Even for the biggest names in sports, athletics and competition aren’t just about winning — they’re a chance to remind players and fans alike about the unifying power of sport.
Team USA gold medalists Brandi Chastain and Elana Meyers Taylor joined NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Thursday to celebrate moments from their careers that have done just that.
For Taylor, that message of unity was on full display during a parade in her honor in Texas earlier this year after the bobsledder won her first gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games at age 41.
“You saw people in a Harris T-shirt right next to people in a Trump T-shirt,” she said. “And it didn’t matter, because they were there to celebrate something that was bigger than all of us.”
The Olympics, she added, brought a positive moment for many who might be struggling.
“They were able to turn on their TV and see athletes from all walks of life doing their best to represent their country and win,” she said.
Their conversation, which was moderated by NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico, came at a Common Ground event, part of an NBC News franchise bringing together leaders with different perspectives to focus on solutions to pressing issues.
Taylor said her story wouldn’t have been possible without Chastain, who scored the winning goal for the U.S. women’s soccer team in 1999 against China in the World Cup final.
Chastain’s postgoal celebration is among the most well-known in sports history.
“It just was a seminal moment, because nobody had ever dreamed or believed or invested in an event that would be so big like this before,” Chastain said. “To be honest, we crushed it.”
Silver said that neither of the athletes’ stories would have happened without Title IX, the 1972 civil rights law that bars sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funds and has significantly increased the number of female athletes in the United States.
One result of that law, Silver said, was the growth of the WNBA, which he called remarkable.
“It just shows how government policy can really make an impact on these things,” he said.
