Public Readings - Hope's Glory : Solo Leads US to Olympic Soccer Gold. In the closing minutes of the Olympic final, goalie Hope Solo flung her body toward the ball and managed to push it away. The lead stayed intact. The Americans would win the gold medal and redemption from a year-old World Cup heartache.
The U.S. women's soccer team puts up with a lot from Solo. The candid comments. The Twitter tangents. The pause she put on her training to appear on "Dancing With the Stars."
But when the game is on the line, she's still hands-down — not to mention hands-up and hands-to-the-side — the best goalkeeper in the world.
"You can't go without saying that Hope saved the day," U.S. forward Abby Wambach. "Literally. Five times."
The Americans became champions for the third consecutive Olympics, beating Japan 2-1 Thursday in a rematch of last year's World Cup final. Carli Lloyd scored early in both halves, and the entire roster found the salve it had been seeking since that penalty kick shootout loss in Germany 13 months ago.
"They snatched our dream last summer," U.S. midfielder Megan Rapinoe said. "And this kind of feels like the nightmare turned back around."
Turned back around with every shot turned back by Solo, who leaped high with her left hand to knock one off the crossbar early in the game and then made the save of the Olympics in the 83rd minute, when Mana Iwabuchi stripped the ball from captain Christie Rampone and swooped in toward the net — only to be thwarted when the goalie lunged left to deflect the ball out of harm's way.
"I knew I had to make the save," Solo said. "That was pretty much my only thought. I had to make that save."
Solo now owns two Olympic gold medals as well as the golden glove award as the top goalie at last year's World Cup.
Solo has a long history of speaking her mind, and has made plenty of headlines over the years for doing so. The most recent Solo saga came earlier in the games when she ripped NBC analyst and former American player Brandi Chastain's game commentary on Twitter, prompting her coach to call her in for a meeting.
"Hope Solo, she says a lot on Twitter, I guess. I don't follow her," U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said. "But what matters is what kind of team player she is and how she performs. ... Today Hope Solo had a very good game. She brought the gold back to the United States of America."
Before 80,203 fans at Wembley Stadium, a record for a women's soccer game at the Olympics, the teams put on a back-and-forth, don't-turn-your-head soccer showcase, proving again that these are the two premier teams in the world. Women's soccer is still in its formative stages in Britain, but the match proved more than worthy for the hallowed grounds of the beautiful game.
Back home, America was paying attention — just as it was last year and despite all the other Olympic events. Even President Barack Obama gave a special shout-out to the women's team for its victory.
"Congrats to the U.S. women's soccer team for a third straight Olympic gold. So proud," he tweeted.
At the final whistle, there was a group-hug celebration that unleashed a year of bottled-up frustration. Many of the players paraded with the flag and put on the celebratory T-shirts. Wambach, the outspoken co-captain who missed the Beijing Games with a broken leg, strayed alone to midfield and cried into a U.S. flag.