Abby Wambach

When you're younger and traveling and visiting new countries and cities, that stuff is exciting; it's flashy, it's shiny, but I always had this separation between who I was as a person and who I was as a player.

I don't care how many championships you've won or how many records you've broken - if you've had a hand in pushing forward not only a game but women in sport's movement, then I think that's pretty darn good.

As an athlete, you are literally programmed to endure a specific amount of pain.

I think making the referee aware of a situation, there is nothing wrong with that.

I would say Hope Solo is competitive.

I've always had a dream of owning a restaurant.

I want my legacy to be about the soccer, and if I can help people be happier in life in any capacity, awesome.

I haven't won a World Cup. There's things that haven't been finished, and I'm not afraid to fall flat on my face trying.

Sometimes if you have a coach or team-mates for too long, you get caught in certain routines. I think it's good to shake up things a little bit.

It feels a little bit odd to me that you have some guys that have never lived in the United States that play for the United States because they were able to secure a passport. To me, that just feels like they weren't able to make it for their country and earn a living, so they're coming here.

From a pretty early age, my mother realized that I was a little bit more gifted and talented than my own age group. So, she moved me over to play with the boys' travel soccer team when I was about 11 years old.

The most important thing is to get better at your craft, and concussions and head impacts are a setback.

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'm fiercely patriotic, and the flag and the anthem is something that I really, really respect.

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

Sometimes there has to be a goat on some level, and I'm totally fine with that being me.

My eldest sister Beth is a doctor who studied at Harvard and Columbia and played basketball for Harvard. She set the athletic and academic standard for the rest of us to follow.

It's a heavy burden to look up at the mountain and want to start the climb.

I want to do what I can to give the next generation of athletes added advantages in the game.

I've always been motivated more by negative comments than by positive ones. I know what I do well. Tell me what I don't do well.

This might sound masochistic or narcissistic, I don't know, but when I'm not playing the game, the validations I feel about life are always through the hardships. I relate more to sadness, in a lot of ways, when I'm not playing.

I know that I was put on this planet to be an athlete.

As soon as I started to realize that I could make a living playing professional soccer, I went to that place where I could torture myself because I knew it would make me better for the championship game.

My parents, they're the kind of people that didn't want me to get a big head, so they just kept challenging me and challenging me.

A few goals is the way soccer is meant to be played.

Having different people come together and be on a team and win a world championship is literally, I think, the definition of being American.

I'm honestly not the kind of person who wants to step up to a podium, test the microphone and be like, 'Hey, I'm homosexual and this is who I am, hear me roar.' That's not who I am.

I can't speak for other people, but for me, I feel like gone are the days that you need to come out of a closet. I never felt like I was in a closet. I never did. I always felt comfortable with who I am and the decisions I made.

I know that I'll end up being a role model for many, many people out there for all kinds of reasons.

If I can help a kid feel more comfortable in their skin because they're struggling with maybe the things I struggled with in high school, that's great.

You know me, I'm not that kind of person that cares to unveil all of my personal things to the world because frankly, in terms of my soccer, it doesn't matter.

I'm a pretty decent cook. I like to grill. I have a smoker that I love. I love me some steak. And I'll make a huge salad with a ton of vegetables.

I'm pretty goofy. I laugh at my own jokes.

When I was in college, I learned to really take care of my body and figured out what works best for me and what doesn't work for me when it comes to my nutrition. That helped so much on the field because soccer is such a fitness-oriented game.

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.

I think, as you grow older, you have figure out the best way to utilize not only your body but your skill.

I want to reduce my risks as much as possible and hopefully be able to go to the World Cup fit, ready and healthy.

My go-to karaoke? 'Alone' by Celine Dion.

I'm not in the business of politics.

Forever, it was just soccer - passion, life, love. Then I got married, and I had to transfer some of my energy. I want to be my best for my country, but I also made a really big promise and choice to be the best in my marriage. That has not always been the easiest thing to manage.

It's always really challenging trying to go from player to player/coach. You have a kind of friendship basis of relationship with all of your teammates, and now you go to this power position where you have to make decisions that might hurt people's feelings.