Lorrie Fair

Biography

Lorrie Fair has been a standout on the soccer field since she was a kid growing up in Los Altos, California. After a successful high school career, Lorrie, regarded as the top recruit in the country, received a scholarship to the University of North Carolina. At UNC, she helped her team win the National championship in 1996, 1997 and 1999.

At the age of 15 Lorrie played on the U.S. U-20 National Team and at 17 she not only earned a spot in the squad on the 1996 gold medal winning Olympic team but also secured a full-time spot on the U.S. National Team. Lorrie had a breakthrough year in 1999 helping the U.S. women's team win the World Cup in front of 90,000 fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. As well as being the youngest member of the World Cup Championship team she was selected as US Young Player of the Year in 1999. Lorrie played every minute of the 2000 Olympics, anchoring the midfield to help the U.S. earn Silver and four years later was a member of the Gold Medal winning Olympic squad. Since then, Lorrie worked for ESPN and ABC as a sideline reporter covering the MLS for a season before going to Olympique Lyonnais to play for the women's team. Upon her return to the US she played on a semi-professional men's team in her home town of San Francisco, California.

As an athlete ambassador for Right To Play since 2005, Lorrie has traveled to refugee camps in Azerbaijan, Uganda, and Thailand coaching girls and boys in order to promote sport for social development and raise awareness for the world's nine million refugees. She also is a part of US Sport Envoys, most recently coaching underprivileged teens in Morocco with the US Soccer Federation and the US State Department.

Now, with 123 caps and a variety of awards and championships, Lorrie is considered among the all-time greatest women soccer players. In January 2008, she became the first U.S. recruit for England's Chelsea Football Club Ladies team and since moving to London has been working closely with Right To Play in the UK.

Lorrie says...

"I have always loved running and there really is nothing like getting out into the beauty of London's Royal Parks to maintain a healthy mind, body, and spirit. My first tour of London inadvertently came when I set out on a run to Hyde Park and got wonderfully lost. In the end I actually saw three parks and couldn't wait to lose my way again. I can't think of a better way to promote a healthy lifestyle than what London offers with the fabulous open spaces of the city's Royal Parks."