American athlete Megan Rapinoe was BOTD in 1985. She began playing soccer aged three, and was drafted in the 2009 inaugural season of US Women’s Professional Soccer. She won gold medals with the US national women’s team at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, co-captaining the team from 2018 to 2020. She has won a number of international awards, including the Ballon d’Or Féminin and the Best FIFA Women’s Player in 2019. Openly gay since forever, she came out in 2012 and has been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ causes, including the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network. She has also campaigned for equal pay for female players, transgender rights and the liberalisation of abortion laws. She attracted national attention in 2016 when she knelt during the national anthem at a soccer match, in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2022, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honour. Now largely retired from professional sport, she is in a relationship with basketball player Sue Bird.