Sue Bird And Megan Rapinoe Have Gotten Better Together

On Oct. 30, WNBA legend Sue Bird and U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe posted the same photo on their Instagram accounts to announce their engagement. They were in Antigua on vacation, at an infinity pool overlooking the ocean, and Bird had extended her left hand to Rapinoe, who was down on one knee on the pool ledge.

There is perhaps no bigger power couple in all of sports right now than Rapinoe and Bird. The 35-year-old Rapinoe has won seven individual global awards, including the 2019 Ballon d’Or Féminin for the world’s best female soccer player, and two Women’s World Cups; and she has ranked in the top 10 in the National Women’s Soccer League in goals in two of her past three seasons. Bird, who turned 40 last month, is a four-time WNBA champion, eight-time All-WNBA selection and 11-time All-Star in her 17 pro seasons. Combined, the two have five Olympic gold medals and could win two more in Tokyo next summer.

Rapinoe and Bird met at a press event before the 2016 Olympics, and they hit it off in Rio de Janeiro when Rapinoe and some of her teammates attended the basketball team’s party to celebrate its gold medal. They connected over social media after the Olympics and started dating in fall 2016.

Despite being in their mid-to-late 30s for most of their relationship, the two have produced some of the biggest accomplishments of their careers while they were dating, including two WNBA titles for Bird and Rapinoe’s transcendent 2019 World Cup performance. They have also worked to advance their respective sports and promote social justice. Bird helped negotiate a landmark new collective bargaining agreement for the WNBA last winter, and this summer, she had the idea for WNBA players to repudiate Atlanta Dream co-owner and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler by wearing T-shirts backing her opponent, Rev. Raphael Warnock, in the 2020 election. Rapinoe has been one of the leaders in Team USA’s fight for equal pay, and she hosted an HBO special this summer called “Seeing America With Megan Rapinoe,” which also featured U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and television host Hasan Minhaj.

“Progress is really hard, and carrying the torch is really hard,” Rapinoe told InStyle in 2019, “but you find a way to manage it and do it.”

Team USA’s legal battle for equal pay is ongoing, and the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement and Rapinoe and Bird’s political activism will have ripple effects for years to come. But in their sports, the immediate impact that both players are making in the supposed twilight of their careers is already obvious. Let’s look at some numbers that show how much both players have elevated their games in the last four years.

Sue Bird

From the moment Bird entered the WNBA at age 21, she was a difference-maker. In the 2002-15 regular seasons, she made nine All-Star teams, won two championships and averaged 12.3 points and 5.4 assists in 32.4 minutes per…