orig. Mariel Margaret Hamm
born March 17, 1972, Selma, Ala., U.S.
U.S. football (soccer) player.
At the age of 15 Hamm became the youngest person ever to play on the U.S. national soccer team. In 1989 she entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and there helped her team win four collegiate championships. She also helped the U.S. team win the World Cup in 1991 and 1999 and the Olympic gold medal in 1996. She broke the all-time international scoring record for either men or women on May 16, 1999, against Brazil with her 108th career goal.