Abby Wambach "has never made it through amedal ceremony without crying," her wife, Glennon Doyle, says.- Wambach says she knows what it feels like to stand on the podium and represent one's country.
Abby Wambach is an emotional person to start.
But when it comes time for the Olympics, the US Women's National Team legend admitted to Insider that she more or less melts into a puddle.
Wambach's wife, Glennon Doyle, showcased the retired striker's untempered passion for the games in a recent tweet. The "Untamed" author posted a photo of Wambach covering her face as tears welled up in her eyes with the caption "she has never made it through a medal ceremony without crying."
—Glennon Doyle (@GlennonDoyle) February 10, 2022
Wambach totally owns it, and she offered a beautiful explanation for the waterworks every time she watches an athlete mount the podium and watch their flag rise during the anthem.
"I know that there are complicated humans standing on that top podium and I know that a lot goes into what it takes to win a gold medal," Wambach told Insider. "I know that sometimes it means sacrificing a little bit of your humanity in order to be that athlete. I know that those athletes will have a road ahead of them that I've just come through."
"What it means, and why I cry, is it is filled with so much humanity for those athletes," she continued, "for myself, for my own process and my retirement, [and] giving myself grace for some of the mistakes that I made as an athlete."
"It's just so intense," she added. "It's so intense that I have to cry."
Wambach noted that while she's always a bit misty-eyed when it's time for a medal ceremony, she was on a different level when it came time for Lindsey Jacobellis to stand atop the podium and collect her long-awaited gold medal. The American snowboarder famously suffered one of the most devastating blunders in Olympic history when she prematurely celebrated a win in the snowboard cross event at the 2006 Torino games and suffered a fall before crossing the finish line.
She wound up with silver. And despite competing in four Olympic Games since then, it wasn't until these 2022 Beijing Olympics 16 years later that Jacobellis finally got her hands on a gold medal.
"For Lindsey Jacobellis I was just a wreck," Wambach said. "Like, come on. She finally got her gold."
"We're talking about a decade and a half for her that she had to think about that silly trick that she tried to pull right before the finish line," she added, her voice rising. "She loses the freakin' gold and then she wins it, 16 years later."