Some lucky Manitobans are set to belatedly celebrate International Women’s Day alongside a four-time Olympian and the world’s top international goal scorer.
Christine Sinclair is slated to speak at the University of Manitoba’s 2025 Knight Lecture series Tuesday.
The iconic athlete told CTV Morning Live the speaking gig is a bit of a departure for her.
“I’m super comfortable on a soccer field in front of 60,000 fans, but public speaking is something new for me,” she said.
The Burnaby native grew up playing sports of all kinds alongside her older brother. Although she appears to have come by her career on the pitch honestly, with an uncle who played professional soccer and parents who coached, she never dreamed of the success she went on to score.
“I played sports as a kid just because I loved them,” she said.
“There were no professional teams and things like that. I didn’t even know there was a national team. I just played because I loved it.”
Sinclair was named Canadian Female Soccer Player of the Year a whopping 14 times. Adding to her crowded mantle—a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a pair of bronzes from the 2012 and 2016 games.
Sinclair was also appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada and served as an ambassador for the MS Society of Canada.
In the wake of her retirement in September 2024, Sinclair traded her spot on the roster for one on the ownership side with Vancouver Rise FC.
She hopes the league will give more women opportunities in sports, on or off the field.
“It’s all the opportunities that come around what a professional environment (is), whether that’s coaching, whether that’s refereeing, whether that’s the mental side of the game or the medical side of the game,” she said.
“Not everyone is going to be a professional athlete, but we need the other opportunities for females, which just haven’t been there in the past.”
