Brandi Chastain
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Brandi Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is a former soccer player and current broadcaster with ABC/ESPN on their coverage of Major League Soccer who was with the United States women's national soccer team from 1991 to 2004. She has also played for the San Jose CyberRays.
She attended Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California, helping take the team to three state championships.
Chastain enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley in 1986, where she was awarded the Soccer America Freshmen Player Of The Year award. Soon after this she underwent reconstructive surgery on both her knees which caused her to miss much of the 1987 and 1988 seasons. In 1989, she transferred to Santa Clara University, leading their soccer team to two final four NCAA appearances before graduating in 1990.
Chastain first represented her country on April 18, 1991 against Mexico. She came off the bench to score five consecutive goals in a 12-0 United States win, in what was a qualifying game for the first FIFA Women's World Cup. Team USA went on to win the World Cup, staged in China, in the same year. Chastain next participated with the national team in the 1993 CONCACAF championships of New York, another tournament which the Americans won. Later in 1993 she joined the West Team, which won the gold medal at the Texas Olympic Festival.
Her first era as a member of the national team came to an end on August 8, 1993, but she made the team once again in 1996 and participated in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games at defender, helping the Americans win the gold medal.
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About the bra
Chastain became a household name in 1999, when, after scoring the fifth penalty kick that gave the United States the win over China in the final game of that year's Women's World Cup, she celebrated by ripping off her jersey and falling to her knees in a sports bra, her fists clenched in ecstacy. The photo of her celebration, which made the cover of Time, Newsweek, People, and Sports Illustrated, became an image of female power. She was signed to a million dollar contract by Nike afterwards. Playboy Magazine also made her an offer which she declined.
Chastain played on the US women's national team until her last game on December 6, 2004. She played on the San Jose CyberRays in the Women's United Soccer Association from its formation in 2001 until its suspension in 2003.
She currently lives in Santa Clara, California, where her husband, Jerry Smith is the women's soccer coach at Santa Clara University.
Her website and a book she wrote about women's competitive sports are titled “It’s Not About the Bra” .
Quote
On what took place after the penalty kick at the 1999 World Cup: “Momentary insanity, nothing more, nothing less. I wasn’t thinking about anything. I thought, ‘This is the greatest moment of my life on the soccer field.’”