• Hope Solo & Naked

    Date: 2011.10.07 | Category: Soccer News, Sports News, Wags | Tags: ,,,,,

    by Dave Green

    Her participation on “Dancing with the Stars” and skills as goalkeeper aren’t the only things that are giving something to talk about, as you’ll find out here.

    United States women’s national team star, Hope Solo, is very popular now days as a “Dancing with the Stars” contender and her photo shoot for ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue. In her new role Solo has found consolation for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup final, which the U.S. lost to Japan, leaving her brokenhearted. Not even having been awarded as the Golden Glove of the tournament, distinction given to the No. 1 goalkeeper of the competition, served her as consolation, but good news are that she is smiling again.

    With time Solo has began to understand and accept that loss as part of “a journey” where “winning isn’t everything, she said. A good example that she is getting over that final was seen on the latest “Dancing with the Stars” show, where she cha-chaed along with her partner, Maksim Chmerkovsky, the 2011 World Cup team song: Tonight by Enrique Iglesias.

    Their routine was worth them the best score yet on the show with 24 points, as well as some compliments from the judges, like Bruno Tonioli, who enthusiastically yelled at her “Hope, the sexy minx is out of the cage!”

    About her photo shoots for ESPN Body Issue, where she appears nude, Solo explained that she doesn’t “buy the idea that I’m a sex symbol.” Reality is that for many she is, and a good example of it are the marriage proposal and invitations that she was been receiving ever since. Solo also shared with her over 266,000 Tweeter followers that being naked outdoors had been “very liberating.”

    She is one of four nude covers featuring in the third annual edition of the magazine, were readers will also find New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes, Olympic snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler and Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin on the cover.

    18 other athletes are also part of the “Bodies We Want” section: LPGA rookie Belen Mozo; Olympic gymnast Alicia Sacramone; Sylvia Fowles of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky; track and field star Natasha Hastings; roller derby skater Suzy Hotrod; tennis player Vera Zvonareva; hockey player Julie Chu; surfer Steph Gilmore; bowler Kelly Kulick; St. Louis Rams Steven Jackson; speedskater Apolo Ohno; hockey player Ryan Kesler of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks; UFC fighter Jon Jones; snowboarder Louie Vito; IndyCar racer Helio Castroneves; boxer Sergio Martinez; Paralympian Jeremy Campbell and marathoner Ryan Hall.

    It will be the second cover of the year for Solo on a sports magazine, since she had appeared on Sports Illustrated cover for July 2011, with the big difference that she was wearing her uniform back then.

    Despite her rising popularity Solo sees herself as a soccer player first, and she takes it very seriously, otherwise she wouldn’t be considered one of the best goalies in the world.

    About her career retirement isn’t something going through her head as her 30’s, and right now she is just focused in living “large while I have the opportunity.”