-series called Keeping Score together in 2016 which followed their addressed equality for women in sports, the wage gap for American women workers, and race in the run-up to the Rio Olympics. Solo’s contract was terminated by the federation on August 24, 2016, for “conduct that is counter to the organization’s principles” after she called members of Sweden’s team “a bunch of cowards” at the Rio Olympics. This week, the two women made headlines together again after Solo said her former teammate would “almost bully” other team members into kneeling during the national anthem. However, Solo had left the team before Rapinoe ever took a knee before a match.
