U.S. soccer star Alex Morgan
Credit: © Feel Photo/Shutterstock

Acting as co-captain for the United States at her fourth World Cup, Alex Morgan is a leading star soccer player. The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is in Australia and New Zealand. With two World Cup wins, one Olympic gold medal, and hundreds of goals to her name, Morgan dominates the field. Morgan is known for her speed and for her skills as a scorer and playmaker. This year she is playing alongside experienced players Crystal Dunn, Naomi Girma, Lindsey Horan, and Megan Rapinoe. New players adding to the team include Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith, and Alyssa Thompson. The United States Women’s National Team is ranked number one globally. So far, the team has beaten Vietnam 3-0 and tied the Netherlands 1-1. They will face Portugal on Tuesday, August 1. Tune in to watch Morgan command the field!

Morgan, a forward, helped lead the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) to the gold medal in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. She also helped the USWNT win a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympic Games were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Forwards are primarily responsible for scoring goals for their team. In 2015 and again in 2019, Morgan helped lead the United States to FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament championships. FIFA stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football). FIFA is soccer’s world governing body. Morgan previously played on the U.S. World Cup team in 2011.

Alexandra Morgan was born on July 2, 1989, in Diamond Bar, California. She did not begin playing club soccer until the age of 14. Club soccer consists of teams playing within a league, in contrast to national teams that represent a country. Her progress was so rapid that she was invited to play on the Under-17 and Under-20 national teams. She was also named a high school All-American. In 2008, Morgan scored the winning goal to make the U.S. team the Under-20 Women’s World Cup champions.

Morgan entered the University of California at Berkeley in 2007. She led the team in scoring all four of her years in college, graduating a semester early with a bachelor’s degree in political economy. Morgan was the first player selected in the 2011 draft held by Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), the top American women’s soccer league until it ceased operations in 2012. In 2013, she joined the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). She played the 2016 season with the Orlando Pride, an NWSL expansion team, before joining Olympique Lyonnais in France ‘s top women’s league. Morgan returned to Orlando in 2017. In 2020, she played a few games for Tottenham Hotspur in England before, again, returning to play for Orlando.

Morgan made her U.S. national team debut in 2010. One year later, she scored a goal and recorded an assist in the Women’s World Cup final. In 2012, Morgan led the U.S. national team in goals scored (28), assists (21), and points (77), including 3 goals and 4 assists in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The U.S. Soccer Federation named her the 2012 Female Athlete of the Year.

Morgan is the author of “The Kicks,” a popular series of books for middle-school readers. The books follow the adventures of four soccer-playing seventh-grade girls. The series began with Saving the Team and Sabotage Season (both 2013). Morgan’s young-adult memoir, Breakaway: Beyond the Goal, was published in 2015.

Armand Duplantis will represent Sweden in the pole vault.
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The legendary torch was lit in Olympia, Greece, in March 2020 and has been kept safe for over a year awaiting the delayed start of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. The games officially begin after the opening ceremony on Friday, July 23, 2021. The ceremony takes place at the Olympic Stadium, which was rebuilt on the site of the stadium for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The theme of the ceremony—“United by Emotion”—points to sport as a connection for people around the world, even during a pandemic.

Margielyn Didal of the Philippines will compete in the new street skateboarding event.
Credit: © Cheng Min, Xinhua/Alamy Images

To keep athletes and Tokyo residents safe, spectators will not be allowed to attend the events and additional safety measures have been put in place. Much of the ceremony was pre-recorded, to decrease the number of people present. Athletes and support staff—including coaches and trainers—were tested for COVID-19 before and after arriving in Japan. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not require athletes to be vaccinated, but they estimated that 80 percent of athletes were fully vaccinated. Athletes were given a Playbook outlining the rules for COVID-19 safety at the games, which include social distancing, masking whenever possible, frequent testing, and avoiding tourist attractions.

In their design and planning, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have focused on sustainability. Only 8 of the 42 event sites were built specifically for the 2020 games. To minimize the use of new materials, 25 sites were updated from the 1964 Olympic Games. Event planners also made efforts to use recycled materials and renewable energy and lower CO2 emissions. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics mark the first time that the Olympic medals are made from recycled materials, recovered primarily from old smartphones and computers.

Stephanie Gilmore of Australia will lead the country’s team in the surfing event.
Credit: © Louis Lotter Photography/Shutterstock

New events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics include karate, skateboarding, softball, sport climbing, and surfing. Softball returned to the roster after it was removed for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

The mascot of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is named Miraitowa, from the Japanese words meaning future and eternity. Miraitowa’s design features the indigo blue and white checkered pattern which also makes up the Tokyo 2020 Olympics emblem.