Michelle Heyman: How retired Matildas striker made Olympic return

American striker Michelle Heyman retired from international sports five years ago with little more than a moan.

However, the 36-year-old will join the Matildas on the field on Thursday as they begin their Olympian campaign, which is regarded as one of the greatest comebacks in American sport.

Heyman caught the attention of a Matildas coach in search of a replacement for Sam Kerr, who had an injured Sam Kerr in the Matildas ‘ starting lineup after posting a record-breaking season in the domestic football league where she became the first A-League Women ( ALW) player to ever score more than 100 goals.

But not only is Heyman back in the crew, she is being seen as Australia’s best chance at finding the net in France.

” There’s constantly some enemies thinking I’m also old to be again,” she told the BBC before the event.

” But it’s kind of entertaining to show points to individuals… time is just a number. “

A superb performance in the A-League, Australia’s home sports offering, much like her 2024 return, was what led to the national team’s 21-year-old Heyman in 2010.

Heyman would go on to perform 61 activities and score 20 goals for the Matildas, including appearances at the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics, but her first foreign occupation was marred by continual battle.

The Matildas of that era were paid miserably and worked under constant fear and stress, a team culture allegedly so toxic it resulted in the sacking of coach Alen Stajcic in early 2019.

But if there was much support from officers, there was even less from the government. The cost would outweigh ticket sales at many of the Matildas games, which were n’t even available to spectators.

And then there were Heyman’s struggles with both her physical and mental health: she frequently had panic attacks in conversations, then sustained hip and knee injuries that only served to worsen things.

By May 2019, Heyman was burnt out, injured and stressed.

She had not played perhaps a second for the team in six months, and her starting position was long gone.

” I really wanted to fight [on ] … but my body is n’t going to allow me to do that. When Heyman announced her retirement from international football, her mind wo n’t let me do that.

She’d achieved anything she set out to, except an Olympic gold medal, she said.

Years later, she acknowledged to trying to keep her mouth and claimed to have been fired from the group.

She told Code Sports,” I had to just believe I wanted to retire, but it was primarily because I was fired.”

Heyman’s job seemed to have come to an end, and she exited the A-League because she was so devastated.

But just 18 months later, a recharged Heyman returned to the A-League in a blaze of glory, netting a hat-trick in her first match back for Canberra United.

She said at the moment,” I missed being a part of anything greater than myself.”

Since then, she has surpassed Kerr as the leading ALW target scoring and won the second Golden Boot. These accomplishments, combined with her two Julie Dolan medals- the opposition ’s highest honour- probably render her the league’s most decorated person.

But when Olympic choice came round, Heyman was ready and waiting, at the top of her sport.

” She’s in great shape, she’s scoring for excitement,” head mentor Tony Gustavsson said in February when recalling her to the club.

The news immediately caused national a stir. This might be one of the best return stories in recent memory for Australian sports, said Sydney Morning Herald sports journalist Vince Rugari.

Was it something I anticipated occurring once? Perhaps not,” Heyman says with a laugh.

” I also remember the day- only like, weeping. And I do n’t cry! ”

The fact that the nation she is competing for little resembles the one she did only five years ago adds to the feeling.

According to experts, the Matildas are Australia’s most popular and well-known sporting team, surpassing even the American men’s baseball team.

Every fit on home ground since the start of the World Cup has sold out, making them the most watched television show in American history.

It’s hard to reconcile that with Heyman’s album on” a returning area in Queensland there”.

” I reckon there was 12 people at the game, if we were happy,” she says.

” And then now you look at it and our last game, 77,000 people [have ] come, cheering you on. That’s the experience I’ve wanted for so long, and I always imagined it would ever occur in Australia. “

She claims that the earlier ranks of Matildas have also experienced that awe and a melancholy joy.

” I bring that sentiment from every other ex-player, and I want to do it for them. I want to present them’look what we all created’. “

Does that – and the ghost of Kerr, the nation’s biggest sporting legend – add to the pressure to perform in France?

Heyman responds with a low indolence.

She and Kerr are “very unique” forward but you both offer, she says. She has now scored six targets in her first few weeks playing for the team, twice as many as any of her friends.

” I do n’t think anyone remembers the other, numerous amounts of goals I’ve scored for Australia, because they were done back in the day when no one cared about them, ” she says with a chuckle.

” [ But ] I’m good at my job, and I’ll continue to work hard and to win games. “

Hard job will definitely be required. The Matildas face off in the first round against the world-class USA group, Germany, and Zambia for the two places that will be guaranteed in the following round.

Additionally, the group has been in a lot of accidents. Other than Kerr, danny Catley and Caitlin Foord, the important winger, have both been a cloud over the past month. Additionally, Clare Hunt and Katrina Gorry have only just come back from injuries.

Even though their World Cup campaign, which included most of Kerr’s time on the bench, may argue otherwise, pundits claim that the team frequently struggles to perform without her.

What does Heyman then say to those who have already rejected the Matildas?

” They can be peaceful,” she says slyly.

The more persons we have in our lives, the better off we are going to be.

” And we’re doing it for you- we’re playing to get for our nation. “