5 CHAPTER Getting Noticed US star Mia Hamm controls the ball during the 1996 Olympic Games 1 The US women’s soccer team went to the first Women’s World Cup in 1991 and won Yet in 1995 the team’s average home crowd was just 4,392 Some high school football games draw more people than that The players were used to playing outside of the spotlight Then in 1996 that changed The 1996 Olympic Games were held in Atlanta Georgia Women’s soccer was an Olympic sport for the first time And on August 1 of that year 76,481 fans packed Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia in Athens It was the sport’s first gold medal game The crowd helped cheer the US women to a 2 1 victory over China
6 It was a special moment for women’s soccer And the attention continued to the next day The US women arrived at the main press center A pack of reporters was on hand to ask questions Photographers and TV cameras captured the moment It had been a long 12 hours for the players But they came onto the stage smiling They wore their gold medals around their necks News IN THE The sellout crowd at the 1996 Olympic gold-medal game stunned US reporters Before the Olympics the US women had never played before a home crowd larger than 8,975 A USA Today reporter described the scene They came through the turnstiles repeating the request over and over Please don’t rip it Don’t worry the ticket taker said carefully tearing off the end but leaving the rest of the prized possession intact For the fans who filled more than 70,000 seats Thursday at Sanford Stadium the largest crowd to see a women’s sports event in the world this was more than a ticket into the first Olympic women’s soccer final between the USA and China It was a souvenir Source Mark Woods USA-China Spectators Treasure Ticket to History USA Today August 2 1996 Print 6E
7 Midfielder Julie Foudy was 25 years old She had been playing with the national team for eight years During that time she had played in front of countless small crowds Yet she had also won a World Cup and now an Olympic gold medal She didn’t have much else to prove in soccer Some wondered if Foudy and some of her teammates might retire from playing After all there was no established women’s professional league for club teams Plus most of the players had college degrees They could leave the sport to find a better-paying career But they wanted more The 1994 men’s World Cup had been held in the United States It had been a huge success The 1996 Olympics then brought new US goalie Briana Scurry left and forward Carin Gabarra carry an American flag after the team beat China to win the 1996 Olympic gold medal
