Sports Illustrated has named out
soccer star Megan Rapinoe its 2019 Sportsperson of the Year.
Rapinoe, 34, captains the professional
Seattle Reign FC and led the US Women's National Soccer team to a
World Cup title in June.
Last week, she won the annual Ballon
d'Or award, which recognizes the world's best soccer players.
“While we do not get to choose what
we see or what happens around us, and sometimes to us and others, we
do get to choose how we bear witness to it,” Rapinoe captioned a
photo of the magazine cover on Instagram.
In the Sports Illustrated cover,
Rapinoe is holding a sledgehammer while wearing a sheer Valentino
dress.
Rapinoe is an outspoken advocate for
women's rights, in particular equal pay, LGBT rights, and the social
justice movement.
(Related: Megan
Rapinoe to Trump: Your message is excluding people like me.)