Julie Foudy

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Olympic medal record
Competitor for United States
Women's Football
Gold	1996 Atlanta	Team Competition
Gold	2004 Athens	Team Competition

Julie Maurine Foudy (born January 23, 1971 in San Diego, California) was a midfielder for the United States women's national soccer team from 1987 through 2004, finishing with a remarkable 271 caps. She served as the team's captain from 2000 through her retirement in 2004. Her retirement, alongside fellow soccer legends Mia Hamm and Joy Fawcett (and the unanticipated retirement of Brandi Chastain following the change of USWNT coaches), marked the end of what the media labeled the "golden era" of women's soccer.^[1] Foudy also held the captain's position for her WUSA team, the San Diego Spirit. The WUSA suspended operations in September of 2003; Foudy is the official player's representative to the ongoing efforts to resurrect the league.

Foudy has served as an in-studio analyst for ESPN and ESPN2's coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and has provided on-air commentary and analysis during United States Women's National Team matches since then.

[edit] Personal and political activism

Foudy graduated from Stanford University.

Foudy is well known for her accomplishments as an advocate for women's rights, fair labor, and political liberalism. She served as the President of the Women's Sports Foundation. Additionally, Foudy received the FIFA Fair Play Award for her well documented trip abroad to examine the working conditions of her then-sponsor, Reebok's factories.

In 2002, she was named by United States Secretary of Education Rod Paige to the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, a panel charged with reviewing the effects and implementation of the landmark 1972 Title IX legislation. Foudy took strong exception to the commission's final report; ultimately, though, her advocacy on the issue and the sharply-worded dissenting Minority Report by Foudy and fellow commissioner Donna de Varona are generally conceded to have halted the implementation of the commission's recommendations.

In 2004, Foudy and teammate Abby Wambach hit the campaign trail with the unsuccessful Democratic Presidential candidate, John Kerry.