Lorraine Ming Fair (born August 5, 1978) is a retired

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who was a member of the World Cup Champion United States national soccer team. Over the span of ten years, she was a part of one World Cup Team and three Olympic teams, and retired from international play in 2005. Her twin sister,

Ronnie Fair Veronica Fair Sullins (; born August 5, 1978) is an American retired professional soccer player who represented the United States national team, winning three caps. She played professional club soccer for New York Power and San Diego Spirit of ...

, (now Veronica Fair Sullins) was also a member of the national team, and when Ronnie was called in to participate in a game against England on May 9, 1997 at

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, it became the first time a pair of sisters played together in the Women's National Team.

Early career

Lorrie and Ronnie both participated on Los Altos High School's female soccer team in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census. Most of the city's growth occurred between 1950 and 1980. Originally a ...

, where they grew up. They were born at Stanford Hospital, but moved to New York for three years before returning to the Bay Area in 1982. While Ronnie chose

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

to go to college, Lorrie decided on the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

instead, but not before being a two time NSCAA all-American and

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all-American. At UNC, she was picked as one of ''Soccer Americas freshmen of the year, and she helped lead UNC to the

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in 1996, 1997, and 1999. She also won the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

as the nation's top soccer player.

National team career

She joined the Under 20 national team in 1994, playing, among other events, in the Nordic Cup. In 1995, she was a member of the West Team at the US Olympic Festival, and she was invited to train with the National team. At 17 and a senior in high school, she was named an alternate for the 1996

Atlanta Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

team that won the Gold. Fair rejected the chance to travel as an alternate because she was upset at being cut from national

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Tony DiCicco Anthony D. DiCicco Jr. (August 5, 1948 – June 19, 2017) was an American soccer player and coach and TV commentator. He is best known as the coach of the United States women's national soccer team from 1994 to 1999, during which time the team wo ...

's main 16 player squad. Fair had made her senior international debut against

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in February 1996. In March 1998 she scored her first international goal against

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. After sitting out the 1996 Olympic games, she earned a more permanent spot on the team and in 1999, she was the youngest member of the team that won that year's FIFA Women's World Cup. She played every minute of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, taking home a silver medal after an overtime loss to Norway in the championship game. In her last world event, she was an alternate on the Gold Medal-winning Olympic team in 2004 and then retired in 2005 with 120 international appearances.

Club career

Fair played for the Philadelphia Charge in the WUSA (2001–2003), Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon, France (2005), and Chelsea FC in the UK (2008–2009). Lorrie, Ronnie and their older brother, Greg all got their start and played for many years in

AYSO The American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) is one of the two main national organizations in youth soccer in the United States for children aged 4 through 19. AYSO was established as a non-profit organization, non-profit soccer organization in ...

br>Region 43
She most recently played for

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in the

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions run by the English Football Association. Founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League includ ...

. On February 1, 2008, it was announced that Fair had signed for Chelsea Ladies as a player, for whom she had been working solely as an ambassador up to that point. Fair vowed to continue her work with the club at grass roots level. The move was significant as she became the first

international to sign for a club in the Women's Premier League. Fair suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury in May 2008, which ruled her out of the following season.

Personal life

Her work in the sport for development field has been ongoing since the age of 16. She is an athlete ambassador for Right To Play and Show Racism the Red Card. She also serves in the Sport Envoy Program run by the US State Department in conjunction with the US Soccer Federation, going on envoys abroad to promote healthy lifestyles, and sport for diplomacy. Since 2008, Fair has worked with several projects, such as

Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 20 ...

's Africa Outreach Project and her own Kickabout Africa 2010 project, to promote development efforts in Africa.Wahl, Grant, "Seeing Stars", ''

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'', July 4, 2011, p. 101.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fair, Lorrie 1978 births Living people United States women's international soccer players Women's Olympic soccer players of the United States North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' soccer) Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Expatriate women's footballers in England Olympic silver medalists for the United States in soccer Expatriate women's footballers in France Olympique Lyonnais Féminin players Women's United Soccer Association players Chelsea F.C. Women players FIFA Century Club American sportspeople of Chinese descent American sportswomen of Chinese descent American expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom American expatriate sportspeople in England FIFA Women's World Cup-winning players Major League Soccer broadcasters Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics American women's soccer players Philadelphia Charge players Women's association football midfielders Women association football commentators American twins Twin sportspeople Division 1 Féminine players 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players People from Los Altos, California