GLASGOW, Scotland -- Wearing black Wellington boots and her usual confident smile, Hope Solo walked off the soggy pitch at historic Hampden Park on Monday and offered a preview of her second Olympics -- and her first autobiography.
"People think I'm an open book," Solo said. "People know nothing about me. They will know more about me on Aug. 14."
The goalkeeper for the U.S. women's soccer team has always been so engaging, so candid and so opinionated that one wonders what more she has to say in "A Memoir of Hope." She also knows a good marketing opportunity when she sees one, so the book is scheduled for release two days after the end of the London Olympics, when sales should be especially robust if she comes home with another gold medal.
She's already become quite the Solo act during the buildup to the Americans' first game Wednesday against France at Scotland's national stadium. Two weeks ago, she received a warning from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency after a urine test revealed the banned substance Canrenone. She called the episode an "honest mistake" and said it resulted from a premenstrual medication prescribed by her doctor, but nevertheless it's believed to be the first positive drug test in the history of the U.S. women's soccer program.
Then she was one of several athletes quoted in an ESPN The Magazine story about commonplace sex in the athletes village during the Beijing Olympics, saying: "On the grass, between
Of course, she also had that fourth-place finish last year on "Dancing With the Stars," a grueling competition that set back her training for the Olympics. And no Solo story would be complete without mentioning the time she essentially got kicked off the U.S. team at the 2007 World Cup in China for criticizing the coach.
Solo, who turns 31 next week, said she's ready to set the record straight about details of her life and career that have been distorted. She has compelling stories to tell about her homeless father and alcoholic mother, and her teaser line for the book is not comfortable reading: "My family doesn't do happy endings. We do sad endings or frustrating endings or no endings at all. We are hardwired to expect the next interruption or disappearance or broken promise."
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