A 5 must-knows about US soccer player Hope Solo

Washington -  A celebrity gossip magazine has unearthed some need-to-know details about soccer player Hope Solo, who made headlines again on Monday when she slammed Women’s World Cup champion Brandi Chastain over her comments about Team USA’s chances at winning the gold in the 2012 London Olympics.

Firstly, the 31-year-old goalkeeper is a published author and ‘Solo: A Memoir of Hope’ is set to release two days after the 2012 London Olympics wrap, Us Weekly reported.

Secondly, colleges were after her for her brains and her talent. According to her bio on the University of Washington’s women’s soccer page, the speech communications major graduated from high school with a 3.7 GPA and was sought out by several schools, including Santa Clara and University of Virginia, before deciding on the Washington’s Huskies.

Thirdly, she’s a bit of a hot head. After her coach, Greg Ryan, sat her out of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-finals and as a result suffered a 0-4 loss against Brazil, Solo criticized his judgment, calling it “the wrong decision.” She was benched for the rest of the season.

Fourthly, companies see her as an asset to their ad campaigns. Since the 2011 World Cup, Solo has landed endorsement deals with major brands like Bank of America, Nike, and Gatorade.

Lastly, she was a contestant on ‘Dancing with the Stars’. Joining the hoards of Olympians-turned-DWTS stars like Apolo Ohno, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson and Kristi Yamaguchi, Solo traded her soccer cleats for dancing shoes on the 13th season of the hit ABC competition.

She and her partner pro, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, were eliminated during the semi-finals; J.R. Martinez pulled through to be the fall 2011 champ.