OL Reign and Canada midfielder Quinn made history on Wednesday, becoming the first openly transgender athlete to compete in the Olympics. Their comments afterword highlighted both the pride of being the first and the disappointment of the realities trans women face in sports around the world.
It’s the moment athletes wait their entire lives for: To walk into a stadium of roaring fans alongside compatriots during the Olympic Games opening ceremonies. Things were a bit different this year as Olympic Stadium in Tokyo was mostly empty, fans unable to attend because of the Covid-19 pandemic still raging around the world.
But that didn’t stop the USWNT from having fun, even from a hotel room about 20 miles away.
Football Manager (and its yearly iterations) is a soccer video game focused on the minutiae of managing a club more so than a game focused on playing the actual sport. Perhaps a few years late, the popular series finally announced it will be adding women’s players, which could have rippling effects in other soccer video games like FIFA and PES/eFootball.
Muchos hoy andarán con más sueño de lo normal, pero cada bostezo y cada sorbo de café extra valdrá la pena. México, de madrugada, goleó a Francia por 4-1 en su debut en los Juegos Olímpicos e ilusiona con la posibilidad de regresar desde Tokio con una medalla colgada al cuello.
Brazil opened its campaign at the Summer Olympics in resounding fashion on Wednesday after dismantling China 5-0 at Miyagi Stadium in Rifu. The Seleção’s goals were scored by Debinha, Andressa Alves, Beatriz and a brace from the legendary Marta.
By finding the net at Tokyo 2020, Marta became the first player ever to score in five straight Olympics. Overall, she now has 12 goals at Olympic Games, moving her two behind former teammate Cristiane at the top of the tournament’s all-time goalscoring list.
After winning his first major international trophy, Lionel Messi posted a picture with a wide smile holding the Copa América trophy and it quickly became the most-liked photo of an athlete on Instagram ever.
While it isn’t shocking to see so many people come to support one of the greatest footballers ever in his first international trophy at the age of 34, it intrigued me in wondering what other athletes can garner this amount of attention and love on social media.
Here we take a look through the most-liked social media posts made by athletes from all around the world.
BUENOS AIRES — Hernán Mastrángelo, a 100-year-old grandfather in Argentina, has gone viral after it emerged that for years he had been taking handwritten notes of almost every goal scored by local hero and Barcelona star Lionel Messi.
Mastrángelo, a chocolate maker by profession, made it his hobby to keep track of each of Messi's goals, an achievement his grandson Julián has announced on social media, catching people's imagination including the striker himself.
At the age of 22, Racheal Nachula was representing Zambia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the women’s 400 meters after winning bronze at the African Championships. She did her country proud in Beijing, qualifying for the semifinal round after running a hugely impressive 50.62.
Three Olympics and 13 years later, now age 35, Nachula is back, but in an entirely different discipline — soccer.
While FC Spartak Moscow might not be the best on the pitch or even near it, but its social media team is undefeated. The club's TikTok account has garnered over 33 million total likes throughout their posts, nearly three times the number of citizens in the home city of Moscow. They are by far the best soccer TikTok account and their videos are a must-see for any soccer fan.
Every four years, some of soccer’s greatest athletes entertain fans on the world’s biggest stage. This year the National Peanut Board and The18 are teaming up to raise America’s favorite sandwich, the PB&J, to our favorite things about the Games.
Here are five things we can’t wait to experience this summer as the tournament kicks off in Japan.