Inside Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird’s relationship after meeting at Olympics with ‘dorky’ pick-up line
MEGAN Rapinoe has been preparing for the end of her illustrious soccer career – and the start of married life to her partner Sue Bird.
The 38-year-old United States women's national soccer team legend is about to take part in her fourth and final World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
At the end of the NWSL season this fall, the OL Reign midfielder will hang up her boots for good.
After that, Rapinoe is expected to finally step down the aisle with WNBA legend Bird, to whom she got engaged in October 2020.
It will be a union of one of the greatest power couples in global sports.
With 63 goals in 199 appearances for the USWNT, Rapinoe is one of the most accomplished soccer players of all time, winning two World Cup titles (2015, 2019), one Olympic gold medal (2012), and the 2019 Ballon d'Or Féminin, amongst a series of individual and team accolades.
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Bird, meanwhile, is no slouch herself, with five Olympic gold medals, four WNBA rings and two NCAA Championships of her own.
It is just a matter of time before they enter their respective Halls of Fame.
Olympic love story
Already both major stars in their sports, the pair first met while backstage at a photo shoot for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“She was in her basketball uniform and she had her hair down,” Rapinoe told NBC in 2020.
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"I said something stupid like, 'Ready for your game?'"
Bird was nonplussed by their first interaction.
“I was like, haha… funny," she said.
Rapinoe says she kicked herself at the time for making “such a bad impression.”
“So dorky,” Bird joked.
Bird added: “I walked away like, ‘I thought you were supposed to be cool?’"
Despite the unimpressive first interaction, the pair soon clicked and Bird came out as a gay in 2017, five years after Rapinoe had done so.
"I'm gay. Megan's my girlfriend...These aren't secrets to people who know me," Bird told ESPN.
"I think people have this assumption that if you're not talking about it, you must be hiding it, like it's this secret. That was never the case for me."
The couple's relationship quickly took off and in 2018 they appeared nude together for ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue.
They were the first same-sex couple the magazine ever featured.
The foundation of their bond has been the deep understanding they have for one another as elite athletes.
"We are huge fans of each other. I have become, like, a Seattle Storm No. 1 superfan, of course," Rapinoe told People in October 2019.
"I think it is just the understanding of what we have to go through and the appreciation of, you know, each other's skills and lives is really special.
"And in the same sense, we are just normal to each other. Which is really nice.
"Like, neither of us are like, 'Oh, wow you are the best person that has ever played basketball.' Which she is!"
Wedding on deck, possibly children too
After four years of dating, the couple announced their engagement in October 2020.
Now with Bird retired and Rapinoe about to hang up her boots, it seems they are not ready to officially tie the knot.
"Honestly, neither of us really wanted to take it on while we were playing," Rapinoe told The Ringer.
"It’s just so much to plan and it’s like, ‘Oh my God.’
"Even just going through the process of remodeling our apartment and all the planning and this and that, it’s a lot.
"We didn’t really have the capacity to do it.”
Not only will the Seattle residents soon have the opportunity to grow their business interests, they will also have time to do all the things they put off during their sporting careers.
“I can’t wait to be untethered,” Rapinoe added.
“And be able to take trips, and do stuff, and move on, or move to a different area in my life."
Children could also be on the cards with Bird freezing her eggs many years ago.
“We do these little check-ins. We’re like, ‘How are we feeling about kids now? How are we feeling about kids now?’” Rapinoe says.
"And I think I never wanted kids while I was playing, and I don’t really want them right after I’m playing. Like, I need some time.
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"And I feel like I’ll become a parent if that’s something that’s missing or not.
"But it’s not a huge pull right now. I think our lives are so busy.”