Hope Solo, the former goalkeeper for the USWNT, last week revealed on a podcast the divisive attitude of Megan Rapinoe. She said that her former teammate would “almost bully” other players and make them kneel when their national anthem played.
Hope Solo Calls It Divisive
On Tuesday, Hope Solo appeared on a podcast focused on the USWNT. She said that she saw Rapinoe force her teammates to kneel when the anthem would play. She thinks that it is because Rapinoe intends to represent something through her actions. However, Hope Solo believes that is the fundamental right of every American to sing the anthem in the way they are comfortable with. She also called the act of kneeling “divisive”.
She added that she appreciates how there aren’t any national anthems before a game starts. She lauds the official’s decision to completely remove. Since, she believes, that the decision to kneel or not would have been extremely tough.
40-year-old Hope Solo explained that athletes are always under tremendous pressure. A majority of them feel like the world’s hopes and dreams lie on their backs. As a result, performing on such big stages becomes difficult especially because of the various political issues surrounding sports. This acts as an unnecessary distraction for the athletes since the sole focus should be on winning.
Earlier on, Carli Lloyd refused to kneel before the team’s Olympic Bronze medal match against Australia. However, what was more stunning, was that everyone else was kneeling. The USWNT had a rocky start to their Olympics campaign with a 0-3 defeat to Sweden. However, they did secure the bronze in the end.
Rapinoe is known for her vocal criticism of former President Trump. Trump had also criticized the team’s “wokeness” for failing to win the Olympic Gold.
