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August 26, 2004 7:41 pm

Parlow picks up gold in Athens

By MARIBEL VILLALVA

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece — Watching from the sidelines wasn’t how Cindy Parlow wanted to participate in the gold-medal soccer match between the United States and Brazil.

But the 26-year-old from Memphis, Tenn., said she was happy to be part of the gold medal winning team. The United States defeated Brazil 2-1 in overtime Thursday in Karaiskaki Stadium.

"Going into the game tonight, I didn’t know one way or the other if I was going to play. Anything could’ve happened," Parlow said. "Obviously, I didn’t get to play, but I know that I contributed to this team getting here."

This is the third Olympics for Parlow. Her debut in the Olympic Games was in Atlanta in 1996, where she was the youngest member on the U.S. women’s soccer team.

Now, she is a veteran on the team and has no desire to stop playing.

"Each Olympics is better than the one before. Hopefully, I still have a few more Olympics in me."

Parlow said she knew the game against Brazil would not be an easy one. The United States had already defeated Brazil 2-1 Aug. 14.

"We knew we had to play our best. We knew how great Brazil was and that we had to be at our absolute best."

After the medal ceremonies, the U.S. players celebrated in the locker room for almost an hour before emerging. The players, freshly bathed and in street clothes, walked out with their gold medals around their neck.

Abby Wambach, who scored the final goal of the night, said they were elated.

"We’re so happy. We didn’t think we’d come in here and kill Brazil."

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