Abby Wambach

For any athlete growing up, the Olympics is the one thing you watch with your family, and it's the one thing you dream about. Seeing your country's flag go up as you get a gold medal is the best thing you can achieve. ”

As professional soccer players, we take our bodies to the extreme. We're the people at the gym that look like we're breaking the machines. Pushing our bodies to the limits is what makes us so strong and capable and Olympians. It's not an easy thing to consistently do over and over again to your body. ”

When I was really young, the women's national team wasn't on a grand media stage, so my role models were male basketball and male American football players. ”

The growth of women's soccer and women's sports all around the world has been slow. ”

I'm not spending every second thinking about the World Cup, but it's always in my mind when I make choices and decisions. ”

The most important thing is that sometimes you have to go through hard times to get to the good stuff. ”

When I look in the mirror, I don't see a person who's made the kind of impact that Mia Hamm made on the game. She's still my idol, the greatest player and the greatest teammate. She achieved so much in so many different ways. What she did for women's soccer can't be measured. ”

My nephew has type 1 diabetes, and it's my goal and hope that in his lifetime there will be a cure for diabetes. There's no place better to give the money to than the Juvenile Diabetes Association. ”

I have never once dribbled the whole field and scored a goal by myself. ”

I think that in order to get better as an athlete and to see whatever kind of results you're after, you have to make goals. Whether you write them down or tell someone about them, it's important to set goals for yourself in order to achieve any kind of success. ”