Brandi Chastain

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" class="adr" | Representing United States

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" | Women's Football (soccer)

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Atlanta 1996 || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Team Competition

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Sydney 2000 || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Team Competition

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Athens 2004 || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Team Competition |}

Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is a former soccer player, who was on the U.S. women's national soccer team from 1991 to 2004 and the San Jose CyberRays of the WUSA (2001-2003). She is best known for her game-winning penalty kick against China in the 1999 Women’s World Cup final and her bra-baring celebration afterwards.

Early playing career

She attended Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California, helping take the team to three state championships. In 1986 Chastain was awarded the Soccer America Freshmen Player Of The Year award at the University of California, Berkeley. Soon after, she underwent reconstructive surgery on both knees which caused her to miss much of the 1987 and 1988 seasons. She transferred to Santa Clara University, leading them to two Final Four NCAA appearances before graduating in 1991.

Chastain first represented her country on April 18, 1991, against Mexico. She came off the bench as a forward to score five consecutive goals in a 12-0 United States win in a CONCACAF qualifying game for the first FIFA Women's World Cup. Team USA went on to win the World Cup, staged in China.

Her career stalled after that first World Cup, however. During this time she played club soccer for one season in Japan for Skiroki Serena in 1993, earning team MVP honors and was the only foreigner to be selected as one of the league's top 11 players.

After reinventing herself as a defender, she made the U.S. National team again in 1996 and participated in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games at defender, helping the Americans win the gold medal by playing every minute of every U.S. game, despite a serious knee injury suffered in the semifinal against Norway. Of her 106 career caps, she played 89 primarily at defender during which she occasionally played midfielder.[1]

Sports bra jubilation

Chastain became a household name on July 10, 1999 at the Women's World Cup at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California when, after scoring the fifth penalty kick to give the United States the win over China in the final game, she celebrated by peeling off her jersey and falling to her knees in a sports bra, her fists clenched in victory. This iconic image of women's athletic triumph was featured on the covers of TIME, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated as well as witnessed by 90,000 fans at the Rose Bowl and a television audience of millions.[2]

Chastain's take on the incident was “Momentary insanity, nothing more, nothing less. I wasn’t thinking about anything. I thought, ‘This is the greatest moment of my life on the soccer field.’”

The sports bra episode made Chastain a media darling and led to numerous appearances including Late Night with David Letterman as well as many parodies. Nike promptly signed Chastain to a lucrative contract. She posed nude except for soccer cleats and a strategically-placed soccer ball in the lad's mag Gear.[3] Playboy also made her an offer to appear topless, which she declined.

Professional career

Chastain played on the San Jose CyberRays in the Women's United Soccer Association from its formation in 2001 until its suspension in 2003. She played on the US women's national team until her last game on December 6, 2004.

Currently she is a broadcaster with ABC/ESPN on their coverage of Major League Soccer.

She currently lives in Santa Clara, California, where her husband, Jerry Smith, is the women's soccer coach at Santa Clara University. The couple's first child, son Jaden Chastain Smith, was born on June 8, 2006.

Chastain's website and her book about women's competitive sports are titled It’s Not About the Bra.

Trivia

• The sports bra incident was parodied in a Nike commercial from 2000 in which she is playing foosball with NBA player Kevin Garnett. After she scores, Kevin and his friends look at her expectantly until finally Brandi asks, "What?" to which Kevin replies, "What's up with the shirt?"

• Chastain appeared on Jeopardy! and The Weakest Link winning the competition and earning money for charity.

Sources

• Soccer Times bio and statistics
• Brandi Chastain's U.S. Olympic Team bio
• Biography from official website