Megan RAPINOE

The instantly recognisable pink-haired winger won the Balon D’Or for best female player in the world in 2019, and has two World Cups and an Olympic gold medal to her name. Yet her greatest legacy might be off the pitch: she also fights, uncompromisingly, for what she believes in, leveraging her influence to bring about positive change.

In 2016, she took the knee during the US national anthem in solidarity with the NFL’s Colin Kaepernick. She’s an advocate for numerous LGBT organisations, has joined leading athletes in petitioning the US Supreme Court to protect abortion rights, and in 2019 she irked President Trump after saying on camera she wouldn’t visit the White House if the team won the World Cup. She should “finish the job” before she talks, he wrote on Twitter. Six goals, a Golden Boot and another World Cup later, she did just that.

Rapinoe has also long spoken out for equal pay, joining others in filing a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation alleging pay discrimination. That fight rumbles on, but if anyone can push it forward, it’s her.

“I feel like honestly we’ve done everything,” she said. “You want stadiums filled? We filled them. You want role models for your kids, for your boys, and your girls, and your little trans kids? We have that.”

“If your dream seems impossible: perfect. You’re on the right track”

An ad during

the NFL Superbowl costs $5.5 million. So when Toyota made their 30-second slot a mini filmic biography of swimmer Jessica Long, it made quite a statement – one she absolutely deserved. Now one of the most decorated Paralympians in history, her start to life was less than promising. Born with fibular hemimelia, she lacked most of the bones in her feet and had to have both legs amputated. Her 16-yearold mother, fearing she lacked the resources to care for her, was persuaded to put her in an orphanage. She was adopted by a couple in the US, and as a toddler underwent the first of 25 surgeries.

Though her childhood was difficult

– she has described it as “hard and painful” – her adoptive parents always encouraged her to try sports, from gymnastics to ice skating, via rock climbing and trampolining. But it was in the water that she found her catharsis. From pretending to be a mermaid in her grandparents’ pool, she made her Paralympic debut at just 12 and has gone on to win no less than 29 medals.

“If your dream seems impossible: perfect,” she says. “You’re on the right track”.